The Wittenberg University Tigers are licking their wounds this week after a rare in-season defeat at the hands of North Coast Athletic Conference rival Wabash College last Saturday at Edwards-Maurer Field. The Tigers, who dropped to 16th in the latest American Football Coaches Association poll after the 46-43 overtime defeat against Wabash, will try to get things back on track this Saturday when they travel to Hiram College to take on the 0-5 Terriers.

Coming off an outstanding 2001 season that included a fifth consecutive NCAC championship and fourth straight perfect run through the conference, Wittenberg was the preseason pick to win the conference crown again and advance to the NCAA Division III tournament for a fifth consecutive season. But now the Tigers must be both lucky and good the rest of the season as Wabash ended their record-breaking 30-game NCAC win streak by kicking a 27-yard field goal in overtime.

Wittenberg is in the unfamiliar position of trailing both Wabash and Wooster in the conference standings and now must win the rest of its games in order to position itself for one of just seven at-large berths in the national tourney, which kicks off Nov. 23 at sites around the country.

Hiram is looking for its first win of the 2002 season in the Terriers' first home game since the opener on Sept. 7. Last week, the Terriers, who have just six seniors and 42 players total on the roster, dropped a 56-0 decision at Allegheny. Running back Tim Anderson is the focal point of a revamped offense as he averages 4.6 yards per carry. On defense, senior linebacker Brad Maguth leads the NCAC in tackles, including 15 last week in the loss at Allegheny.

Adam Hewitt

The trainer's room has been a popular place in the fall 2002 sports season, and that's never good news for a football program, even one as deep as Wittenberg. In a game in which the Tigers got several players back - defensive lineman Joey Binkley, linebacker Andy Dooley, cornerback Tim Gaal and wide receiver Braden Freeman - the injury bug bit again.

Before, during and after the Wabash contest, the Tigers lost no less than six running backs to injuries, illnesses and family emergencies. The key loss will obviously be senior tailback Daniel Grove, the leading scorer in the nation, who broke two bones in his foot on a short reception on the final drive of regulation. Just before that senior tailback Jason Stephan, the No. 1 back-up, suffered a concussion. In addition, freshmen Dave Taylor, Kyle Williamson andJustin Theriault all suffered injuries or have contracted mononucleosis, and sophomore Alex Smith, the team's third-leading rusher in 2001, will have to miss this weekend's game due to a family emergency.

As a result, the starting tailback this weekend is expected to be freshman Adam Hewitt, who had not previously seen action this season, much less gotten any carries. Backing him up will be Miami University transfer Andy Dooley, who started the season at linebacker but now will likely be pressed into action on the other side of the ball against Hiram. Grove is expected to miss a minimum of three weeks and possibly more, so the subs will get their opportunities.

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 Wednesdays, Leo hosts a sports show that includes interviews and analysis on high school and college sports teams other than football. 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, and the Tigers remained in that position until this week, when they fell to the aformentioned 16th following the loss to Wabash. Don Hansen's National Football Gazette ranks the Tigers No. 19 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 finished the 2001 season ranked No. 7 in the AFCA poll.

This is the fourth meeting between the Tigers and Hiram, which made the jump into the North Coast Athletic Conference prior to the 1999 school year and played football for the first time in the conference in 2000. Wittenberg has won all three previous meetings and have outscored the Terriers 187-7. Each of the last two years have featured shutouts for the Tigers, including the 39-0 decision in favor of Wittenberg in 2001.

Around the NCAC Today: Week 7 of the 2002 season features five NCAC games, all slated for 1 p.m.: Oberlin at Kenyon, Wittenberg at Hiram and Wooster at Allegheny. Denison at Earlham and Ohio Wesleyan at Wabash are both 1 p.m. kickoffs, but they are Central Standard Time.

The Wittenberg Tigers continued their march toward a fifth consecutive NCAC championship with a 39-0 victory on Oct. 27 at Hiram. The victory, which improved Wittenberg to 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the NCAC while dropping Hiram to 3-4 overall and 1-4 in the NCAC, earned the Tigers at least a share of that title.

The visiting Tigers were clearly the better team from the outset, and by day's end the NCAA Division III record books would beckon. Tailback Daniel Grove scored a career-high four touchdowns and rushed for 115 yards, including three scores in the first half alone. He added a touchdown on a 39-yard pass play from quarterback Greg Cornett in the third quarter.

Wide receiver Michael Aljancic caught three passes for 25 yards to inch him closer to several school receiving records. But his biggest contribution to Saturday's victory came on a reverse as he took a handoff from Grove, got a huge block from Cornett and scampered 20 yards for a first-quarter touchdown.

Tailback Alex Smith mopped up in the fourth quarter, picking up 60 yards on eight carries and scoring the game's final touchdown. He also scored the two-point conversion.

Defensively, it was a record-setting game for the Tigers. Hiram managed to complete just on pass for a six-yard loss. Wittenberg had held six opponents over the years to zero yards passing, but it had never held one with negative yardage in that category. The negative six yards passing tied an NCAA Division III record set by Central (Iowa) against Simpson in 1985.

Leading the charge was senior linebacker Nic Black, whose filthy jersey was seen everywhere as he recorded eight tackles. Linebacker Ryan Gresham had 5.5 tackles and senior defensive tackle Mike Houck chipped in with six tackles.

Time for a new game note, eh?

Wittenberg had its record-breaking 30-game NCAC winning streak snapped with last week's loss to Wabash. It was the first conference defeat the Tigers had absorbed since Nov. 4, 1997 at Wooster, a loss that forced a three-way split of the conference title between the Scots, Wittenberg and Allegheny. Last week's loss was the first for any player on the Tigers' active roster.

In addition, the Tigers' regular season home winning streak came to an end at 36, dating back to the second game of the 1996 season against Allegheny.

Still intact is a string of 10 years since losing back-to-back games, a streak that the Tigers must win today to avoid ending. At the end of the 1991 season, Ohio Wesleyan defeated Wittenberg, and then Baldwin-Wallace defeated the Tigers to open the '92 campaign. Since then, Wittenberg has played 113 games without losing two straight. The Tigers' record in that time is 100-12-1, including an incredible 95-7-1 during the regular season.

Skip Ivery

As a team, Wittenberg leads the NCAC in scoring offense (41.6 points per game) and scoring defense (15.2 yards per game). The Tigers rank second in passing offense (246.8 yards per game), rushing defense (81.2 yards per game), total offense (471.6 yards per game), punting (33.2 yards per punt) and total defense (254.6 yards per game).

Individually, wide receiver Skip Ivery leads the conference in receiving yards per game (79.0) and tailback Daniel Grove leads in scoring (18.4 points per game). Tiger quarterback Greg Cornett ranks second in passing yards per game (232.2) and total offense (231.4). Grove is runner-up in rushing yards per game (143.6) and all-purpose yards per game (160.8).

Daniel Grove

As a team, Wittenberg ranks No. 12 in total offense (471.6 yards per game), No. 29 in total defense (254.6), No. 27 in rushing offense (224.8 yards per game), No. 24 in rushing defense (81.2 yards per game), No. 28 in pass efficiency defense (88.8 rating), No. 33 in scoring defense (15.2 yards per game) and No. 10 in scoring offense (41.6 points per game).

Individually, Daniel Grove ranks No. 10 in rushing at 143.6 yards per game, No. 35 in all-purpose yards (160.8 per game) and No. 1 in scoring (18.4 points per game).

Wittenberg is spreading it around almost perfectly on offense this year. The Tigers are averaging 246.8 yards per game through the air and 224.8 yards per game on the ground. Wittenberg has 200 rushing attempts this season and 157 passing attempts, but the difference in the average per attempt - 5.6 versus 13.4.

Adrian Crane

Game by game, wide receivers Skip Ivery and Adrian Cranemake catches. Since the start of the 2001 season, both had at least one reception in every game, including playoffs, until the 53-7 win over Denison on Oct. 5, when Crane was shut out in just one half of action. Both were again in fine form last week, catching eight and seven passes respectively.

They have been joined in 2002 by freshman Jered Glover, who has developed into a deep threat for the Tigers. He hauled in 10 passes for 121 yards in the loss to Wabash and now has 23 receptions on the season, just two less than Ivery.

Senior tailback Daniel Grove has rambled for 717 yards on 95 carries in the first five games of the season.

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 thus far in 2002, Grove has moved into the top 10 in school history in both rushing yards and scoring.
Career Rushing Att. Yds. YPC TD
1. Casey Donaldson (1997-00) 836 5,112 6.1 67
2. Dave Merritt (1975-78) 685 3,759 5.5 38
3. Marlon Perryman (1990-93) 644 3,567 5.5 27
4. Jon Warga (1987-90) 525 3,250 6.2 28
5. Aaron Powers (1993-96) 520 3,122 6.0 38
6. Marcus Booker (1993-96) 490 2,991 6.8 36
7. Gene Urbanski (1953-56) 563 2,837 5.0 35
8. Daniel Grove (1999- ) 424 2,663 6.3 46
9. Dana Williams (1979-82) 440 2,209 5.0 16
10. Glenn Hendrix (1971-74) 405 2,085 5.1 5

...Is quite a familiar refrain. Grove has scored 15 touchdowns so far in 2002 to lead the NCAC by a wide margin and rank first in the nation in scoring. He has now moved up to No. 2 on the Wittenberg career scoring list.
Career Scoring TP TD PAT FG
1. Casey Donaldson (1997-00) 408 68 - -
2. Daniel Grove (1999- ) 278 46 *1 -
3. Aaron Powers (1993-96) 254 42 *1 -
4. Ryan Walker (1997-00) 247 - 160-178 29-42
5. Dave Merritt (1975-78) 228 38 - -
Marcus Booker (1993-96) 228 38 - -
7. Gene Urbanski (1953-56) 212 31 26 -
8. Ron Murphy (1956-59) 210 34 *3 -
9. Greg Brame (1990-93) 187 31 - -
10. Jimmy Watts (1993-96) 181 - 115-128 22-35
* 2-point conversions

Grove has leapfrogged six Wittenberg greats - Gene Urbanski, Greg Brame, Dave Merritt, Marcus Booker, Ryan Walker and Aaron Powers - since the season started.

Joe Fincham

Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. Entering his seventh season at the helm, Fincham has a 67-8 overall record, including a mark of 43-3 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 61-4. His teams have claimed the last five conference titles, including four straight outright with undefeated records. 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 each of the last four seasons.

Hiram is led by Mike Meyer, who has a 3-12 record in two seasons leading the Terriers. The 1985 Hanover graduate led the squad to a 3-7 mark a year ago.