KALAMAZOO, Mich. — In a game that had a lot of steaks on the line for both western and central, the broncos earn a 38-28 win in the battle for the cannon and keep their bowl eligibility hopes alive.
"It means a lot, it's different than what I expected. Coming into the game I had the mindset to treat it like any other game but at the end of the day it's not that. There is so much history in this rivalry and sitting here pre-game, we watched a video and there were a couple different Bronco legends and that's when it kinda clicked for me, this game means a lot to a lot of different people," said quarterback Hayden Wolff.
Wolff had a stand out game. Was 25 of 36 with 333 yards and three touchdowns against the Chippewas.
Western dominated through the first half but it was all Chippewas in the third quarter. Scoring 21 unanswered and tying it going into the 4th. Leon Thomas finished it out with a 41 yard catch and a 27 yard field goal from Palmer Domschke. Head coach Lance Taylor is now the first coach in program history to win this rivalry game in his first year. But he says it's not about him.
"I didn't win this game. Those players and coaches in that locker room won this game. And they won last game. They have continued to believe in the mission and vision that I've set forth every single day. The last two weeks you've really seen the fruit of what we've been sewing. We've talked about attitude, effort, toughness and discipline. Last week it showed up at Eastern. This week it showed up again. No matter what our record was, no matter who we played, those guys showed up every single day. Rolled their sleeves up and went to work even when it wasn't easy," said Taylor.
Lance called this two trophy Tuesday because not only did they win the victory cannon, but they won the Michigan MAC trophy too. Next up, the broncos will travel to Northern Illinois to take on the huskies. They’ll need to win out if they want to make it to a bowl game.
