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DEFIANCE, Ohio – Defiance College had its 2010 home opener spoiled at the hands of the Franklin Grizzlies, who bounced the Yellow Jackets by a 42-7 margin. Kyle Longsdorf matched a career high with 22 tackles but that was one of the few highlights for DC on Saturday at Justin F. Coressel Stadium.
The powerful Franklin offense entered play having outscored its opposition by a 98-16 gap in the previous two weeks and averaging 41.7 points and 512.7 yards of offense on the season. FC did little to hurt those numbers, as the Grizzlies found the end zone on six of their first eight possessions, en route to piling up 42 points on 490 total yards of offense on the afternoon.
Defiance could not keep pace, as the Purple and Gold managed only 183 total yards of offense in the loss and did not have a serious scoring opportunity until Alex Puente fell on an unforced fumble by Franklin on its own seven-yard line.
Garrett Teague ran the ball twice on the ensuing DC series to push the ball to the one-yard line, before Joey Chester punched it in to make it 42-7 with 1:49 left in the game. The touchdown run was the first collegiate score for Chester.
The highlight of the afternoon for Defiance was provided by the relentless play on defense by Longsdorf, who logged 22 tackles for the second time in his last five outings. Longsdorf ended the 2009 campaign with 22 tackles and a DC single-game record of 15 assisted tackles in a 35-0 win over Bluffton on November 14, 2009. The senior safety has since led the Jackets in tackles in five-straight games dating back to the record-setting Bluffton performance and has piled up 84 total stops during that span.
Defiance (1-3, 1-1 HCAC) will take the next week off, before hosting Mount St. Joseph (3-0, 2-0 HCAC) on October 9, as part of DC's 2010 Homecoming Weekend.