Football Falls To Tiffin 22-19

OVERVIEW

SCORE: Tiffin Dragons 22, Northwood 19
RECORDS: Northwood 0-1, Tiffin Dragons 1-0
LOCATION: Hantz Stadium – Midland, Mich.
RECAP:  Northwood rallies in the second half but falls to Tiffin 22-19 in season-opener Saturday afternoon. (September 7)

INSIDE THE GAME

• Tiffin found the endzone early with a drive capped by QB Nick Watson's 23-yard run with 9:03 remaining in the first quarter. The extra point attempt failed, giving the Dragons a 6-0 lead.
• Following a Northwood punt, an 85-yard Tiffin drive resulted in a successful 21-yard field goal attempt with 1:27 remaining to extend the Dragons' lead to 9-0.
• Northwood got on the board with 11:25 remaining in the second quarter with a Parker Blust field goal from 38-yards to cut the Tiffin lead to 9-3.
• Following an interception, Tiffin received the ball on Northwood's 30-yard line. The Tiffin drive resulted in a 33-yard field goal attempt blocked by NU's Patrick Maryand with 6:36 remaining in the first half.
• Tiffin capitalized on good field position after a Northwood punt, finding the endzone on a 29-yard touchdown pass with 1:16 remaining in the first half, taking a 16-3 lead into the break. 
• Coming out of halftime, Northwood was able to piece together a series of runs to reach Tiffin's 12-yard line. Grant Dunatchik connected with Jalen Lewis for the Timberwolves' first touchdown of the season with 10:40 remaining in the third quarter to cut the Tiffin lead to 16-10.
• The Timberwolves capitalized on a Christian Martinez 32-yard punt return with a spectacular play to take the lead. Dunatchik found Bryant Kieft for leaping catch over the Tiffin defender for a 42-yard touchdown.  That gave NU their first lead at 17-16 with 14:34 remaining in the game.
• The Dragons responded with a quick drive and 39-yard touchdown pass with 12:00 remaining. The ensuing two-point attempt failed, making the score 22-17.
• The game ended in an unusual fashion, as Tiffin was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with eight seconds remaining. The clock would have expired without the penalty. The Dragons then took a safety with two second remaining that made the score 22-19.
• Tiffin's kickoff with two seconds remaining in the game resulted with Northwood finding the endzone after several laterals, but was called back due to penalty.

GAME STATS

• FIRST DOWNS: Northwood 21, Tiffin 22
• RUSHES-YARDS: Northwood 49-186, Tiffin 44-150
• PASSING YARDS (COMPLETIONS-ATTEMPTS-YARDS-TDs-INTs): Northwood 100 (9-27, 2 TD, 4 INT), Tiffin 338 (20-34-338, 2 TD, 0 INT)
• TOTAL OFFENSE, PLAYS-YARDS: Northwood 76-286, Tiffin 78-488
• TIME OF POSSESSION: Northwood 29:15, Tiffin 30:45

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

• Dunatchik: 69 yards passing, 2 TDs
• Kieft: 42 yards receiving, TD
• Lewis: 16 yards rushing, TD
• Noah Brown: 11 tackles

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will travel to Findlay next Saturday (September 14). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.