FULL RELEASE IN PDF | INSIDE PANTHER FOOTBALL PODCAST
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's football team will look to bounce back from a 24-23 setback to No. 17 Tiffin as the Panthers head to the Poconos to take on East Stroudsburg in a non-conference matchup.
Despite falling from the top-25, ODU enters the week ranked eighth in the first Super Region One rankings, with the top-seven teams in each of the nation's four regions qualifying for the postseason.
The contest between ODU and Tiffin saw the teams post virtually identical numbers, as ODU finished with 393 yards on 69 plays, compared to 395 yards on 70 plays for the Dragons. The Panthers had a 134-18 edge in yardage in the fourth quarter, limiting the Dragons to just one first down, but had three drives stall in Dragon territory and missed an extra point in the period.
Overall, ODU's offense reached Tiffin territory eight times in the contest, but managed just three scoring drives.
The Panthers have now lost nine games to nationally ranked teams since the 2014 postseason, with six of those losses coming by three points or less.
Five Panthers made at least eight tackles in the contest, led by senior linebacker Ross Thompson (Delphos, Ohio), who finished with 12 stops. Thompson now has 268 career tackles and is 27 stops from setting ODU's all-time tackles record (Justin Bell, 294.)
Junior linebacker Camren Moore (New Carlisle, Ohio) finished with 11 tackles and now has at least seven tackles in every game this fall. He sits third in the conference in tackles with 78 tackles. Senior defensive end Brian Hunter (Mayfield, Ohio) finished with nine tackles against Tiffin as well.
Despite having his streak snapped at 14 straight games with at least one touchdown catch, senior Cory Contini (Dover, Ohio) continued his ascent up ODU's all-time receiving yards list with 3,004 yards and now sits just 194 yards from breaking Dez Stewart's mark of 3,197 yards.
Junior David Turner (Fort Wayne, Ind.) caught 11 passes, giving him 58 on the season, which is tied for tops in the G-MAC and seventh in the country. Junior EJ Colson (Middletown, Ohio) ran for 84 yards and also had 52 yards receiving.
Freshman Evan Ernst (Mason, Ohio) continues to top the nation in completion percentage at 73.4 percent. Over the past six games, he's averaging 296.7 yards passing and has thrown just two interceptions in his last 153 passes. With 1,775 passing yards this season, Ernst is 373 yards from breaking Cris Reisert's school-record of 2,147 yards passing by a freshman QB in 2005.
ODU is 4-6 all-time against opponents from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and 0-5 in games played in the Keystone State after falling at California and Penn last September.
QUICK HITS
miless@ohiodominican.edu