FINDLAY, Ohio – On their home field in the regular season finale, the Oilers of Findlay made it a day to remember in the program’s history by defeating Tiffin to claim the 2021 Great Midwest Athletic Conference football championship on Saturday, 26-21.
In six years, the Great Midwest has now seen five different schools now rise as the cream of the crop to the top of the league standings.
In 2021, it is Findlay’s turn to celebrate after finishing with a 6-1 conference record. The Oilers, regionally ranked for two weeks in a row in Super Region 1, will now await the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday night at 5 p.m. ET to learn of their postseason fate as part of the national championship field.
With no automatic qualifiers in Division II football, the Oilers have earned access status as a conference championship winner. The conference participant for the America’s Crossroads Bowl against an unknown Great Lakes Valley Conference opponent, will also be known later on Sunday evening.
The Oilers (8-3, 6-1) stopped a two-year championship run by the Dragons (8-3, 5-2) at Donnell Stadium and played their close rival for a championship for the second time in the current calendar year dating back to the spring clash at Frost-Kalnow Stadium.
The Oilers reeled off the game’s first 14 points much to the delight of the home crowd as RB Brian Benson started what turned out to be a monster day on the ground. Benson scored from nine and 10 yards out for scoring runs in the first quarter.
Benson would finish the day with 38 carries for 244 yards and three touchdowns, including a long of 32. He averaged 6.4 yards per carry against a tough Tiffin run defense.
His counterpart in the backfield also provided scoring punch as RB Darius Pinnix accounted for two rushing scores on his own. Pinnix also scored twice in the first half, punching it in from the red zone from five and 13 yards.
His second rushing TD capped a long 12 play drive that chewed up almost five and a half minutes of clock and made the score 20-14.
In the previous drive, Benson scored his third touchdown on the ground in the first half to give the Oilers a 20-7 advantage. After drilling a game-winning field goal vs. Ashland in Week 10, K Austin Snyder delivered a pair of field goals in chilly conditions with wind to put a critical six points on the board.
Snyder drilled a 38-yard attempt before halftime and after a scoreless third quarter between both teams, converted a 25-yard kick in the fourth quarter. The Oilers defense was buoyed by DL Ervin Besingi, who recorded five tackles, including four behind the original line of scrimmage, along with two sacks and one forced fumble.
Marqis Stokes led Findlay with eight total tackles while three different Dragons had nine tackles each, Tyler Richardson, Jacob Mertus and Patrick Tueimeh.