No. 9 Findlay left no doubt in the Battle of 224 this time. The Oilers scored 10 seconds into the game, built a 23-0 halftime lead and beat rival Tiffin 30-7 on Saturday afternoon at Frost-Kalnow Stadium, ending a three-game losing streak in the rivalry, closing the regular season 10-1 and sending the Dragons into the offseason at 6-5, Tiffin University Athletics reported in its game recap.
Findlay seized momentum on its opening possession: just 10 seconds into the Oilers’ first drive, Dominic Bennett broke free for a 52-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead. A 44-yard field goal from Zachary Barzd made it 10-0 after one quarter, and the Oilers’ two-quarterback connection took over in the second — Khilee White hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Leonard midway through the quarter, then added a 12-yard scoring reception from Chase Harrison with 22 seconds left in the half for a 23-0 lead at the break, according to the Tiffin recap.
White finished as the game’s offensive catalyst with six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns, while Bennett added 98 rushing yards and his early score. Findlay finished with commanding advantages in total offense (332-74), passing yards (207-52) and time of possession (32:54 to 27:06), the recap said — a statistical profile that matched the eye test: Tiffin’s offense, led all season by the Great Midwest Athletic Conference’s rushing leader, never found room against the nation’s top-ranked Division II scoring defense.
Tiffin’s one sustained answer came after halftime, and it started on defense. Frank Bertram forced and recovered a Harrison fumble deep in Dragon territory, and the offense marched 85 yards on 18 plays, consuming more than eight minutes behind runs from Daniel Weems and a pair of Joey Zalewski receptions. Jordan Edwards powered in on a reverse from two yards out with 47 seconds left in the third quarter to make it 23-7, according to the recap.
The Dragons’ defense kept fighting — Jacob Tueimeh posted a game-high 13 tackles, Lennox Williams added 12 stops, and Bertram finished with five tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery as Tiffin recorded five sacks as a team, the recap said. But Findlay answered midway through the fourth quarter with a 46-yard march capped by an eight-yard Harrison-to-Christian Davis touchdown pass, restoring the 23-point margin for the final 30-7 score. Tiffin had celebrated its 2026 senior class before kickoff; Edwards, with 18 all-purpose yards, accounted for the Dragons’ lone touchdown.
The result rewrites a rivalry that had tilted hard toward Tiffin. Findlay holds a commanding all-time series lead — 29-6 after Saturday — dating to a 35-3 road win in 1986, including a 51-0 shutout in 2003 and a 16-game winning streak from 1994 to 2017, according to the University of Findlay’s game preview. But since the schools joined the G-MAC the matchup has been a coin flip, and Tiffin had won the last three meetings, most painfully a 23-21 stunner on November 15, 2025, decided on the game’s final play. Findlay’s previous Battle of 224 win had come in 2022, a 27-25 road victory — the same script, flipped, that the Oilers finally repeated Saturday.
The win also carries program history. Findlay’s preview noted that a 10th victory would tie the program record for regular-season wins in its NCAA era and secure back-to-back double-digit-win campaigns for the first time since the 1996-97 seasons. The defense burnished its own case in the process: the Oilers entered allowing 9.8 points per game, the best scoring defense in Division II, with the second-ranked rushing defense and third-ranked total defense, and the seven points allowed kept them under every season-mark threshold the preview laid out.
Saturday closed a Northwest Ohio football weekend that also reshaped the high school playoff picture on Friday night, when Ontario’s big plays beat St. Marys Memorial 38-21 to reach a regional final and Carey outlasted Delta 24-18 in overtime. Findlay’s win was the college game of the day in the region, and it was not close.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: Findlay is 10-1 overall and 8-1 in the G-MAC, the Battle of 224 trophy is back in Findlay for the first time since 2022, and Tiffin’s season is over at 6-5 overall and 5-4 in conference play. What we’re still waiting on is Findlay’s postseason assignment — the Oilers’ record and No. 9 national ranking put them in line for the NCAA Division II playoffs, and the next concrete step is the playoff selection, where Findlay will learn its first-round opponent and whether the road to a championship runs through Donnell Stadium.