Sunday, November 15, 1998

TU upsets Tri-State in stunning victory

ANGOLA, Ind. -- Tiffin University saved its best for last with a stunning 24- 17 upset of ninth-ranked Tri-State University Saturday.

Freshman Steve Ingram scored on a 26-yard sweep around left end with 4:54 remaining in overtime to get the winning score for the Dragons, who finished 6-5 overall and 3-3 in the Mid-States Football Association Mideast play.

The win wrapped up Tiffin's third winning season in school history.

''After today I'm very happy because we had some big wins this season,'' said Tiffin coach Cam Cruickshank, who completed his first season with the Dragons. ''We beat Taylor and Tri-State on the road and they're both going to be playoff teams. And we also had a big win over Walsh. We had a couple of weeks where we played good football, but we also had some weeks where we really hurt ourselves.''

In college overtime, each team gets the ball at the 25-yard line with five minutes put on the clock.

But it only took the Dragons six seconds to score, breaking a 17-17 deadlock.

Tri-State, finishing 9-2 overall and 4-2 in the Mideast, worked its way to the 4-yard line where Keith DeMoss fumbled and freshman Mark Elliott recovered for the Dragons to end the contest.

''We ran our bread-and-butter play, and that's the off tackle'' Cruickshank said of Ingram's TD. ''Steven made a great move, juked the safety out of his jock and scampered into the end zone.''

Tiffin drew first blood in the contest as Calvert grad Alex Espejo scored on a 31-yard interception return. Brett Naidenoff converted and the Dragons held a 7-0 lead with just 24 seconds gone in the game.

The second quarter belonged to Tri-State as the Thunder scored twice to take a 14-7 lead to intermission.

But if the Thunder ruled in the second quarter, it was the Dragons taking over in the third quarter as they pulled even at 17-17 after three quarters.

Naidenoff got the Dragons closer with a 23-yard field goal with 11:40 to go in the third period. That capped off a five-play, 28-yard drive which consumed 2:17.

The Dragons went ahead with a score by the special teams as Michael Groomes went in from 2-yards out after a blocked Tri-State punt and Naidenoff converted for a 17-14 lead with 10:39 remaining in the period.

A sustained drive for Tri-State ended with the tying field goal from 38 yards away as time expired in the third quarter.

Neither team could muster much offense in the fourth quarter which sent the game to overtime.

Tri-State had the edge in offense with 338 yards including 287 through the air as Wellman completed 25 of 46 passes for one touchdown but suffered four interceptions.

The Thunder struggled on the ground with Barron Chambers leading the way with 35 yards on 16 carries.

Ingram led the Tiffin ground game, with 112 yards on 19 attempts.

George Whitfield completed 12-of-19 passes for 62 yards with Jay Joseph grabbing five passes for 26 yards while Mike Kancler caught two for 19 yards and Kyle Baughman caught two for 14 yards.

Tony Rubeo paced the Tiffin defense with 11 tackles while John Mitchell had five stops. Mitchell also had a pair of quarterback sacks.

Elliott and Wesley Russell each forced a fumble and Jared Williams and Elliott came up with fumble recoveries. The Dragons also had four interceptions with Espejo have two and Williams and Brian Costa each had one.

The Dragons secondary set a school mark this year with 20 interceptions.