HILLSDALE, Mich. – Trailing by 21 points early in the second quarter, Ohio Dominican's football team rallied all the way back and scored twice in the final 2:29 to upset No. 22 Hillsdale 43-42 in a shootout between two GLIAC South Division foes Saturday.

The victory is ODU's first over a ranked Division II opponent and first against any ranked opponent since defeating No. 13 Malone in 2008.

Hillsdale (4-2, 4-1 GLIAC) led 42-30 and had just intercepted a Panther pass with 2:40 to go when running back Joe Glendening fumbled, and Justin Bell scooped it up and scored from 30 yards to make it 42-37.

The Panthers (3-3, 2-3 GLIAC) attempted an onside kick but couldn't recover, but the defense came up with a three-and-out and forced HC to punt. ODU took over on its own 30-yard line with 1:53 left, and Jeremy Fudge connected with Tyler Purcell for 10 yards on first down and ran untouched up the middle for 23 yards to bring the Panthers to the HC 37.

Fudge and Purcell hooked up again on a 24-yard pass, and on the next play Fudge called his own number and scored from 13 yards out to put the Panthers on top for the first time at 43-42 with 1:26 left. The two-point conversion was no good, though.

Hillsdale moved to the ODU 41 yard line but on a fourth-and-three play, quarterback Anthony Mifsud was pressured by the Panther front line and threw an incompletion, and ODU ended the game in the victory formation.

The Panthers scored 36 points in the second half and came out on top despite being outgained 543-422 and allowing Glendening to tally over 330 yards of offense and five touchdowns.

The Chargers had scored on each of their opening two possessions, moving 63 yards in 10 plays on the first drive and 82 yards on the second drive to build a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. ODU moved into Hillsdale territory on each of its first two drives, but was forced to punt on the first possession and had a field goal blocked on the second.

ODU's defense came up with a stop but the Panthers roughed the punter, putting the Charger offense back on the field, and HC answered with another TD to make it 21-0 early in the second. The Panthers came back with a touchdown drive of their own as Mike Noffsinger took a pitch and lofted a pass to Purcell, running open down the right sideline for a 36-yard touchdown. That cut the deficit to 21-7 with 9:26 to go in the second, and that's where the score remained for the rest of the half.

ODU moved 75 yards on the opening possession of the second half, picking up a key third-and-two early and an automatic first down on a pass interference penalty. Fudge then kept it himself on an option play to the left and raced into the end zone for a 28-yard score to make it 21-14 three minutes into the third.

Hillsdale answered with a touchdown of its own, recovering its own fumble on the Panther goal line and scoring on the next play. ODU was forced to punt on its next possession, but the defense had a big stop as Matt Grieb forced a fumble, which was picked up by Ricardo Thompson on the Charger 39. Fudge picked up 28 yards on a fourth-and-one play to the Hillsdale three, and two plays later Fudge threw a jump ball to Derek Kneeskern in the back of the end zone for the touchdown.

Braily Blair forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and Justin Bell recovered it at the Charger 29 yard line. ODU couldn't pick up a first down, but Chris Vortkamp drilled a 42-yard field goal to bring the Panthers within four at 28-24 at the start of the fourth.

Glendening then broke several tackles for an 80-yard touchdown on the Chargers' first play from scrimmage to make it a two-score game again, but the Panther offense responded. Fudge and Purcell hooked up for 30 yards, and Noffsinger took a handoff and scooted around the left side for a 23-yard touchdown run. The Panthers failed in their two point conversion attempt, though, to keep Hillsdale in front 35-30 with 11:28 left in the fourth.

The defense forced Hillsdale to punt, but ODU went three and out on its ensuing possession. The Chargers took over on their own 38 and put together a six-play, 62 yards scoring drive as Glendening accounted for 57 of the yards on the ground, capped off with 10 yard scamper as Hillsdale went up 42-30 with 5:33 remaining.

ODU moved into Charger territory before the interception seemed to quell its upset hopes.

One year after running for 144 yards against the Chargers, Fudge carried the ball 22 times for 138 yards and two touchdowns and completed 18-of-25 passes for 184 yards. Noffsinger had 63 yards on the ground and a touchdown, and Purcell caught six passes for a career-high 121 yards and a touchdown.

Eisen Hardy made 11 tackles to lead the defense and Bell had 10 stops as well.

The Panthers remain on the road next week for a 3 p.m. kickoff at Findlay.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu