SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - In its long and storied football tradition, Wittenberg University has played Ohio Wesleyan more than any other opponent. It took 79 meetings for the Tigers to finally get things right. Perfect, actually.

On a comfortable fall afternoon that threatened rain, but never produced any after kickoff, the Tigers played nearly perfect football in recording a surprisingly easy 63-0 win over visiting Ohio Wesleyan on Homecoming Weekend in Springfield. It was the widest margin of victory for Wittenberg in the long series with the Battling Bishops, which dates back to 1894 and stands at 40-33-6 in favor of the Tigers, and it was the first time the Tigers had ever topped 60 points against their North Coast Athletic Conference rivals. For trivia's sake, OWU does have the two widest margins of victory in the series, a 66-0 rout in 1934 and a 65-0 victory in 1949.

Wittenberg got touchdowns from seven different players in posting its second consecutive shutout victory, a week after victimizing Hiram 66-0 at home. Wittenberg ran up 538 yards of total offense to 237 for the Battling Bishops, and the Tigers allowed OWU into the red zone just once all day, stopping the visitors on downs at the Wittenberg 18-yard-line with 5:44 to go in the first quarter. Ohio Wesleyan never moved inside the Wittenberg 34-yard-line after that.

Wittenberg got on the board on its first play from scrimmage as junior quarterback Ryan Holmes hooked up with senior wide receiver Skip Ivery on an 83-yard scoring pass. Just 56 seconds later, sophomore cornerback Mike Freeman returned an interception 24 yards to make the score 14-0 and the rout was on.

Ivery had one of the biggest games in his outstanding career with five receptions for 164 yards and two touchdowns and two carries for 23 yards. Holmes was equally outstanding with 11 completions in 15 attempts for a career-high 268 yards and three touchdowns. His back-up, sophomore George Andress, also got into the act, completing both of his passes for 36 yards and one touchdown.

The scoring barrage continued in the second quarter as junior tailback Raymar Hampshire scored on runs of 16 and three yards and Ivery added a 19-yard TD reception from Holmes with 2:28 remaining before halftime. Hampshire, who now has 705 yards rushing and 14 total touchdowns on the season, led all rushers in the game with 82 yards on 15 carries, while freshman Joe Brumfield finished with 70 yards on seven carries and freshman fullback Tyler Harmon added 49 yards on nine carries. For the day, Wittenberg piled up 234 yards on 37 carries, good for a robust 6.3 yards per carry average.

In the second half, many of the Tigers' young players got their opportunities to shine and they made the most of them. Sophomore wide receiver Dymond McDonald scored on a 36-yard third-quarter touchdown pass from Holmes, Harmon bulled his way into the end zone from one yard out in the third quarter, freshman wide receiver Mark Harriman caught his first collegiate touchdown pass from 16 yards out from Andress and freshman tailback Scott Williams capped the scoring with three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter as he struck paydirt from five yards out.

Defensively, Wittenberg had 28 different players register a statistic, led by senior linebacker Gary George with a career-high 17 tackles. Senior linebacker Peter Franz and freshman safety Mitch Fonseca added 12 tackles each.

Ohio Wesleyan, which dropped to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the NCAC, had nine different players register at least one carry out of its traditional Wing-T offensive formation. Matt Carducci led the Bishops with 75 yards on 23 carries. Quarterback Ryan Sir Louis completed five of his seven passes for 26 yards, with three of them going to Carducci for 20 yards.

Wittenberg, ranked No. 25 in the latest American Football Coaches Association poll, improved to 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in the NCAC. The Tigers put their season on the line next Saturday as they travel to Meadville, Pa. for a game against NCAC-leading Allegheny. The Gators are 4-0 in conference play.