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FB Preview: Jackets look to bounce back against Franklin
October 13, 2023

FB Preview: Jackets look to bounce back against Franklin

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SATURDAY'S GAME: Defiance College plays their third home game of the season and second in a row by hosting the Franklin Grizzlies in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference action.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Defiance's homecoming game was dampened by a 62-21 loss to the HCAC's defending champions and preseason favorite Mount St. Joseph. The Jackets turned the ball over four times as the Lions had five first-half possessions begin on DC's end of the field. MSJ QB Josh Taylor threw four touchdown passes and ran for one more. After trailing 42-0 at halftime, Defiance's offense picked up steam in the second half and scored touchdowns on three of their last four possessions.
 
ABOUT THE YELLOW JACKETS: Defiance College continues to build upon a strong finish to the 2022 season that ended with a 3-7 record and are 5-4 over the last nine games. Under second-year head coach Bill Nickell, Defiance snapped a 14-game non-conference losing streak and 17-game non-conference road game schedule with a Week 2 win at Adrian. Additionally, the Jackets' conference-opening win over then 3-0 Hanover was DC's first takedown of an undefeated team with multiple wins since beating 3-0 Rockford in 2001. Defiance is the third-best rushing team in the HCAC by averaging 188 yards per game and fifth in total offense at 368 yards per game.
 
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES: Franklin College travels to Defiance with back-to-back wins following an 0-3 start. Facing some stiff competition to start the year that included home losses to Olivet and No. 20 Aurora followed by a road loss at Trine, the Grizzlies are in the thick of the HCAC race with a 31-24 win over Bluffton and 36-28 triumph at Anderson. Featuring the second-best rushing offense in the conference, the Grizzlies offense is paced by the conference's leading rusher Garrett Cora with 629 yards and 10 touchdowns. Cora has won back-to-back HCAC Offensive Player of the Week awards after a career-high 265 yards versus Bluffton followed by program-record four rushing touchdowns last week at Anderson. On the defensive side of the ball, Franklin ranks last in the HCAC with 506.6 total yards allowed with 38 points allowed per contest. Franklin's head coach Alan Hensell is in his fourth season as head coach at his alma mater and owns a record of 16-16. 
 
THE SERIES: The Yellow Jackets seek their first victory over Franklin since 2005 in the 25th all-time meeting between the two colleges. Last year, Franklin claimed a 48-19 victory on their home field to give the Grizzlies their 17th straight win over the Yellow Jackets. The 2005 contest was held at DC with the Jackets winning 38-23 and was just the fourth win over Franklin in school history. Aside from a meeting in 1946 that Defiance won 15-6, all other 23 contests have been in HCAC competition. Franklin leads the all-time series, 24-4.
 
WELCOMING WINNERS: The Yellow Jackets have hosted tough competition in their two home games this season. Starting the year with No. 2 Mount Union then conference-leading Mount St. Joseph last week, Defiance's home opponents are a combined 9-1 through the first five weeks of the season. Overall this season, Defiance's opponents are 17-9 with four of five opponents sporting winning records through five games.
 
THE JORDAN AMBROSE EXPERIENCE: Senior quarterback Jordan Ambrose has displayed his dual-threat skills early this season with notable marks through the air and on the ground. Ambrose ran for a career-high 144 yards in Week 2 at Adrian followed up with a 120-yard performance two weeks ago to become the first DC quarterback with consecutive 100-yard rushing games since Ricky Powell in 2010. He is also the first DC QB with multiple 100-yard rushing games in the same season since Sean Washington in 2013. Ambrose ranks fifth in the HCAC with 263 rushing yards. He is also making strides with his passing game after setting a program record with 33 pass completions in the Week 3 game at Kalamazoo while tossing for a career-high 369 yards. Responsible for eight total touchdowns, Ambrose has thrown and rushed for a touchdown in the same game four times in his career. A native of Tomball, Texas, Ambrose threw for 1,282 yards with 11 touchdowns while also running for 395 yards and four scores to earn Honorable Mention All-HCAC in 2022.
 
TYSHAUN ON 2K WATCH: Senior running back Tyshaun Freeman is poised to join elite rushing company with just 10 yards required to reach 2,000 for his career at Defiance. The Macon, Ga. native would be the eighth player in DC football history to reach that plateau and is currently eighth in career rushing yards with 1,990. After his third-career multi-touchdown game two weeks at Hanover, Freeman is now tied for 10th in career rushing touchdowns at Defiance with 14. Freeman also has eight 100-yard games in his career, including one this year while he has averaged 87.0 yards per game over the last four games.
 
ALL ABOARD THE COLTRAIN: Defiance's defense has a number of key returners at all three levels and are led by senior linebacker Thomas Coltrain. The Leslie, Mich. native is a three-time First Team All-HCAC selection and reigning Second Team All-Region. Game-by-game, Coltrain is climbing DC's all-time total tackle list and now stands seventh in career stops with 294 after 10 more in the game versus MSJ. Coltrain also ranks tied for third in career solo tackles with 191. With six more stops to reach 300 career tackles, Coltrain would become the seventh member of the 300-tackle club at Defiance. Donny Mutters (1988-91) owns the career tackles record with 372 in addition to the solo tackles mark of 204.