No. 9 Findlay owned the Battle of 224 from start to finish. The Oilers beat Tiffin 30-7 on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Frost-Kalnow Stadium, winning the rivalry trophy for the first time since 2022, BVM Sports reported from the University of Findlay’s game account.
The dominance was in the totals. Findlay outgained Tiffin 332-74 and held a 207-52 edge in passing yards, BVM Sports reported — a defensive performance that never let the Dragons build a drive that mattered.
The win closes the regular season at 10-1 overall and 8-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference for Findlay, while Tiffin finished 6-5 overall and 5-4 in conference play, BVM Sports reported.
The rivalry context is what made Saturday sting for the home crowd: Findlay had not won the Battle of 224 since 2022 and lost in heartbreaking fashion a year ago, BVM Sports reported. This time there was no heartbreak in it — the Oilers controlled the game in front of what the report described as a stunned Tiffin crowd.
A 30-7 road win over a winning team, with a 258-yard advantage in total offense, is the kind of closing statement a 10-1 team wants heading into the postseason conversation in Division II.
For Tiffin, the numbers tell the season-ending story plainly: 74 total yards of offense against a ranked rival, at home, in the finale. A defense that gives up 30 will lose some games; an offense held under 100 total yards will lose almost all of them, and Saturday the Dragons got both halves of that equation at once, according to the totals BVM Sports reported.
The Battle of 224 is the short-trip rivalry between the two schools along State Route 224, and its trophy now changes hands for the first time in four years. Findlay’s win also flips last year’s result — a heartbreaking Oilers loss, in BVM Sports’ telling — into the program’s most complete performance of the season, on the road, with the trophy on the line.
What happens next is the wait: Findlay’s 10-1 finish puts the Oilers in position for what comes after the regular season, while Tiffin’s season ends at 6-5 with the trophy headed back down Route 224 to Findlay.
Photo: JJonahJackalope, CC BY-SA