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The Wittenberg Tiger football program is off to a 2-0 start to the 2003 season, the seventh straight year that Wittenberg has won its first two games. The campaign opened at Albion on Sept. 6 with a 34-7 victory and a 38-12 win over Urbana on Sept. 13.
The Tigers are outgaining opponents by a whopping 423.0-195.5 margin per game. Junior Raymar Hampshire leads the Tigers' rushing attack with 257 yards and three touchdowns, and he is averaging a robust 7.8 yards per carry. He has carried the ball 33 times and has been stopped for a loss just once. Through the air, junior quarterback Ryan Holmes has three touchdowns, 343 yards and no interceptions. His chief targets have been senior Skip Ivery with nine catches for 160 yards and sophomore Jered Glover with eight receptions for 107 yards.
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Defensively, the Tigers, who have led the North Coast Athletic Conference in total defense 10 of the last 11 years, have been dominant again. Even with nine new starters, the unit is holding opponents under 200 yards and 10 points per game. Sophomore safety Yusef Abdul-Zahir leads the way with 23 total tackles, including 15 against Urbana.
Thomas More is off to a 1-2 start, with season-opening losses against Muskingum (40-35) and Hanover (33-30) and a win last week against Greenville (38-14). All three games were played at home.
The Saints are scoring 34.3 points per game, including 69 second-half points in the first three games. The team's leading rusher is sophomore Tyran Thompson, who is averaging 125.3 yards per game and has scored four touchdowns off the bench. Quarterback Nate Berkley is completing 58.9 percent of his passes for five touchdowns and an average of 248 yards per game. Defensively, linebacker Chad Kelley has 23 tackles, including 5.5 for a loss of 13 yards, both good for the team lead.
All season long, WULM also hosts Tiger Talk on Thursdays from 8-9 p.m. The show includes interviews and analysis with Wittenberg Head Coach Joe Fincham and his players and assistant coaches.
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Skip Ivery
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Senior wide receiver Skip Ivery has grown from a promising freshman catching a few passes in garbage time of games during the 2000 season to one of the Tigers' team leaders. This season, he leads the team with nine receptions for 160 yards and two touchdowns, bringing his career totals to 97 receptions for 1,452 yards and 15 touchdowns. He ranks No. 4, No. 6 and tied for No. 4 on those respective school record lists.
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Jered Glover
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Wittenberg played a dynamite second half to pull away for a 38-12 victory over Urbana on Community Night at Edwards-Maurer Field on Sept. 13.
After Wittenberg scored the game's first three points on a Conrad Hindert 33-yard field goal, Urbana scored on a fumble return for a touchdown. After Urbana extended the lead to 12-3 in the second quarter, Jered Glover made the play of the game on a screen pass that covered 42 yards to the end zone with just 53 seconds remaining before halftime.
In the second half, the Tigers looked like a different team, yielding just 59 yards to Urbana's offense and scoring 28 unanswered points. Wittenberg took the lead on a 42-yard touchdown hook-up between wide receiver Skip Ivery and quarterback Ryan Holmes in the third quarter. Raymar Hampshire went 31 yards for a touchdown, Ivery added a 38-yard TD reception from Holmes and freshman fullback Tyler Harmon recovered a Hampshire fumble in the end zone, all in the fourth stanza. Harmon had set that score up with a 54-yard run.
Wittenberg outgained Urbana 437-200 for the game. Hampshire finished with 158 yards on 20 attempts, both career highs. Holmes completed 12 of his 20 pass attempts for 195 yards and three touchdowns. Ivery had six catches for 107 yards and Glover added 67 yards on three receptions. Defensively, safety Yusef Abdul-Zahir finished with 15 tackles and tackle Jarrett Brown added nine tackles, including three for loss.
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Daniel Grove
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The Tigers had their difficulties with slow starts early in the 2002 season, but no such problems were encountered at Thomas More on Sept. 28 as the Tigers cruised to a 31-6 win.
Wittenberg gained control from the outset, scoring touchdowns on its first four possessions while allowing the Saints just three first downs before halftime. Tailback Daniel Grove, who entered the game leading NCAA Division III in rushing at 199.5 yards per game, scored three touchdowns and finished with 55 yards on 18 carries. In addition, fullback Raymar Hampshire scored from one yard out in the first quarter. Wittenberg accumulated a season-high 316 yards passing as quarterback Greg Cornett finished with a 16-of-34 passing day for 297 yards. All four Tiger touchdown runs came on the heels of big passing plays.
Thomas More finally broke through against the Tiger reserves with eight seconds left in the game, scoring on a two-yard run by Justin Frisk and ending the Saints' scoreless streak against the Wittenberg at 119:52, dating back to the previous year's 41-0 NCAA Division III tournament playoff victory by the Tigers.
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Joe Fincham
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Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. In his eighth season at the helm, Fincham has a 75-9 overall record, including a mark of 48-3 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 69-5. His teams have claimed five conference titles, including four straight outright with undefeated records from 1998-2001. 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.