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The Malone University football team dropped its Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contest in overtime to Tiffin University on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 27-24.

The game's outcome mirrored recent history between the two teams.  Prior to Saturday, the last four meetings between the Pioneers and Dragons had been decided by six points or less.  In fact, the last two match-ups in Canton went to double overtime with Malone prevailing 33-27 in 2012 and 40-34 in 2011. 

However, this time it was Tiffin who secured a narrow victory at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. 

Malone twice fought back from fourth-quarter deficits.  The Pioneers tied the game 21-21 on Matt Blasiole's third touchdown run of the game, a 21-yard dash with just under seven minutes to play. 

After a 46-yard field goal put the visitors back in front at the 3:32 mark, the Pioneers engineered a nine-play, 62-yard drive to once again tie things up.  Quarterback Will Szpor connected with wide receiver Ashton Dulin on key 30-yard completion in the waning moments of regulation.  Malone quickly called its last timeout and kicker Devin Wallace trotted on to the field.  His game-tying attempt from 30 yards out appeared to get tipped at the line of scrimmage, but the ball found its way over the crossbar with three ticks remaining on the fourth-quarter clock, sending the game to overtime knotted at 24-24.

Tiffin got the ball first in the extra period and moved to the 18-yard line before settling for kicker Tomislav Derezic's fifth field goal of the afternoon, a 36-yarder that put the Dragons in front.

Malone advanced the ball to the Tiffin 19-yard line on its possession before Dragon defensive back Stefan Willis brought the contest to a close, notching his second interception of the afternoon on a fourth-down pass attempt.

Blasiole had a monster game for the Pioneers, establishing a new Malone single-game rushing record with 279 yards on the ground.  The sophomore from Lake High School broke the mark during overtime, edging the previous record of 277 yards that was set by Bernard Payton in a 2006 victory over rival Walsh University.

The Dragons pulled out to a 9-0 lead early in the contest before the Pioneers fought back to take a 14-9 advantage at halftime.  Blasiole cut the deficit to 9-7 early in the second quarter after breaking off a 75-yard touchdown run.  The sophomore tailback blasted up the middle and then turned on the jets, out-running the Tiffin secondary on the longest run of his collegiate career and the third-longest (tied) run from scrimmage in Pioneer history.

After the Malone defense forced a TU punt, the hosts put together a quick five-play, 70-yard drive.  Szpor connected on lengthy passes to wide receivers Tyler Billie and Eian Elsass before Blasiole punched it in from six yards out, putting the Pioneers on top 14-9 midway through the second quarter.

The Dragons regained the lead early in the third stanza on a 72-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Antonio Pipkin to wide receiver Jalen Santoro and then tacked on a pair of Derezic field goals to make the score 21-14 early in the fourth.

Individual Highlights (Malone)
-Szpor completed 11 of 20 pass attempts for 153 yards
-Elsass was the Pioneers' leading receiver with four catches for 45 yards
-Lucas Haupt finished with 11 total tackles, a tackle for loss and two pass break-ups
-LBs Fred Baker Jr. and Ryan Weber each had eight tackles
-LB Dan Mower had seven tackles
-DB James Pawlyk made six stops and intercepted a pass
 
Individual Highlights (Tiffin)
-Pipkin completed 24 of 41 pass attempts for 387 yards with two TDs and one interception
-Santoro notched a game-high 139 yards on five receptions
-Derezic hit five of six field goals
 
Game Notes
-The Malone offense set season-highs for total yards (427), rushing yards (274) and first downs (20) in the contest
-Last year's 55-34 shootout with Lake Erie marked the last time Malone had eclipsed 400 total yards or 250 rushing yards 
-The Pioneer defense also posted season-highs with three sacks, seven tackles for loss and six pass break-ups
-The Dragons posted 387 passing yards but were held to just 78 yards on the ground, far below their season average of 255.3 rushing yards per game
-Pipkin entered the game with the seventh most rushing yards in NCAA Division II (443) and although he had success through the air (387 yards), the Pioneer defense managed to limit him to 40 rushing yards on 14 attempts (2.9)
-The last time a Pioneer ran for more than 200 yards in a game was in 2010 when Markus McFolling totaled 236 yards against Olivet Nazarene University
 
Up Next: Malone will host its Homecoming Game against Ashland University next Saturday.  Kickoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.