Terra Nova hold off Hillsdale in football opener

The students in the Hillsdale student cheering section were certainly feeling themselves as they rode every dropped Terra Nova pass and miscue.

But it was the Terra Nova fans crowing last, however, as Hillsdale’s 2-point pass attempt with under 20 seconds to play fell harmlessly to the turf and the Tigers escaped with a 14-13 victory.

Hillsdale outgained Terra Nova 324 to 236. Hillsdale quarterback Liam Smith completed 21 of 25 passes fro 206 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a score.

His Terra Nova counterpart, Dominic Gordon, was 10 for 17 for 137 yards. He also threw and ran for a touchdown.

Terra Nova receiver Nat Bendo finished with four catches for 74 yards, while Hillsdale was led by Danny Aspillera, who caught three passes for 85 yards.

Miles Palmer led the Terra Nova ground attack, rushing for a game-high 79 yards on 13 carries. Josh Violette was Hillsdale’s leading rusher, finishing with 73 yards on 18 carries.

A defensive battle most of the game, Hillsdale clung to a 7-6 lead as the teams entered the fourth quarter.

And then the excitement level ratcheted up. On the second play of the final period, Hillsdale safety Matt Spivack stepped in front of a Gordon pass, intercepted it and returned it to the Tigers’ 45-yard line. The Knights drove to the Terra Nova 13 before turning the ball on downs.

That gave Terra Nova possession and after struggling for most of the evening, put together its best drive of the game — and they did the heavy lifting on the ground. The Tigers overcame a holding penalty on the third play of the drive with Frank Ward gaining 12 and then a Knights’ personal foul penalty gave the Tigers 15 more and a first down.

Three plays later, Gordon hooked up with Corey O’Brien for a 15-yard gain to the Hillsdale 45. Three plays later, it looked as if the Knights got the stop they were looking for when defensive lineman Cole Sullivan stepped in front of a Gordon screen attempt, but couldn’t hold on to a potential interception.

The Tigers took advantage of the reprieve and on the next play, Gordon hooked up with Bendo for a 24-yard scoring strike for a 12-7 lead. Gordon then found O’Brien for the 2-point conversion and the Tigers led 14-7 with 4:08 to play.

The Tigers, however, picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following the touchdown, which was enforced on the ensuing kickoff. Hillsdale’s Zach Leighton fielded the kick at his own 27 and was taken down at the Tigers’ 30.

The Knights took four plays to move the ball to the Terra Nova 3-yard line following a 9-yard scamper from Smith. Violette plunged to 1 and on second-and-goal from 1-yard line and just over 20 seconds to play, Smith took the snap, shook off a tackle in the backfield and bulled his way into the end zone to cut the Terra Nova lead to 14-13.

But Smith could not hook up with Aspillera on a crossing pattern in the back of the end zone and Terra Nova secured the victory after recovering the onside kick.

Neither team could manage to score in the first quarter as both teams showed the first-game jitters. Hillsdale took the opening kickoff a took more than five minutes off the clock, moving forward as much as it did backward with a number of penalties on the drive.

The Knights eventually turned the ball over downs at the Tigers’ 39.

Terra Nova proceeded to move to the Hillsdale 3-yard line, but the Knights stiffened and the Tigers attempted a 20-yard field that went wide right as time expired in the opening period.

Hillsdale took over at its own 20 and went 80 yards in 10 plays. The Knights managed to overcome an 11-yard fumble loss on the second play of the drive and a holding penalty later.

But those were offset by a 26-yard quarterback run from Smith and a Smith-to-Aspillera for a 40-gain down to the Terra Nova 5.

On the next play, Smith and Aspillera hooked up again for a 5-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Terra Nova came right back on its next drive. Starting at their own 38, the Tigers picked up a first down before Palmer took a handoff at the Hillsdale 46 and weaved his way down to the 4-yard line before the ball popped loose and the Knights recovered.

But the referees huddled and eventually ruled that Palmer was down by contact before the fumble and the ball went back to Tigers.

The Knights stopped them three times inside the 5 before Gordon took it upon himself and ran in from a yard out.

The Tigers missed the extra point, however, and trailed 7-6.

They were fortunate not to be down by more, but Hillsdale’s Leighton was stopped at the goal line as time expired in the first half.