Coming off an impressive road win last week against Ferris State, Wayne State extended its undefeated streak at home to five games with a 14-7 victory over Hillsdale on Oct. 25.
The Chargers answered the call first, with a quick 36-yard pass to A.J. Kegg from Troy Weatherhead for a touchdown. It ended up being their only points in the game.
Wayne State punted on its next two drives as the Warriors had only eight carries for one yard in the opening 15 minutes of the game. WSU got its motor running late in the second quarter when Joique Bell rushed for a 2-yard score, the first of two touchdowns by the running back on the day.
“Going into the game I wasn’t sure if Joique would play,” coach Paul Winters said. “It was a relief when I got him in there, and he took a few hits and showed that he was OK.”
The Warrior defense kept them in the game, holding the Chargers to 315 total yards of offense, but more importantly only allowed seven points. Senior safety Dante Dunn broke up a fourth-down attempt by the Chargers, putting him in third place on Wayne State’s all-time passes defended list.
“They are a good team, and well coached, so it felt really good to come out on top,” Dunn said.
The Chargers put together some impressive drives down the field, but once in the red zone the Warrior defense took command, forcing them to throw an interception to Myles McNichols at the Wayne State 20-yard line.
Bell led all rushers with 140 yards on 29 carries, most of which came in the fourth quarter after being held to 57 yards on 16 carries through the first three quarters of action.
Bell also became Wayne State’s all-time leading rusher.
“It feels good,” Bell said of the record. “It shows the hard work the O-line put in. I told them I’m going to take them all out to eat.”
Wayne State goes on the road next week to Northwood, hoping to go 8-2 on the season with a win.
“We have to improve offensively on third down, and the mistakes we made early with the procedures,” Winters said. “The last two weeks we haven’t had one illegal procedure call; we had two in the first quarter.”
