Wayne State Football Weekly Game Notes

• HILLSDALE GAME STORYLINES

Wayne State has started 5-2 for the third straight season. The Warriors will look to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since a three-game losing streak to end the 2009 campaign.

WSU hosts Hillsdale College this Saturday and is seeking its third consecutive home win over the Chargers.

Wayne State (4-2 in GLIAC) enters the contest second in the GLIAC South Division, one game behind Hillsdale (5-1).

WSU has the second-best offense in the division at 176 points (Hillsdale is first with 204 points), and the Warriors are tied with Ashland for the fewest points allowed in the division with 119.

• ASHLAND RECAP

WSU had its three-game winning streak snapped with a 40-35 setback to visiting Ashland.

The Warriors never trailed in the first half and led 28-20 at intermission. The teams combined for 27 points (four touchdowns) in the opening 15 minutes with only a missed PAT by the Eagles preventing the score being tied at 14.

Just under five minutes into the second quarter, WSU's Mickey Mohner completed a 16-yard scoring pass to Troy Burrell. It was the second TD reception of the afternoon by Burrell, who opened the scoring with a 41-yard touchdown catch from Mohner on WSU's first possession of the contest. AU quarterback Taylor Housewright had a five-yard TD run on the ensuing drive to pull the visitors within one at 21-20.

Mohner had his fourth touchdown pass of the first half on WSU's next possession, this one a five-yard catch by Josh Renel.

Both quarterbacks completed 14 passes in the opening 30 minutes with Mohner throwing for 198 yards, while Housewright had 159 yards.

The first three drives of the second half resulted in punts, before the Eagles drove 75 yards on their second possession for a D.J. McCoy one-yard touchdown run to make it 28-27 WSU.

Following an exchange of punts, WSU drove to the AU 35, but a 52-yard field goal attempt by Stefan Terleckyj was just short.

The Eagles went 65 yards in six plays with Christian Livingston hauling in a 51-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-eight to put Ashland ahead 33-28. The two-point conversion pass failed.

On the fourth play of the WSU drive, Toney Davis was stretching for a first down when Tyler McFarlin forced a fumble that was recovered by Julian Goodwine.

Four plays later, Ashland had a 40-28 advantage after a seven-yard touchdown pass from Housewright to Joe Horn.

WSU drove to the AU 23 but a fourth-down pass was incomplete. The Warrior defense forced a punt following a sack by Daunte Akra.

Mohner found Burrell behind the Eagle defense for a 60-yard touchdown on the very next play with 2:42 left in the game. Joe Long attempted an onside kick but it was recovered by Livingston and Ashland ran out the clock.

• IN THE POLLS

Wayne State was selected eighth in the 2010 GLIAC pre-season coaches' poll, while Hillsdale was tabbed for second.

The Warriors are 29th in this week's Massey Ratings (http://masseyratings.com), while Hillsdale is seventh.
 
Hillsdale is sixth in the NFCA Coaches Poll.

• ON THE HEADSET

Wayne State's Paul Winters has a 32-39 record in his seventh year with the Warriors. WSU is 19-10 in its last 29 games. The Warriors are 19-17 in games at Adams Field under Winters including a 12-4 mark in the last 16 contests.

Hillsdale's Keith Otterbein has compiled a 54-43 record in nine years with the Chargers along with a 114-82-3 overall mark in 17 years as a collegiate head coach.

• ALL-TIME SERIES

Wayne State trails 37-13-1 in the all-time series. WSU has won two straight at home vs. HC.

• SCOUTING HILLSDALE

The Chargers have won five straight since a three-point setback (44-41) at Grand Valley.

Joe Glendening has rushed for a GLIAC-best 1,057 yards and 15 touchdowns. Senior quarterback Troy Weatherhead has completed 81.8 percent of his passes (153-187) for 1,851 yards and 13 touchdowns. Andre Holmes (53-714, 5 TD) and Mike Blanchard (45-599, 4 TD) are the top two receivers.

Nick Hixson has a team-high 53 tackles, and three pass break-ups.

• STRICTLY BY THE NUMBERS

Mohner, with five touchdown passes in a game, tied the school record set by Dan Gray (Sept. 29, 2001, at Findlay in a 44-43 Warrior setback).

Mohner was one completion shy of the school record of 31 set by Randy Hutchison (Oct. 18, 2003, vs. Michigan Tech) and equaled by Nolan Martin (Oct. 1, 2005, at Grand Valley).

Mohner's 355 passing yards was the seventh- most in school history.

Burrell's 12 receptions was tied for second-most in school history with Ray Ponder (Nov. 9, 1991, vs. Grand Valley) and Chris Middlebrooks (Oct. 1, 2005, at Grand Valley), just two shy of the WSU record set by Nick Body on Sept. 24, 2005, vs. Indianapolis.

Burrell's 187 receiving yards tied for eighth all-time at WSU, and wasthe most since Sterling Walker had 216 on Oct. 6, 2001, at Northern Michigan.

Burrell's three touchdown receptions tied for second most in school history, behind the four TD receptions by Pierre Brown on Sept. 29, 2001, at Findlay. Burrell is just the fourth player with a three touchdown reception game in school history (Pierre Brown did it four times; Jimmy Hill twice; and Nate Bush once).

Mohner is 8-6 as a starting quarterback and also earned a win in relief last year vs. Findlay.

WSU is second in the GLIAC with 12 interceptions. Grand Valley leads with 13.

• THIS AND THAT

All Wayne State football games can be heard on WDTK Radio (1400 AM). Fans can also listen to all WSU football games online at wdtkam.com.

• SERIES NOTES

Wayne State has a 13-37-1 all-time mark vs. Hillsdale.

WSU is 7-20-1 in home games vs. the Chargers, with wins in the last two contests.

Only one of the last seven meetings has been decided by seven points or fewer, that being WSU's 14-7 win at Adams Field on Oct. 25, 2008.

Wayne State's last five wins have been by a combined 32 points.