Davis, Dragons dominate Gannon, move to 2-0

After not playing since the fall of 2019, Tiffin played one game against Walsh two weeks ago. Lake Erie postponed last weekend due to COVID protocols, so with an open week, the Dragons scheduled Gannon University.The key for the Dragons was how they would come out to play after another layoff – just not quite as long of one.TU answered that question early on the first drive Saturday and then continued to roll over the Golden Knights for a convincing 42-7 victory.With the win, the Dragons are now 2-0 and travel to Hillsdale next Saturday."I think it was one of those days when we executed and do what we were supposed to do that good things happened," Dragons coach Cris Reisert said. "When our focused waned or our focus slipped a little bit that's when you started to see a missed tackle, or a big run or a missed assignment, so it was mostly about us doing our job. Good things happened."This was huge for us to be able to play this game. If we didn't play this game then we'd be going into Hillsdale after two bye weeks, so we needed this time to come together as a football team. We needed to get our rhythm back and you saw the rhythm is still a little erratic and it still needs to be ironed out and smoothed out, but this week was huge for us to take the next step forward as a football program. This spring has been wild and our guys have weathered the storm and finally with a chance to play one more game where they can do what they love to do … it was fun to watch them."A few days after NFL hopeful JaQuan Hardy showed off his skills at his pro day, it was redshirt freshman running back Marcus Davis who showed everyone what type of back Tiffin (2-0) has this season. Davis scored four times Saturday, including the first three TDs for the Dragons in the first half. Davis ran in a 3-yard score and then added an 8-yard rumble later in the first quarter as TU led 14-0 after the opening quarter.After Gannon's (1-1) only score of the game, which came from a 23-yard pass from Nick Demchuk to Alex Whittaker on play action, Davis tacked on a 13-yard TD run to give the Dragons the momentum back late in the first half."Marcus had a really good day," Reisert said. "He's a really good back and we just have to keep feeding him the football. He gets more confident as the game goes on and I think as the season goes on you'll see him continue to be a really good football player for us and the next level is yet to come for him, being that feature guy who can carry the load."We are looking forward to seeing that and the experience will be really good for him as the season goes on and giving him the opportunity to be the back he's capable of being."The play of the game was right at the end of the first half.TU led 21-7, but Gannon got the ball to start the second half.The Golden Knights were still hanging around, but a huge play from senior quarterback Nick Watson provided the crushing blow.TU got the ball at its own 40 with just 27 seconds left in the opening half.Watson scrambled for 17 yards on the first play and then tossed a 5-yard pass to Devon Lynch. With about 13 seconds on the clock, Watson dropped back to pass. He couldn't find anyone open downfield so he took off. He shook off a defender or two and tiptoed his way down the left sideline for a monstrous 38-yard TD as the half expired.Instead of going into the half up 21-7, the Dragons now led by 21."It was a big play and that's why there's the saying big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games," Reisert said of Watson's scramble. "He's one of those guys where the chips are down, the clocks running down and he had to score and he scored. That's just him being a great player. There's no play call or a scheme or anything like that, that's him being a great player, so he showed up which gave us the three-score cushion going into the half, which allowed us to get the momentum back in our favor."Then we scored on the first two possessions out of halftime and got stops defensively, so it was nice to go into half with momentum and then come out hungry in the second half and put the nail in the coffin early."In the second half, Davis scored his fourth TD of the game and then Devin Nelson scored on a 32-yard burst right up the middle late in the third.All game, the key defensively was to limit Gannon running back Michiah Burton. He had 28 rushes for 95 yards, but overall, the Golden Knights only had 220 total yards, including just 105 through the air. The Dragons defensive front was all over quarterback Nick Demchuk, which caused an early interception caught by Tiffin's Jermaine Wimpye that gave TU some momentum."I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage particularly on the defensive side of the ball," Reisert said. "I thought our defensive line played really physical and our linebackers were downhill and filling gaps and winning their one-on-ones. "I'm proud of those guys on defense where now it's two weeks in a row I think we've played pretty well on defense, so we have to keep building on that momentum and keep getting better, better and better."For the game, Davis rushed for 59 yards on 15 attempts, while Watson was 14 of 23 passing for 233 yards. Anthony Lowe led TU in receiving with six catches for 107 yards.