Yellow Jackets Come Up Short Against Rose-Hulman

By: Hanna Young

The Defiance College Yellow Jackets took on the Rose-Hulman Fightin’ Engineers on Saturday in Defiance. The Yellow Jackets struck first in the beginning of the 1st quarter when Jordan Ambose found the end zone, which was followed by a Zeke Sanchez PAT for the extra point. This gave Defiance the early lead, however, Rose-Hulman scored the next two touchdowns of the game and then made one of their two PATs. Nearing the end of the first quarter Defiance’s Tawann Rome received a pass from Jordan Ambrose to tie the score at 13. Rose-Hulman had an extra point return for 2 points to regain the lead. Rose-Hulman scored the last touchdown of the quarter to make the score 22-13 going into the second quarter. 

Rose-Hulman started out the second quarter by scoring a touchdown to add to their lead. Defiance answered shortly after when Jordan Ambrose found the end zone on a 6-yard run which was followed by a good PAT by Zeke Sanchez. The Fightin’ Engineers ended the first half by adding yet another touchdown to the scoreboard. 

Defiance came out in the second and tallied the first touchdown of the half. Tyshaun Freeman went on a 46-yard run into the endzone, followed by a good PAT by Zeke Sanchez. Rose-Hulman answered this by adding another two touchdowns to the scoreboard. A 30-yard pass from Jordan Ambrose found Tawann Rome for a touchdown, followed by a good PAT by Zeke Sanchez. This leaves the Yellow Jackets within 17, making the score 57-40. The Fightin’ Engineers round out the third quarter by adding another touchdown.

The fourth quarter started with Rose-Hulman adding tacking on another touchdown. Defiance answered quickly when Dazzmon Garrett received a pass from Jordan Ambrose to try and diminish the lead that the Fightin’ Engineers had. Rose-Hulman scored their last touchdown of the game with under three minutes to go in the contest. However, it was Defiance who struck last when Jordan Ambrose took the ball himself to score the last touchdown of the game. 

The Yellow Jacket offense combined for a total of 500 yards, 280 coming from passing, while the other 220 came from rushing. Jordan Ambrose recorded all 280 passing yards for the Yellow Jackets. Jordan Ambrose also led in rushing yards earning 127, this was followed by Tyshaun Freeman who added 65, while Cooper Sloan added in 23. Dazzmon Garrett led the team in receiving yards with 114, he was closely followed by Tawann Rome who added in 112. Zeke Sanchez sent 4 of his 6 extra point attempts sailing through the uprights. Cole Recker punted 3 times for a total of 133 yards, while Mathew Bolanos punted 2 times earning himself a total of 69 yards. 

On the Defensive side of things the Yellow Jackets recorded 93 tackles, 56 of those being assisted tackles while 37 were solo tackles. Thomas Coltrain led the team in total tackles with 19, this was followed by Jaylen Redd who recorded 16 and Brayden Birkholz who added 10. Thomas Coltrain also led the team in assisted tackles with 12, this was followed by Jaylen Redd with 9 and Brayden Birkholz with 7. Jaylen Redd and Thomas Coltrain each recorded 7 solo tackles, Daniel Budwah added 4 solo tackles. Isiah Watts and Daniel Budwah are both credited with breaking up a pass. 

The Yellow Jacket will be back in action against Bluffton on Saturday, November 11, 2023 at 1:30 pm. Come out and support the Seniors on their Senior Day!