The Wittenberg University Tigers can now exhale. They are in the NCAA Division III Playoffs for a fifth consecutive year. And while they may have snuck into the postseason via one of just three Pool C bids, the Tigers now hope to do some serious damage.

A new opportunity to capture that coveted national championship starts this weekend in Hanover, Ind., where the Hanover College Panthers, champions of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, will host the Tigers in a game that kicks off at noon. Hanover is 10-0 and ranked No. 8 in the nation, while Wittenberg is 9-1 overall and ranked No. 10 in the latest American Football Coaches Association poll. The Tigers finished second in the North Coast Athletic Conference for the first time in six years, falling one game short of first-time champion Wabash College.

Wittenberg led the NCAC in points scored and fewest points allowed in 2002, outscoring foes by a whopping 48.5-10.5. The Tigers are led by All-America candidates Daniel Grove, one of the best tailbacks in the country who rushed for more than 900 yards this season in just six games, and Dustin Goldsbury, a standout fifth-year linebacker who leads the team in tackles and interceptions.

Hanover played three 2001 playoff teams during the 2002 campaign, defeating Thomas More, Defiance and Washington & Jefferson. The Panthers are outscoring their competition 44.9-16.4, primarily by throwing the football all over the field. Hanover's quarterbacks have combined to throw for 3,401 yards and 44 touchdowns this season.

Skip Ivery

Junior wide receiver Skip Ivery is also working his way into the Wittenberg record books. The NCAC leader in receiving yards per game, Ivery has grabbed 42 passes this year, the seventh-best single season total in Wittenberg history. The season record is 54, set a year ago by Michael Aljancic.

For his career, Ivery is now tied for No. 9 all-time in receptions with 80. That record is also held by Aljancic, who hauled in 147 between 1998 and 2001.

Wittenberg is the winningest small college program in NCAA Division III history. Dating back to 1892, the Tigers have posted 634 victories all-time, far more than any other Division III school (Washington & Jefferson is No. 2 at 579). Wittenberg entered the 2002 campaign ranked fourth in Division III history in all-time winning percentage at .654. That mark, obviously, continues to move higher with the just completed 9-1 season record.

Wittenberg has had just one losing season on the gridiron since 1955, a span of 47 years. That was in 1989 when the Tigers finished 4-5.

The Tigers have been even more dominant in the North Coast Athletic Conference, despite the fact that their streak of five straight conference championships (four straight outright with undefeated records) came to an end in 2002. Since entering the conference in 1989 and finishing 4-3, Wittenberg has posted six perfect NCAC records. Overall, the Tigers are 91-13 in NCAC action, good for an astonishing winning percentage of .875. Since 1991, the percentage is even better - 76-5 (.938).

Greg Cornett

Senior quarterback Greg Cornett put up big numbers in both of his seasons as the starter under center. In 2002, Cornett finished with 142 completions in 222 attempts for 1,986 yards and 16 touchdowns, eclipsing the school record for completions in a season (141 by Tim Green in 1987) and pushing him to No. 2 in passing yards in a season (2,181 by Charlie Green in 1964).

Cornett's 2001 numbers ranked second-best for completions, attempts and passing yardage in a season in school history before he bettered them this year. For his career, Cornett finished with 3,856 passing yards, 281 completions and 451 attempts, ranking him fifth, fourth and sixth on the respective school record lists. Charlie Green, who recently was inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., leads in all three with 5,575 yards, 555 attempts and 325 completions.

Cornett has been both efficient and accurate as a Wittenberg quarterback the last two years. A starter for all 20 regular season games the last two years, as well as three playoff games in 2001, he has thrown just 10 interceptions in his career, and no one of them came in the pressure of the playoffs a year ago. His efficiency rating ranked among the top 20 in the nation a year ago at 150.8 and in 2002 he boosted it to 158.39, which placed him among the nation's leaders again.

In addition, Cornett's completion percentage has crept up to a school-record 64.0 in 2002. No school record is officially kept for pass efficiency. For completion percentage, no quarterback has ever finished his career above 60 percent. Cornett wound up at 62.6 percent. For a season, the Wittenberg record was Green's at 62.6 before Cornett broke that.

Wittenberg averaged 48.5 points per game in the 2002 season, and the Tigers broke the school and conference record for points in a season with 485. The previous record was 473 set in 1997. In addition, the Tigers broke the school and conference records for points after touchdowns with 57. The 1995 and 1997 teams had both put 56 PATs through the uprights.

Wittenberg is blessed with outstanding radio coverage again in 2002, as Marty Bannister heads things up for a 10th straight year. He can be found on the radio dial in the same location, 1600 AM, but with new call letters. Formerly WBLY, the radio home for the Tigers is now WULM.

Bannister is joined in the booth by former Tiger All-American offensive lineman Xan Smith, who provides color commentary, while Scott Leo patrols the sidelines to provide insight and commentary for a third consecutive season.

All season long, WULM hosts weekly radio shows that focus on local sports and even Wittenberg athletic teams specifically. On Thursdays, following a high school football show, Bannister hosts Tiger Talk, which includes interviews and analysis with Wittenberg Head Coach Joe Fincham and his players and assistant coaches.

Wittenberg opened the 2002 season at No. 4 in the first American Football Coaches Association poll, released on Sept. 17. The Tigers remained in that position until falling to the 16th following the loss to Wabash. Wittenberg is back to 10th in the nation in that poll, while Don Hansen's National Football Gazette ranks the Tigers No. 11 currently.

Prior to the season, Wittenberg was ranked No. 7 in three preseason polls (Street & Smith's, Lindy's and Don Hansen's National Football Gazette) and No. 5 by d3football.com. The Tigers were ranked No. 11 in the final 2001 AFCA poll and No. 7 in Don Hansen's final poll, which was released following the playoffs.

Of interest is the fact that all seven teams in the "Mount Union" bracket of the 2002 NCAA Division III Playoffs are ranked in the final regular season AFCA poll. The defending national champions are first, Hanover is eighth, Wabash is ninth, Wittenberg is 10th, Wheaton is 12th, MacMurray is 14th and Alma is 18th. Four of the seven teams are undefeated, and the other three all have just one loss.

This is just the second meeting between Wittenberg and Hanover. The first time the two met on the gridiron was in the 2000 Division III Playoffs. Wittenberg rallied from a 21-20 third-quarter deficit to defeat Hanover 32-21 in that game as Casey Donaldson rushed for five touchdowns. Panther quarterback Eric Bruns was 42-of-64 for 376 yards in the game, but he couldn't overcome Donaldson's huge game as he carried the Tigers with 34 rushes and 258 yards.

Dustin Goldsbury

Senior linebacker Dustin Goldsbury is making waves of his own in the Wittenberg record books. While his tackle totals suffer each year because he doesn't play the second half of as many as six games each year, Goldsbury has now recorded 321 total tackles in his illustrious career, including 72 this year.

In addition, Goldsbury has 38.5 tackles for loss in his career, putting him fifth on the all-time Wittenberg list. The all-time leader in that category isTim Altman, who had 49.5 between 1992 and 1995.

One has to go back 10 full seasons to find the last shutout that Wittenberg has suffered. Baldwin-Wallace did the honors in the opening game of the 1992 season, which also is the last time that Wittenberg lost back-to-back game (the Tigers lost their 2001 season finale to Ohio Wesleyan as well). Since the defeat to B-W, Wittenberg has played 119 games without either being shutout or suffering two consecutive losses.

During that span, Wittenberg has recorded 25 shutouts of its own, including two this year against Hiram and Kenyon.

Not only has Wittenberg not been shutout in 119 games, the Tigers have been held below 10 points in a game on just one occasion during that span - against Mercyhurst in a 7-6 victory in 1993. Interestingly, Hanover hasn't suffered a shutout in 198 games, dating all the way back to 1983. The Panthers have been in double digits in 197 of those contests, with the only exception being last year's 13-7 loss to eventual conference champion Defiance.

Scott Isphording

Wittenberg assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Scott Isphording played quarterback at Hanover from 1990-93. He completed 450-of-803 pass for 6,097 yards in his career, and as a junior in 1992 Isphording ranked third in the nation in total offense with 315 yards per game. He finished 16th in passing efficiency with 207 completions, 3,098 yards and 24 touchdowns that year.

When Isphording arrived at Wittenberg five years ago, he replaced Mike Leonardon the staff. Leonard is now an assistant coach at Hanover.

As a team, Wittenberg leads the NCAC in scoring offense (48.5 ppg), scoring defense (10.5 ppg), pass efficiency defense (81.8 rating), total offense (462.2 ypg), total defense (225.4 ypg), pass efficiency (154.0) and punt returns (12.6 ypg). The Tigers rank second in passing offense (219.9 ypg), rushing offense (242.3), punting (32.7 ypp), and rushing defense (84.5 ypg).

Individually, freshman defensive back Mike Freeman, whose season was cut short by a knee injury after six games, is tops in punt returns at a 21.2 yard average, tailback Daniel Grove leads in scoring (16.3 ppg) and sophomore kicker Jacob Thomas is first in points by kicking with 5.8 per game. In addition, wide receiverSkip Ivery ranks second in the conference in receiving yards per game (71.1), Grove is second in rushing yards per game (155.0) and all-purpose yards per game (172.0). Quarterback Greg Cornett ranks second in passing yards per game (198.6) and total offense (198.6) and first in pass efficiency at 158.4.

Wittenberg ranks No. 9 in total offense (462.2 ypg), No. 9 in total defense (225.4 ypg), No. 14 in rushing offense (242.3 ypg), No. 16 in rushing defense (84.5 ypg), No. 13 in pass efficiency defense (81.8 rating), No. 7 in scoring defense (10.5 ppg) and No. 2 in scoring offense (48.5 ppg).

Individually, Daniel Grove no longer is included in the national rankings because he has missed the four games with a foot injury. His rushing average of 155.0 yards per game would ranks seventh in the nation and he would still rank No. 1 in scoring at 16.3 points per game. Mike Freeman would rank first in punt returns (21.2 ypg) if his season hadn't ended after six games due a knee injury. As mentioned previously, Greg Cornett stands at No. 10 on the pass efficiency list (158.4 rating).

Wittenberg has been to the NCAA Division III Playoffs 10 times in their history, 11 when adding in the inaugural Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in 1969 that counted as a regional championship game for the old College Division instead of a national title game.

Wittenberg is 16-8 in Division III and 17-8 overall. The Tigers claim five national titles, including those in 1973 and 1975 that came via the modern-day playoff format. Wittenberg was also national runner-up in 1977 and 1978.

Wittenberg has jumped on its opponents early in games, outscoring opponents 144-6 in the first quarter. The Tigers did not give up a first-quarter touchdown and outscored opponents by a whopping 485-105 margin overall.

Daniel Grove

Senior tailback Daniel Grove rambled for 171 yards on 95 carries in the first five games of the season before suffering a broken foot against Wabash. After missing four games, Grove returned to go for 212 yards on 34 carries in the season finale against Wooster.

Grove's 1,260 yards rushing last year ranks eighth in Wittenberg history for rushing yards in a season and moved his career totals to 1,942 yards on 329 carries. In combination with his performance in 2002, which included totals of 929 yards on 129 carries in just six games, Grove moved to No. 7 in school history in rushing yards with 2,875.

His career average yards per carry of 6.4 is a school record, as is the 7.2 average he posted in 2002 (tied with Jon Warga in 1990). Grove, who also was named NCAC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Wooster, ranks No. 2 all-time in scoring with 47 touchdowns and a two-point conversion for 284 career points.

Joe Fincham

Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. Entering his seventh season at the helm, Fincham has a 72-8 overall record, including a mark of 48-3 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 66-4. His teams have claimed five conference titles, including four straight outright with undefeated records between 1998 and 2001. Fincham, who ranks second in winning percentage in NCAA Division III history among coaches with five or more seasons, has been named NCAC Coach of the Year four times.

Hanover is led by Wayne Perry, who is 150-61-2 in 21 seasons leading the Panthers. The winningest coach in Hanover history and No. 3 all-time among college coaches in the state of Indiana, Perry has led the Panthers to seven league titles and eight national playoff berths, including five in the last eight years as a member of NCAA Division III.