Football | 9/29/2016 10:00:00 AM

DETROIT --  The Wayne State University football program (3-1, 3-1 GLIAC) hosts Hillsdale (3-1, 2-1 GLIAC) on Saturday night with its sights set on a third consecutive win at Tom Adams Field.

GAME STORYLINES
The Warriors conclude their three-game home stand on Saturday against Hillsdale in the 80th annual Homecoming contest.  Wayne State will look to continue its excellent play at home and look to avenge a 31-24 overtime loss at Hillsdale last season.

WSU has been hosting Homecoming since 1935 (no game was played in 1943 and 1944 due to WWII).  The Chargers have met WSU on eight occasions during Homecoming week, including most recently in 2006 when the Warriors were victorious by a 41-26 score.

Wayne State is looking to start 4-1 or better for the sixth time in the last nine seasons.  
2015:  2-2, 2014:  3-1, 2013:  3-2,  2012:  4-1, 2011:  6-0, 2010:  5-1, 2009:  5-1, 2008:  4-1.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State won its second consecutive home game rolling up more than 400 rushing yards for the second straight week in a 35-21 triumph over Tiffin.

It took the Warriors just three plays and 77 seconds to get on the scoreboard as Romello Brown had two carries for 56 yards, preceding an 11-yard touchdown jaunt by Demetrius Stinson.

The Dragons tied the game at 7-7 with a nine-play, 65 yard drive concluding with a six-yard pass from Antonio Pipkin to Jordan Nobles.

WSU answered with a 42-yard scoring drive following a 58-yard kickoff return by Deiontae Nicholas.  Donovan Zezula completed a 12-yard pass to Jamel Hicks then connected on a 26-yard screen pass to Stinson on a third-and-eight prior to Stinson's two-yard touchdown run.

The Wayne State defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing possession, and the offense responded with a five-play, 68-yard drive that included four rushes by Brown and a 10-yard completion from Zezula to Trent Brodbeck.  Brown had two carries for at least 20 yards on the drive, including a 28-yard scamper into the end zone.

The second stanza featured seven punts and one turnover by the Warriors.

WSU held Tiffin to 164 yards in the first 30 minutes, while the Warriors totaled 277 yards on 30 plays including 206 on the ground.

Jimmy Hendrix notched his first career interception on the second play of the third quarter leading to Wayne State's fourth touchdown of the game.  Brown began the drive with six consecutive carries, and after a four-yard gain by Zezula, Brown rumbled in from a yard out.

The Dragons scored on the first play of the fourth period after a 69-yard run by Pipkin on the final play of the third quarter.

The Warriors responded with a four-play, 80-yard drive, culminating in a 66-yard touchdown run by Brown.

Tiffin completed the scoring with a 29-yard Pipkin to Trent Stamm pass early in the fourth period.

SCOUTING THE CHARGERS
Hillsdale is coming off a 51-24 win over Michigan Tech during its Homecoming game last weekend.  The win pushed the Chargers to a 3-1 overall record and a 2-1 mark in GLIAC matchups.  Head coach Keith Otterbein is in his 15th season at the helm after spending nine seasons at Ferris State (1986-94).  In between his two stints in the GLIAC  he was an assistant at Ball State (1995-01).   He currently has the most career wins of any GLIAC coach with 149.  Sophomore quarterback Chance Stewart is riding high after a five touchdown performance (three passing and two rushing).  He has eight scoring passes to just one interception this season, while completing 64.7 percent of his attempts.  Joe Reverman ran 22 times for 133 yards and a TD last week vs. Michigan Tech to bring his season total to 403 yards and four scores.  Trey Brock tops the league with 7.8 receptions per game.  On defense, Wyatt Batdorff leads the way with 34 tackles, while Drew Mallery has tallied three sacks.  Five Chargers have one interception each.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails the all-time series 17-39-1 against Hillsdale.  The teams began playing in 1926 and the Chargers won the first five meetings.  Under head coach Paul Winters, WSU is 6-6 against Hillsdale, including a 5-1 mark at Tom Adams Field. This is the ninth time that Wayne State will host Hillsdale for Homecoming and the Chargers are 6-3 in those contests.  In Coach Winters' first season the teams met at Ford Field to finish the regular season.

EARLY SEASON SUCCESS
Since the start of the 2008 season, WSU has a 28-10 record for games played in August and September.  Of the 11 months being considered, WSU is .500 in two months, and above .500 in the other nine months. 

QUARTERBACK WIN TOTALS
In baseball, the starting pitcher gets a win for going at least five innings so we thought we would take a look at the best win totals for WSU starting quarterbacks since 1972 (except 1980-83).  The same rules from baseball apply here -- the QB that was in when the winning points were scored received the decision.

1.  Mickey Mohner (2009-12), 30-15-0, .667
2.  Ed Skowneski (1972-75), 20-12-0, .625
3.  Jim Gendron (1976-78), 15-7-0, .682
4.  Mark Friday (1991-93), 13-13-0, .500
5.  Donovan Zezula (2015-16), 9-5-0, .643
6.  Richard Popp (1983-86), 8-15-1, .354
      Trent Pohl (2006-07), 8-10-0, .444
8.  Kevin Smith (2008), 7-2-0, .778
      Carl Roscoe (2012-15), 7-7-0, .500
      Anthony Frederick (1992, 94-95), 7-12-0, .368
      Michael Gluski (1994-95, 97-98), 7-16-0, .304

RARE AIR FOR BRODBECK
Trent Brodbeck enters Saturday's game vs. Hillsdale, fourth in WSU history in receptions by a tight end with 53.  John Aird (1995-98), who began his career as a linebacker, is third with 54 catches.  Richard Hall (1991-94) is second with 59 receptions, while Joe Benke (1987-88) is the all-time leader among tight ends with 67 catches.  Additionally, Brodbeck was selected to the Allstate AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) Good Works Team®, which recognizes football student-athletes for their community service efforts.  He is only the second player in school history (Alan Guy, 2007) to receive the honor.  He is featured in a two-page spread in the latest edition of ESPN The Magazine.  Also, Brodbeck was named a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's William Campbell Trophy on Sept. 28th.

WORTH NOTING
Wayne State has started 3-1 for the seventh time in the last nine seasons.

Romello Brown became the 12th player in school history to reach the 2,000 yard career rushing plateau.  He is 11th with 2,063 career rushing yards.  Brown also moved into a tie-for-sixth in career rushing touchdowns with WSU Hall of Famer Steve Lee with 25 scores on the ground.  He is three away from tying All-American Josh Renel for fifth place.

Brown enters this weekend second nationally in rushing yards per game at 168.5 and trails only Western State's Austin Ekeler, who is averaging 208.0 rushing yards per contest.  Brown is third in Division II in rushing yards per carry at 10.7, behind Max Mickey of Sioux Falls (12.67) and GVSU's Marty Carter (11.26).

Despite allowing a first quarter touchdown to Tiffin, the Warriors have outscored their opponents 73-7 in the first quarter and 108-13 in the first half this season.

The Warrior defense is second in the league with 12 sacks and tied-for-second with one defensive touchdown.  In addition, WSU is tied-for-first in fumble recoveries with six, and ranks third in points allowed at 16.8 per game.

THE EFFICIENT (AND EXPLOSIVE) ROMELLO BROWN
Romello Brown's 6.45 yards per carry is the highest by any WSU player with at least 150 career rushing attempts since Gary Baillargeon averaged 7.29 (166-1,210) in 1951-52.  In addition, he is gaining 10.7 yards per carry (min. 25 attempts) this season, which is a program record by over two yards (8.14 -- Gary Baillargeon, 1951).  That number puts Brown third in the country.  Entering last week's game against Tiffin, Brown had four big plays (20+ yards) and had five against the Dragons including two touchdowns (22 yards & 66 yards).

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 11 of its last 12 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including last week vs. Tiffin.  The only setback when accomplishing the feat came at Ashland where the Warriors ran for exactly 200 yards in a losing effort.  During the past four-plus seasons (2012-16), Wayne State is 21-5 when rushing when rushing for 200 yards including a 9-2 mark on the road.  Under coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 40-14 under those parameters, including a 24-6 mark at home.

TOP OF THE LEAGUE
Since the start of the 2008 season, here are the most successful teams in the GLIAC in terms of conference victories:
Grand Valley State - 66
Ashland - 63
Michigan Tech - 53
Ferris State - 51
WAYNE STATE - 49
Saginaw Valley State - 47

A STRONG CONNECTION
QB to WR touchdown totals (Since 1991)
24 - Mickey Mohner to Troy Burrell
22 - Jason Charron to Pierre Brown
18 - Michael Gluski to Jimmy Hill
10 - Carl Roscoe to Michael Johnson
10 - Dan Gray to Pierre Brown
9 - Donovan Zezula to Jamel Hicks
9 - Dan Gray to Brandon Brown
9 - Richard Brown to Elbert Richmond
8 - Anthony Frederick to Nate Bush
7 - Randy Hutchison to Nick Body

TEAM CAPTAINS
Paul Winters announced his 2016 captains during a special "Captains Presentation" prior to a scrimmage on August 20th.  The 2016 WSU captains will consist of four fifth-year seniors, plus a graduate student.  Left tackle Nate Theaker, who graduated in December, returns as a graduate student after earning a sixth-year waiver from the NCAA.  The other offensive captain is tight end Trent Brodbeck.  The defensive captains will be defensive end Nathan White, along with linebackers Anthony DeDamos and Valorian Cunningham.  All five are first-year captains.

STINGY DEFENSE
The last time the Wayne State defense held two of its first three opponents to single digit scoring was 1991 - 35-13 loss at Indianapolis, followed by a 21-9 win at Saginaw Valley (TD, PAT and safety) and a 21-9 home win over Valparaiso (FG, TD and missed PAT).

The last time the Warrior defense had allowed fewer than 46 points through the first three games was in 2011 when WSU allowed 34 points (69-24 win over Urbana, 55-0 win over Tiffin, and a 27-10 win over #22 Michigan Tech for a Homecoming game).

CONSISTENT LEADER
Paul Winters is the second-longest tenured football coach in program history this fall with 13 seasons.  He passed the founder of WSU athletics David Holmes in 2014 at 11 seasons (1918-28).  Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis holds the WSU record with 14 seasons (1932-45).

STAFF CONTINUITY
The football coaching staff is very similar to past seasons.  Along with Winters in his 13th season, defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Scott Kazmierski is in his 13th season with the Green & Gold.  Offensive line coach Scott Wooster is in his eighth season, defensive coordinator and secondary coach Brad Wilson is in his fifth season and quarterbacks coach Jeff Reardon is in his fourth season with the Warriors. E.J. Henderson is back for his second season in his latest stint with WSU after serving three years previously (2004-06).  A new coach on the staff is a familiar name to Warrior fans as Jon Robinson returns as the linebackers coach after playing for WSU (2007-11).

MODEL OF SUCCESS
Wayne State has compiled at least a .500 season in seven of the last eight years (2008-16) combining for a 59-37 mark in that span.  Prior to Coach Winters arrival in 2004, the Tartars/Warriors had 10 consecutive losing seasons on the field and only one winning season on the field in 19 years.

THE FRONT LINE
The running game has always been a calling card of Wayne State football and 2016 looks to be no different as the strongest units of the team appear to be its running backs and offensive line.  Last season, WSU rushed for 2,137 yards and 27 touchdowns.  This year's offensive line contingent has quality, versatility and depth.  The five projected starters have made 111 collegiate starts after the first three games, while the back-ups have started a combined 28 contests for the Green and Gold.  Leading the way are graduate student and captain Nate Theaker, fifth-year seniors Robert Kelly, Andrew Zimmerman and JT Pillars, along with junior Tommy Richardson.  Kelly leads the corps having started 34 times, while both Theaker and Richardson have 26 starts with Zimmerman (14) and Pillars (11) getting most of their starts a year ago.

FIRST HALF DOMINATION
Wayne State has been at its best in the first 30 minutes of the game this season.  The Warriors are out-scoring its opponents 73-7 in the first quarter and 108-13 during the first half.  However, on the other side of the coin, WSU is being outscored 54-30 in the second half.

TOM ADAMS HOME COOKING
Tom Adams Field is not an easy place to play for visiting programs.  The Warriors have defended their home turf extremely well in the past eight seasons (2008-16) to a 35-13 tune.  WSU has had a winning record at home in each of the last eight seasons, including a 5-1 mark last season.