By Bane Rossi

GAME NOTES

https://ohiodominicanpanthers.com/documents/2023/11/2/ODUfb23_FALL_Notes10_TU.pdf

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Dominican Panthers football team will play host to the nationally ranked and G-MAC leading Tiffin Dragons on Saturday (Nov. 4) afternoon.

For the home finale, the seniors will be recognized along with the annual celebration of our nation’s veterans.

The Panthers enter the final home contest and the penultimate game of the 2023 season with a 4-5 record and 3-4 in the G-MAC. Ohio Dominican is looking for their fourth win at Panther Stadium as they have clinched a winning record at home 15 times in 20 seasons.

OPENING KICKOFF

• The Panthers dropped a 24-3 verdict at Findlay last week.  
• Ty Wiley (Pickerington, Ohio) became the 18th receiver with 1,000 career yards after Wiley caught two passes for 24 yards last week.
  • Wiley has a career 68 catches for 1,001 yards in 26 career games.
• Jayden Cornell (Kenton, Ohio) led with four catches for 36 yards.
• Brady Blattner (Cumberland, Ohio) led the Panthers with a career-high 14 tackles, including 11 solo stops. He added three tackles for loss as well.
  • He has 10.5 tackles for loss among 59 tackles this season, 1.5 sacks and two forced fumbles. He has 14.5 career TFL and 2.5 sacks.
• Daishaun Hill (Rocky River, Ohio) and Jayden Hill (Gahanna, Ohio) both had eight tackles in the game.
  • J. Hill has 55 tackles on the season (2nd on the team) with one pass breakup and one forced fumble. He led with eight tackles against Lake Erie and Northwood.
  • D. Hill is fifth on the team with 46 tackles this season and came away with the fifth interception of his career in Week 2 vs. Winston-Salem State.
    • After picks at Kentucky Wesleyan in Week 4 and Week 5 vs. Ashland, Hill now has seven INT’s and he is tied for eighth in program history tied with Eisen Hardy.
  • The pair of Hills have jumped into the top 20 all-time for career tackles. J. Hill is 11th with 235 tackles (6 from 10th) and D. Hill is 13th at 221 (5 from 15th and 14 from 12th).
  • J. Hill and D. Hill are both tied for 8th all-time in pass breakups (21).
• Eddie Miller-Garrett (Newark, New Jersey) made five tackles with 3.5 tackles for loss. EMG forced a fumble while tallying 1.5 sacks in the game.
  • Miller-Garrett became the Ohio Dominican single season leader in both sacks (10.5) and tackles for loss (20.5).
  • Miller-Garrett jumped Jaylin Garner for the all-time tackles for loss record with 49.5 TFL. He is now two sacks behind Garner in the sack category.
  • He leads the G-MAC in sacks and tackles for loss in a large margin.
  • In D2, he is 1st in tackles for loss and T-1st in total sacks this season. Across all divisions, he is tied for 2nd in TFL and T-8th for sacks.
  • For his career, EMG is currently 2nd among active D2 players for tackles for loss (T-10th across all divisions) and tied for 5th in sacks.
• AJ Young (Lexington, Ohio) kicked his first career field goal in the third quarter, a 33-yard attempt.
• Logan Ortt (New Philadelphia, Ohio) punted eight times for 384 yards. He averaged 48.0 yards per kick with a long punt of 59 yards. He had three punts inside the 20 with two downed inside the five-yard line.
  • For the season, Ortt has punted the ball away 49 times for 2,038 yards. He has 17 punts inside the 20-yard line (most in the G-MAC) and averages 41.6 yards per punt. He has seven punts of at least 50 yards. Two more punts will set the ODU record for punts in a season.
  • He is 20th in Division II with his punt average.
• ODU is 16-5 after a loss under Kelly Cummings and he is 2-2 after losses this season.
• With a win, ODU will have defeated a ranked opponent for the 17th time. They are 16-27 against ranked teams (9-21 in the D2 era).
• Ohio Dominican is tied for 2nd in the G-MAC with 26 sacks through nine games. Averaging 2.89 sacks per game, ODU is tied for 17th in Division II.
  • 11 different players have connected on sacks for the Panthers.
• ODU is in the top three of the G-MAC in nine of 11 defensive categories this season. They also rank in the top 20 nationally in three different categories.
  • First Down Defense: 140 – T-2nd
  • Rushing: 74.3 YPG – 2nd (8th in D2)
  • Sacks: 26 – T-2nd (T-17th in D2)
  • Red Zone Defense: 68.0% – 2nd
  • Total Defense: 269.0 YPG – 3rd (21st in D2)
  • Passing Efficiency: 114.0 – 3rd
  • Scoring: 15.4 PPG – 3rd (15th in D2)
  • Third Down Conversions: 33.8% – 3rd
  • Fourth Down Conversions: 35.7% – 3rd
  • Passing: 194.7 YPG – 5th
  • Interceptions: 6 – T-6th
• A note for the ODU Swifties… ODU is 8-3 after Taylor Swift releases an album during the season.
• Tiffin and Ohio Dominican have tied the series history 7-7 with the Dragons winning the last five matchups. Ohio Dominican is 3-2 in Columbus against Tiffin.
  • In last year’s matchup, Tiffin was victorious 28-13.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 9 – The defense has only allowed nine scoring drives when starting inside their own 35-yard line, out of 79 opportunities.
• 15 – Ohio Dominican has an overall record of 15-3 in Week 10 games, including ten straight wins.
• 26 – ODU has 26 sacks this season, tied for 2nd in the G-MAC. This is the 7th most in the program.
• 34 – ODU has forced 34 three and outs this season, sitting third in the conference.

TIFFIN AT A GLANCE

• Tiffin has run through their 2023 schedule like a runaway train as they are currently nationally ranked and undefeated. The Dragons are 9-0 overall and 7-0 in the G-MAC. They lead by one game over Ashland and Findlay.
• The Dragons enter play on Saturday as the #17 ranked team in the AFCA Coaches Poll and #22 in the D2Football.com poll.
• Tiffin cruised to non-conference wins over McKendree (79-14) and St. Anselm (42-7). In conference play, Tiffin has dispatched all seven opponents this season with only Ohio Dominican and Findlay left on the schedule.
• The Dragons have only played two games within 20 points (Northwood, 34-27 & Hillsdale, 35-21) and have an average margin of victory of 31.8 points.
  For the season, Tiffin averages 46.6 points scored, 275.9 rushing yards, and 226.9 passing yards per game on offense. The Dragons are allowing 14.8 points, 131.3 rushing yards and 134.0 passing yards per contest. Overall on offense, the Dragons lead the league in scoring, total offense (502.8 YPG) and rushing offense while sitting second in passing. For the defense, TU is first in passing and scoring defense, second in total defense (265.3 YPG) and fifth in rushing.
• Cris Reisert is in his fifth season as head coach after he was a member of the ODU coaching staff as offensive coordinator. Reisert played at ODU and is an Athletic Hall of Fame member as a QB.
• In the 2023 G-MAC Preseason Poll, Tiffin was selected second of ten teams with three first place votes. Last season, a three-way second place tie took place with Tiffin, Findlay and Ohio Dominican.
• Tiffin is 2nd in the Super Region I rankings as released on Monday.
• Tiffin ranks in the top ten nationally for the following categories: scoring offense, total offense, rushing offense, passing defense, turnover margin, first downs and turnovers gained. The Dragons are in the top 20 in scoring defense, total defense, third downs offense and defense, interceptions made and sacks made.
• Kason Martin has completed 64.4% of his passes, accounting for 1,671 yards (2nd in G-MAC). He had a stat line of 134-of-208 with 16 passing touchdowns (4 rushing TD’s) and four interceptions. Keegan Ray started against Walsh and has accounted for 371 yards on 24-of-35 passing and three TD’s.
• The key part to Tiffin’s success has been the rushing attack. Ronald Blackman has a team-high 112 carries for 831 yards (2nd in G-MAC) and has scored seven times. Tyrese Banks-Dorn leads with ten touchdowns on 66 carries for 570 yards. Devin Nelson (79-547-5) and Carson Gresock (70-426-7) have carried the rock for the Dragons. Banks-Dorn and Nelson are 5th and 6th, respectively in the league for yards.
• Josh Lewis is the top target with 34 catches for 560 yards and seven touchdowns. Jalen Thomas has five touchdowns in his 23 catches for 334 yards.
• Grant Woodfin has made eight-of-11 field goals with a high of 26 yards. He is 47-of-52 on extra points.
• Ramond Jackson leads the team with 47 tackles while Zeke Brown (44 tackles) and Patrick Tueimeh (43 tackles) are second and third. Antonio O’Berry has a team-high ten TFL and seven sacks.
• Tiffin has 14 interceptions from ten different players. Chucky Lewis has four while Ramond Jackson has two picks.

COURTESY OHIO DOMINICAN ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS