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FB Preview: Jackets head to Manchester for last road game of '23
October 27, 2023

FB Preview: Jackets head to Manchester for last road game of '23

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SATURDAY'S GAME: Defiance College visits Manchester for the Yellow Jackets' last road game of the season and final road football game as a D-III program. A victory today would be the first consecutive wins of the year and give the Jackets a winning record in conference play this late in the season since starting HCAC play 3-2 back in 2016.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Yellow Jackets recorded a season-high 36 points while the defense posted a season-low six points allowed at Anderson. After an early Tyshaun Freeman rushing touchdown, DC's defense and special teams added touchdowns in the first half on Thomas Coltrain's 95-yard fumble recovery touchdown and a punt block by Damarion LaBlanc recovered in the end zone by Anthony Southerland.
 
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 6-5 over the last 11 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, which was also the first time Defiance started HCAC play 1-0 since 2010. Defiance currently boasts the top passing defense in the HCAC allowing just 193 yards per game and the third-best total defense at 373.6 yards per game. Offensively, the Yellow Jackets rank third in rushing at 200.7 yards per game while ranking last in pass offense at 159 yards per week.
 
ABOUT THE SPARTANS: Manchester is Defiance's second straight winless opponent and have lost 16 consecutive games dating back to at Week 1 win at North Park last season. Manchester's last win in an HCAC contest was the final game of 2021, a 3-0 home victory against Anderson. Last week, the Spartans suffered a 50-12 loss at Bluffton and head to Franklin next week before wrapping up the season with Anderson. The Spartans are last in the HCAC in offensive scoring (5.7 points per game), total yardage (198.6 yards per game) and rushing offense (37.4 yards per game) while committing the most turnovers in the conference (28). In seven games, the Spartans have been shutout three times and have not scored more than 14 points in a game, which was in Week 4 at Mount St. Joseph. On the defensive side of the ball, Manchester has allowed 50 points or more four times and rank last in the HCAC in rush defense at 237 yards per game. Manchester is led by first-year head coach Vann Hunt.
 
THE SERIES: Defiance and Manchester will lock horns for the 58th time on Saturday with Defiance seeking a second straight win in the series after taking last year's contest 24-21. The last three games have gone to the home squad including the last Defiance visit to Manchester in 2021, a 22-0 Spartan win. Saturday marks DC's last HCAC game against the Spartans and potentially the last of 24 straight seasons with Manchester on the schedule. Manchester holds a slight edge during Defiance's HCAC era with a 12-11 record in conference games since DC joined the conference in 2000. Defiance and Manchester have played at least each other at least one time in every decade since the 1920s except the 1950s due to no meetings from 1947-66.
 
TOUCHDOWN TYSHAUN: Senior running back Tyshaun Freeman continues to produce for Defiance and has recorded four multi-touchdown games this season. After an early rushing touchdown in last week's game, Freeman snagged his first career receiving touchdown in the second half to give him six multi-touchdown performances for his career at DC. One of Defiance's eight members of the 2,000 career rushing yard club, Freeman is ranked tied for sixth with 18 career rushing scores and is just two yards shy of reaching fourth place on the program's career rushing yards list. For 2023, Freeman is ranked third in the HCAC with 669 yards and second with eight rushing scores, which are both career highs.
 
ALL ABOARD THE COLTRAIN: Senior linebacker Thomas Coltrain wrote his name into the DC record book with the longest fumble recovery returned for a touchdown, a play that went for 95 yards. Paired with eight more tackles, Coltrain earned his third-career HCAC Defensive Player of the Week Award. Coltrain was also honored by D3Football.com on their national Team of the Week. The Leslie, Mich. native is 59 tackles behind the program tackle record of 372 and just five solo stops away from setting the solo tackles record. Donny Mutters set each of those tackle marks from 1988-91.
 
ADJUSTMENTS FOR JORDAN: Quarterback Jordan Ambrose played turnover-free football last week to break a string of four straight games with at least one, including back-to-back games with multiple interceptions. Earlier this season, DC's signal caller tossed for a career-high 369 yards passing and program-record 33 completions at Kalamazoo. He set a career-high with 144 rushing yards in Week 2 at Adrian followed by a 120-yard performance the next week. Entering Week 8 with 354 rushing yards, Ambrose is within reach of the first DC quarterback to have a 500-yard rushing season since Powell's 565 in 2011.
 
ROAD WARRIORS: The Yellow Jackets have been busy away from the hive this fall and have gone 3-1 in road games. The Jackets average 33 points per game away from home and 409.5 yards per contest. At home, the Jackets have been outscored on average of 47.3-16.0 with 263.0 total yards for and 468.7 allowed. DC's home opponents (Mount Union, MSJ, Franklin) are a combined 16-5 through Week 7.
 
JACKETS TAKE 2 OF 3 POW AWARDS: In addition to Thomas Coltrain's HCAC Defensive Player of the Week Award, freshman Damarion LaBlanc was honored at the conference's Special Teams Player of the Week. LaBlanc blocked an Anderson punt deep in Ravens territory that the Jackets recovered for a touchdown, which was the second such play LaBlanc caused this season.