FB PREVIEW: Matchup vs. No. 2 Mount Union headlines buzzing Saturday slate at DC
September 1, 2023

FB PREVIEW: Matchup vs. No. 2 Mount Union headlines buzzing Saturday slate at DC

TV: West Ohio Sports Network (Spectrum 19, Arthur Mutual 26/28, Ayersville Cable 45, OTA 26.1 or 44.2)
 
THE MATCHUP: The 109th season of football at The Defiance College begins with a Week 1 battle against Division III powerhouse No. 2 Mount Union. The Yellow Jackets begin the season with a home contest for the first time since 2018.
 
WHAT'S THE BUZZ?: Defiance College men's and women's soccer are hosting their season-opening Purple and Gold Tournament on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The full weekend soccer slate is below:
Friday, 3 PM: Defiance WSOC vs. Eureka
Friday, 5 PM: Defiance MSOC vs. Heidelberg
Saturday, 1 PM: Defiance MSOC vs. Wittenberg
Saturday, 3 PM: Women's soccer, Eureka vs. UM Dearborn
Saturday, 5 PM: Defiance WSOC vs. Mount Mary
Sunday, 1 PM: Men's soccer, Wittenberg vs. Heidelberg
Sunday, 3 PM: Women's soccer, Mount Mary vs. UM Dearborn
 
ABOUT THE YELLOW JACKETS: Defiance is coming off a 3-7 finish to the 2022 season, the first under head coach Bill Nickell. Despite an 0-6 start, the Yellow Jackets collected three wins over the last four weeks of the season, including consecutive one-score wins over Manchester, 24-21, on Senior Day and Bluffton, 17-14, in the season finale. DC's three wins were the most since a 5-5 campaign in 2016, while the back-to-back victories at the end of the year were the first consecutive victories since that same season. The three wins under Coach Nickell were the most in the first season by a Defiance head coach since Casey Goff's five victories in 2016 and Robert Taylor's four wins in 2003.
 
ABOUT THE PURPLE RAIDERS: Mount Union football has been one of the standard setters in Division III since the NCAA expanded to a three-division model in 1973. The Purple Raiders finished the 2022 regular season undefeated for the 31st time, captured a 33rd Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) title, and appeared in the DIII National Championship Game for the 22nd time, an NCAA DIII record. Mount Union suffered their lone defeat to North Central (Ill.), 28-21, in the national title game after playoff victories over Salisbury, Utica, Delaware Valley and Wartburg. The Purple Raiders are coached by Geoff Dartt, who enters his fourth season with a record of 31-2. The only two losses by MU under Coach Dartt have come to North Central in the DIII Playoffs. For 2023, the Purple Raiders begin the season ranked No. 2 nationally by D3Football.com and the American Football Coaches of America (see pg. 6 for full rankings). Mount Union also was chosen to win the OAC in the conference's preseason coaches poll with nine out of 10 first-place selections.
 
THE SERIES: This is the seventh meeting all-time between Mount Union and Defiance, including the fourth to begin a new season. Mount Union has won all six meetings between the two institutions. Last season's 65-0 defeat in Alliance turned out to be Mount Union's largest season-opening victory in 15 years and the largest rout in the head-to-head series. Aside from the current home-and-home series, Defiance and Mount Union had not met on the gridiron since a four-year period from 1994-97, which was preceded by the Yellow Jackets' 33-7 record from the 1990-93 seasons under head coach Malen Luke.
 
DC LID LIFTERS: The Yellow Jackets are looking to snap a 13-year drought in Week 1 matchups. Defiance's last season-opening win happened under head coach Robert Taylor in 2009 with a 13-7 home victory over Muskingum. The following season resulted in a 19-13 double-overtime loss to the Muskies. Since joining the NCAA in the fall of 1991, Defiance College is 9-23 while competing against 11 different opponents (Manchester, 3x, Hanover, 2x, Mount Union, 3x, Adrian, 5x, Olivet, 4x, Otterbein, 3x, Muskingum, 4x, Albion, 4x, Baldwin Wallace, 2x, Rose-Hulman, 1x, and Capital, 1x). The Yellow Jackets had a seven-year winning streak in season openers from 1989-95, which was snapped by the Purple Raiders in the opening game of the 1996 campaign.
 
HCAC PRESEASON POLL: The Yellow Jackets checked in fifth in the HCAC's preseason coaches poll after a fifth-place finish in the 2022 standings. Defending conference-champion Mount St. Joseph received seven out of eight first-place votes among HCAC head coaches as Rose-Hulman received the lone remaining first-place nod.
 
BUILDING A FOUNDATION: Defiance improved vastly on the offensive side of the football under the new coaching staff. Under the multiple scheme set in place by Coach Nickell and Offensive Coordinator Spencer Treadwell, the Yellow Jackets made a 14-point improvement in 2022 compared to 2021 while their 23.8 points per game were the highest offensive output by the squad since 2001 (27.5) when the Yellow Jackets won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) and reached the DIII Playoffs. Total offensive yards per game (361.6) were the highest since 2007 (381.0) with a fairly even split of rushing (172.4 per game) and passing yardage (189.2 per game). On that side of the ball, DC returns quarterback Jordan Ambrose will lead the offense as a fifth-year senior after passing for 1,282 yards and 11 touchdowns while completing 54% of his throws to earn HCAC Honorable Mention. The Yellow Jackets also retain their receiver in junior Tawann Rome (33 receptions, 525 yards, eight touchdowns, all team highs) and leading rusher senior Tyshaun Freeman (633 yards, 128 rushes, 5 TDs, all team-bests) . In addition to those skill position leaders, all five members of the offensive line saw action in at least four games last season anchored by senior center Eric Moultrie Jr., who was Second Team All-HCAC in 2022. Freeman and Moultrie are three-time All-HCAC honorees. 
 
BIG STINGERS ARE BACK: Defiance is returning a lot of experience at several critical positions on the defensive side of the ball for new Defensive Coordinator Dion Black. First-Team HCAC and Second Team All-Region linebacker Thomas Coltrain is also back on the defensive side after leading the Jackets with 88 tackles a year ago. Coltrain starts the season 10th on DC's all-time tackles list with 257 and stands 115 stops from the top of the list. Three-time All-HCAC defensive lineman Richard Pope IV is coming off his second First Team All-HCAC season with 17 career sacks and 37.5 tackles for loss. V'Sean Palmer gives the Yellow Jackets another all-conference returner in the secondary following a Second Team season in 2022 with team-best three interceptions.
 
SPECIAL STINGERS: Special Teams Coordinator Joseph Webb has a couple important roles to fill while getting two key spots back. One key departure is 2022 HCAC Newcomer of the Year Da'Realyst Clark, who transferred to Butler Junior College after a breakout freshman year by breaking the program's single-season kickoff return yards record with 720 return yards and scored two kick return touchdowns. Long snapper Noah Pistory also departed after graduation. Returners on special teams are place kicker Zeke Sanchez, who was All-HCAC after going 5-for-6 on field goals and 23-for-28 on PATs, and punter Mathew Bolanos.
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