SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- The Wittenberg University Tigers rolled to another big victory Saturday at Edwards-Maurer Field, coming back from an early deficit and several potentially costly turnovers to defeat visiting North Coast Athletic Conference rival Earlham College, 37-14. The win was the Tigers 31st straight in the regular season and 22nd consecutive in NCAC play, both dating back to Nov. 8, 1997.
The win also improved the Tigers to 10-0 overall in 2000 and 7-0 in the NCAC, the third straight year that Wittenberg has run the table in the regular season and conference action. The Tigers became the first school to capture three straight outright NCAC titles and four straight crowns overall.
But thats just the beginning of what made the win so special for Wittenberg and the nearly 3,000 fans in attendance. On senior recognition day, Head Coach Joe Fincham became the first Tiger coach to reach 50 wins in his career in less than 60 games; senior tailback Casey Donaldson (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern) ran for 155 ytards and three touchdowns to become the first player in school history to top 5,000 career rushing yards; and the senior class won for the 39th time in regular season play and 41st time overall, both tops in Wittenberg history.
Earlham actually struck first in this one, taking the opening kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown, the last 69 coming on a perfectly executed pass play from quarterback Jeremiah King to wide receiver Will Hughes. The Tigers then turned the ball over on two consecutive possessions to open the door even wider for the Quakers, but the Wittenberg defense stiffened.
The Tigers finally broke through in familiar fashion as Donaldson found the end zone with 18 seconds left in the first quarter on a 23-yard scamper and then scored two more times to open the second quarter on runs of five and six yards. The touchdowns were the 66th, 67th and 68th of his career and the 20th, 21st and 22nd of this season. The touchdowns gave him 406 points scored in his career, far and away the best in Wittenberg or NCAC history.
Wittenberg poured it on in the second quarter. Senior placekicker Ryan Walker (Newark, Ohio/Newark) added a 22-yard field goal and then sophomore Ryan Gresham (Columbus, Ohio/Eastmoor) caught a blocked punt and ran 13 yards for the score to make it 31-7 with 2:04 left before halftime. The punt was blocked by junior John Hauser (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley), who is now tied for the team lead with three this season.
In the second half, Walker tacked on a field goal before giving way to teammate Matthew Johnson (Galloway, Ohio/Westland), who added a 25 yarder of his own in the fourth quarter. Walker finishes with 247 career points by kicking, second-best in NCAC history and tops in Wittenberg annals. He also wound up with 81 points this season, the second-best total in school history and third-best in NCAC.
Earlhams lone score in the second half came with four seconds left in the third quarter on a 15-yard TD pass from King to Mike Kitchel, who was the top receiver in the game for either team with seven catches for 44 yards.
The Tigers finished with two 100-yard rushers for the third straight week as sophomore Jason Stephan (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville) posted 137 yards on 20 carries. Donaldson totaled 155 on 19 carries to run his season yardage to 1,396 and career yardage to 5,112. It was also his eighth 100-yard rushing performance of the season and 24th in his career, both Wittenberg records.
Fincham improved his career record to 50-4 heading into the NCAA Division III playoffs, which start on Nov. 18. The selection show for the playoffs is scheduled for Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. Previously, the fastest any Wittenberg coach had reached 50 wins was 61 games by Hall of Famer Dave Maurer in 1975.