WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Charger Rundown: Max Versluys 9/29/2026

Episode Date: September 30, 2026

Caleb and Daniel give an update on Charger sports news and interview Max Versluys, a member of Hillsdale’s shotgun team.

and welcome to the Charger Rundown, the show where each week we give you an update on all that's happening in the Charger Sports world. I'm Caleb Lee, and you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. The Hillsdale College football team got back on track at home on Saturday, shaking off a tough loss on the road the previous week with a blazing hot start in a 38 to 7 win over visiting Thomas Moore. Hillsdale scored touchdowns on each of its first three drives and overcame a third quarter lull to pull away for the video. victory. The Chargers opened the game with the ball and marched 74 yards on eight plays. Undeterred by a penalty that nullified a wide open touchdown to Andrew Kinesni. Four plays later, quarterback Eli Boyce found tailback Ben Gishu on a screen pass to the right for a six-yard touchdown that gave the Chargers an early lead. Thomas Moore moved the ball to midfield on the

ensuing drive, but after a sack on second and four by Hillsdale's Drake Badger, Colin Morrow forced a fumble on a short screen pass in the backfield by the Saints, and freshman Matthew McElroy pounced on the loose ball to give the Chargers possession. Hillsdale made immediate use of the short field to strike quickly as Colin McCurnon moved the chains on quick passes to Kinesni and Shea Ruddy to get in the red zone, then scrambled to the end zone himself and powered through a would-be tackler on an 11-yard touchdown run that gave the Chargers a 14-0 lead less than 10 minutes into the game. The Chargers defense came up big a second time on Thomas Moore's ensuing possession as

Luke Pinola and Cost Davis stopped the Saints running back a yard short of the first down at 4th and 2 on the Hillsdale 47 to get the ball back. Driving the other direction, Boyce found freshman tight end Will Simpson wide open in a seam in the middle of the field for a 30-yard score to give Hillsdale a 21-0 lead. Hillsdale was in control of the game, but Thomas Moore asserted itself defensively to slow down the contest, stopping Hillsdale on back-to-back drives to prevent the chargers from extending the lead and keeping the deficit at 210 heading into the half. A slow start by the charges coming out of the break gave Thomas Moore some momentum as the Saints recovered a Hillsdale fumble and got

on the board with a 44-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing play early in the third quarter. On Hillsdale's next drive, Thomas Moore picked off a pass, their second interception of the game, and suddenly the Saints were threatening with wind at their sails. The Chargers did, Defense, however, stepped up once again for Hillsdale. Evan Bynick recovered a Saints fumble to kill the drive off the turnover. And after the Chargers failed to move the ball and gave Thomas Moore another shot, Koss Davis and Layton Scott broke up a deep ball to get the Saints off the field once more. That proved to be the stand that Hillsdale needed to put the game away. The Chargers capitalized on the ensuing possession, with Shea Ruddy scoring from four yards

out on a run to restore Hillsdale's 21-point advantage with a minute 15. to play in the third quarter. The Chargers would tack on two more scores to pull away in the fourth quarter. Kinesni was able to get on the board in the fourth after having his touchdown in the first quarter wiped out, catching a shovel pass from Avery Holt and rumbling four yards for the score to put the Chargers up 35 to 7. And Dylan Dadaria was true from 34 yards on a field goal attempt with a minute 18 to go to give Hillsdale a 38 to 7 lead that would stand as the final. Hillsdale outgained Thomas Moore 393 yards to

188, overcoming a sloppy game offensively that included three turnovers and nine penalties. Four quarterbacks played for the Chargers with McCurnin going 11 for 15 with 105 passing yards and 23 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Well, Boyce led Hillsdale in rushing yards

with 66 yards on 10 carries and also was 8 to 13 for 96 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Holt added 31, yards rushing along with the four-yard touchdown pass. Gishu finished with 30 yards on four carries for Hillsdale, and Ruddy added 29 yards and a rushing touchdown on six attempts, while also leading Hillsdale through the air with four catches for 68 yards. Tut Kariko added five catches for 48 yards as well. Several players had strong games for the Chargers,

who were one long pass away from pitching their second shotout of the season. Luke Panola led Hillsdale with eight tackles while Evan Bynick chicked in five tackles, two for loss, a sack, and two quarterback hurries. Jonah Jensen added four tackles and two pass breakups. Colin Morrow chipped in three tackles, one for loss, and the force fumble, and Ryan Ruddy picked off a pass as well for the chargers. Hillsdale improves to three-and-one overall in one-in-one in G-Mack play while remaining a perfect three-and-o at home. Next week, Hillsdale will travel to Lake Erie for a

1 p.m. kickoff looking to keep themselves in the GMAC title race with a homecoming clash against currently undefeated Walsh on the horizon if the chargers can get by the storm. We're now going to go to an interview that Daniel and I recorded with our member of our shotgun team, Max versus Luce. So stick around. You're listening to the Charger Rundown on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. Hello and welcome to the Charger Rundown, the show where each week we give you an up. on what's happening in the Charger sports world. Today, Daniel and I are interviewing a special guest. Max, could you please introduce yourself? Hello there. My name is Max for Slus. I'm a sophomore member of the Hillsdale shotgun team. Max, thank you so much for being here. So I guess the first

question I want to ask you is how is being on the shooting team similar to what you might expect from being on any other athletic team? And how is our shooting team different than a lot of our other athletic programs. The biggest difference is we get made fun of this a lot of whether or not we are actually an athletic team. And I would argue, yes, we are with athletics being an artistic expression of bodily excellence, even though we're not necessarily like physically capable, like we are moving in unison with the target. We travel for sports similar to other teams. We have regular competitions, we have regular practices.

All of us are here on scholarship like many of the other athletes on the college's roster. What separates us, I would say, mostly, is probably that athletic side. A lot of people make fun of us for not being athletes, but I'd stand to differ.

For our listeners, a lot of us are more familiar with football, basketball, volleyball. Could you explain, you know, what shooting and what kind of competitions you guys engage in, what different teams you guys have, can you just overall break down all the events and what it entails training for them?

Yep. So in American shotgunning, we compete in sixth main disciplines, skeet, skit doubles, trap, trap doubles, sporting clays and super sporting clays. Many colleges around the country have different sections of their teams, if you will,

that compete in each of those events. Where at what separates Hillsdale is, we have, we, currently we have 16 current members who compete in all six of these disciplines very effectively. Yeah, thanks for giving this a little rundown of kind of this shooting sports program. When did you yourself first become involved with this? Like how early on did you start, I guess, shooting, you know, using your shotgun? I started at the ripe old age of 11 years old with around Christmas of 2018, I had saved up some money that I wanted to buy my first gun with. And so my dad and I went down to Bob's gun and tackle in Hastings, Michigan and went there,

took a look at the shotgun section, found a cheap American tactical over under 20 gauge, and bought it, brought it out to the range. My dad owns a landscaping company in Grand Rapids. And there's a couple that works for him that there's some. was on the team that I shot for in high school. He found out about this and invited me out to the range. And after we got done, he was like, you know, the team you can join in my dad. I'm like, there's a team.

And so I went out to practice with them on the following Wednesday and I kept going back. I shot with them all through middle and high school and then got picked up by the Chargers, my senior year of high school. Could you elaborate more on how you decided to come to Hillsdale, how you discovered Hillsdale and what was it like choosing Hillsdale after looking around a bunch of different colleges or if Hillsdale was just the perfect one. Hillsdale, I would say it was the perfect one. I first found out about it. Eighth grade, I came here for a shooting competition at the John Anthony Halter Shooting Center and my family and I looked at the core curriculum that they teach here,

the classical liberal education that they offer here. And it was in line with our conservative of Christian values and with a nice cherry on top of the opportunity for a pretty hefty scholarship to come here and compete in the sport that I love. Yeah. And I guess I'd like to talk with you a little more about the academic side. It's something we like to ask all of the athletes who come in here on this show. What has been your experience kind of adjusting to Hillsdale, like adjusting to the workload, which can definitely be a challenge? And tell us a little bit more about what you're studying, what you've enjoyed, what classes you're taking. So currently I'm technically undecided, however, for all intents and purposes, I'm an accounting

major. When it comes to like sport academic balance, it's setting aside those times that I can let go with the sport and really hone in on my academics. For me personally, that's Tuesday and Thursday afternoons because we practice Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 245 to 430. It's been tricky. Being a counting major, there's 55 credits in that major, and they're not easy classes, but I think I've managed. Yeah, you mentioned practice. Could you explain what exactly a shooting practice entails?

Yeah, so we're on 245. We all meet up at the team building at the Halter Center, and we'll get brief, by our coach of what the plan is for the day. Usually we'll run through a mental workout because at least 80% of the sport is mental. And then we'll get our supplies. We'll get our guns. We'll get our shooting supplies.

We'll get our allotment of ammo. Usually we shoot 100 targets the day. And so we'll get 100 shells. And we'll head out to go shoot either ski, trap, or sporting clays. Whatever it is, our coaches decide that we're going to shoot. Yeah. getting back into so talking about this season specifically um how have the competitions been going what's your schedule look like competition wise for those who might be unfamiliar do you guys

have like a season do you have like a certain time of the year that you're most busiest with competitions or is it more spread out uh we do have a season it's not as defined as like a football or baseball season um the main season is gearing up right now for the month of october we have three shoots that we're going to go to, three weekends in a row starting this weekend, where we'll be going down to Marengo, Ohio for the Upper Midwest Conference Championships. We have been shooting a couple of competitions since then. We've had a couple of open sporting clay tournaments where they're just tournaments that anybody can show up to.

And at the last one we went to in Grand Rapids, we cleaned house. And what's it like to travel for those events? Do you travel as a team? Do you drive yourself? what's that process look like? Usually we travel as a team. Usually we'll all load up in the big passenger bus or we'll take two vans. There's usually 15 to 16 of us will go at a time plus two or three coaches and we'll load up in the buses and usually we'll either stay at a small Airbnb or a hotel. All except for nationals in the spring end of March, we'll fly down,

get the rental cars and stay in the Airbnb. And that one's always the most interesting being just a house in Texas with a bunch of coaches and athletes. And it's a great time. So as we heard, you guys spend, as a team, you guys spend six hours a week between the three practices together. You also travel to tournaments together. How else do you bond with your team? And is everyone all friends or do you guys move out into different clusters? I would say a lot of us have moved out into different clusters.

We have a bunch of the guys who are in the Sigma Chi Fraternity. We have a couple of the gals who are, two of them are in Kai Omega and two of them are in Pi Beta Phi. Myself and Henrik Kildall are currently in Legion 12 and a couple of the other guys are in some other groups. But we always take time throughout the semester. We'll usually get dinners together at least once a week throughout the course of events. Every now and again, we'll have game nights at one of the off-campus houses where

our teammates live and we'll usually go to the big events like welcome party or CHP together. On those competition days, do you have a routine that gets you locked in, gets you in the zone? You mentioned that so much of the sport is mental. Do you have a specific routine that you feel helps you focus when you're out there competing or right before you're about to compete? I do, yes. So before, during the competition, I, it's a, it's very much a gentleman sport like kind of like how golf is it's very quiet very professional and i don't talk to anybody and i i stay in my own head and i um i'll often time spend the often spend that time when i'm not shooting either uh praying or i will focus on some of the

dumbest things imaginable i'll notice the blades of grass i'll look at the clouds i'll look at the trees in the distance, just to keep my mind from overloading on thinking about the targets. Beforehand, usually I will run through mental visualization of the competition going well, building up that confidence because it can be very intimidating trying to do this without because you want to avoid being cocky, so to speak. But there is a certain element where you have to build up that self-confidence. and it sometimes can sound like cockiness in your own head, but you have to learn to embrace it.

And usually I'll run through a couple of songs that I enjoy. A's Spade by Motorhead. We didn't start the fire by Billy Joel. I have a strange playlist. And my favorite thing to do is I will picture, there's a good friend of mine, Brent Edwards. He is quite possibly the greatest ski shooter in the entire state of Michigan.

he's won many, many state championships in Detroit. I've shot with him many, many times. And I will, he's the most humble, genuine guy that you'll ever meet in this sport. And I'll just imagine that I'm shooting with him. And I kind of have like the mindset of like, what would Brent do while I'm out here? Yeah, that's great. Now that you're in your second year of being on the shooting team being at Hillsdale, could you tell us about your favorite memory or something really fun that you remember?

Probably one of my favorite memories is during homecoming last year when during the banner drop, when everybody goes to try and claim the central couch for the banner drop, we had taken the front entrance, but the back entrance was being guarded by Galloway. And when the pandemonium ensued of everybody running in to go get the couch, Christian Brosa, Russell Mangapani, and I went and grabbed their grill that they had been pre-gaming behind the back door on and went and stole it and stuck it in the Simpson lobby. And they were all very confused and they came out and found out no grill and all their cookies scattered across the patio.

Yeah, I think one thing, I mean, you're in Simpson dorm like me and I think we've got a great culture there. I want you to just tell us a little more. more like what do you like to do outside of shotgun? What are you up to in the dorm? What are you up to, you know, activity-wise? Because this is obviously such a big part of who you are, but it's not the whole part. So if you could kind of paint, like what else you're up to on a typical week when you're not preparing for competitions, when you're not shooting? Yeah, when I'm not out shooting. Like I said before, I'm a member of a Legion 12 Fulminato where a men's Christian organization on

campus dedicated to building building up men physically, spiritually and mentally. Currently, I'm on the leadership board. I'm in the treasure position currently. I also am a member of the Catholic Society and usually on Sundays when I'm not traveling. I love Frederick Woodward and I. Another member of Legion 12 will often set up carpool rides to go up to the traditional Latin Mass up in Jackson. It's a beautiful service and we love bringing people up there with us. What else? And then just things in the dorm. I've met a bunch of great friends in the dorm. I met both of you my freshman year. I've met my current roommate John Paul Sella.

I've met Andre Laroo. I've met Henry Kildall, who's also on the shooting team with me. And the amount of close friendships that I've developed just from living in the same dorm with fellow like-minded men has, it's truly astonishing. Do you have a one of the, like, I only preface this. What is the craziest story you have about the dorm? That we can put out on air. We can put out on air. Oh, man.

Crazy story. We can put out on air. Just any shenanigans because there's quite a lot that happens. There is. Probably the craziest story I have is when last year, my freshman year, uh, somehow the McIntyre RAs had gotten word that the Galloway Feast event was going to be, that they were going to bring it like in front of McIntyre.

and they weren't too happy about that. So they called a bunch of the juniors and seniors in Simpson. And for some reason, none of them could go down to like prepare for it. So for some reason, they picked me to go down there and start setting up for the retaliation. And so we brought down, what all did we bring down? We brought water, milk, maple syrup, flour, water balloons. And somehow I ended up being the one who was organizing about probably 15 to 20. 20 Simpson dudes and probably 40 Mac girls to lead the charge against someone they came running down the

hill towards McIntyre. And we lit them up with flour, maple syrup, water balloons. It was amazing. And just to, for our listeners who may not be familiar, Feast is an event where the men of Galloway dorm on campus run around shirtless at 1030 every Thursday night and do pushups in front of the women's door. Genuinely just, you know, be loud and about on campus. Obnoxious and ruin everybody's Thursday. So just to add a little context to that story, I think, yeah, that really speaks to kind of the stuff, you know, that happens in college that's fun.

And it's not just, you know, you're not just a member of this shooting team. You're a student too. And, you know, there's this complete picture of you. But I do want to get back again to this current shooting season. Yeah. obviously you've still got a lot of season left. What are your goals moving forward? Not just personal, but also for the team overall.

So the team's ultimate goal, this is true for every year, this year specifically, because we haven't done in a while, is to bring home a national championship this March from San Antonio, Texas. We're a D2 team. So in shotgun, the division just refers to how big the team is. And D2 is anybody from, I believe, 15 to 20. And so we fall right into that category. And our goal, our ultimate goal for every year is to bring home that national championship. Personally, I'm hoping to bring back a national championship in either skeet or skit doubles from that event. And I'm also looking to bring back.

a, bring back, um, uh, ski and ski doubles championships from this current, uh, conference championship that we have this weekend. And then we have another one in Illinois, the following weekend. Which event do you prefer personally? Do you have one that you like more than the other? So in high school, I shot mostly American ski and ski doubles, which for those who aren't aware, or who may know just a little bit about shooting, it's when there's two towers. There's a high house and a low house and they cross in the middle and basically you run in a, you walk in a semicircle around the two towers and shoot the two different targets from different angles. I did that all through high school.

And then Sporting plays is my other passion project. Just because it's like, as I've heard it referred to, it's like golf with a shotgun. You're walking through the woods. Every course is different. You never know what you're going to get. And trap for all the people who may know anything about shooting is often looked down upon because it's boring and the targets are going the exact same direction every time. and in the immortal words of our captain Davis-A,

trap is like getting a lobotomy. Wow. You know, I have to admit, I was not super familiar with the ins and outs of shooting sports, but I really enjoyed, you know, listening to you having this conversation. And I know, I think I speak for Daniel when I say, I really hope that, you know,

these listeners out here get to see this new side of, like, what Hillsdale has to offer in our athletics program and just competing, you know, representing the school in general. So Max, thank you so much for coming on for this interview. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me on, guys. You've been listening to the Charger Rundown on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.