'Four complete quarters': Steady Hillsdale upsets Dalton to scramble WCAL title chase
JEROMESVILLE — We should have seen it coming.
Taking the opening possession of the game, Hillsdale executed a near-perfect, six-minute drive while traveling 64 yards in 12 plays for a 7-0 lead over visiting Dalton.
And that game plan continued all Friday night as Hillsdale rolled to a 27-12 upset victory over the Bulldogs to throw another wrench into the Wayne County Athletic League standings.
Dalton’s offense entered the game averaging more than 33 points a game, but was limited to just four first-half possessions as the ball-control Falcons offense chewed up valuable minutes on nearly every possession. In fact, Hillsdale did not attempt a single punt the entire game.
“This was a great team win — on offense, defense and special teams,” said Hillsdale coach Trevor Cline. “And that has been what we have been focusing on in every practice. We know the potential that we have.”
Falcons defense rises to occasion
Falcons defense rises to occasion
Hillsdale quarterback Jake Hoverstock fired a touchdown strike to David Parker on that initial scoring drive. Grayson Siders’ 1-yard plunge for Dalton (4-2, 2-1) opened the second-quarter scoring, but a missed Bulldogs PAT left Hillsdale with a 7-6 lead.
Braylen Jarvis and Max Vesper added scoring runs for Hillsdale (3-3, 2-1), the later with just 27 ticks left in the first half and a 20-6 halftime lead.
“Our issues this year have come at the halfway point of games,” said Cline. “We show glimpses of what we can do, but just kept doing stuff to hurt ourselves. But tonight we played four complete quarters.”
Cline said the plan was to try to keep the Bulldogs offense on the sidelines.
“We knew that their offense was tough,” he said. “And our offense executed the plan well. They have an explosive offense over there.”
Siders (eight carries, 98 yards) had a scintillating 65-yard scoring run in the third quarter to get his team back in the game at 20-12. But from there it was all about the Falcons defensive effort.
“Our defense had played extremely well all season,” Cline said. “In the games we have lost our offense has been putting them in terrible situations. A couple of weeks ago when Norwayne scored 70, that was on our offense having turnover after turnover and giving them easy scores.”
Parker came up with the biggest play of the game for Hillsdale when he swatted down a crucial fourth-down pass from his defensive end position. The play came with only 4:45 left on the clock with the ball at the Hillsdale 7-yard line.
“We have emphasized with the defense to be really physical and be disciplined,” said Cline.
Hillsdale finished with 265 yards rushing on 45 attempts with Dalton finishing with 164 on 28 carries. Colin Pearson was 12-of-17 passing for 129 yards for the Bulldogs while Hoverstock was 9-of-14 passing for 95 yards. The teams combined for just a single punt the entire game, none in the second half.
Dalton coach laments lack of execution
“We respect Coach Cline and how hard their kids play,” said Dalton coach Broc Dial. “They outplayed us tonight.
“They did a good job of getting first downs (18) and eating the clock up, but I don’t think we did a very good job of executing. There were mistakes that we can control that we made a lot of, and that came back to cost us on offense.”
Dial said he is eager to see how his team responds at practice on Monday.
“I want them to respond and work on limiting our mistakes,” he said. “We just have to work on getting better. Again, we made too many mistakes tonight. If you want to be a good football team, you have to limit your mistakes.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Hillsdale solid in all three phases in WCAL upset of Dalton
