The Wittenberg Tigers hit the midpoint of the 2004 season with what appears to be a head of steam thanks to three straight victories, most recently over Denison, 47-21, last Saturday. Next up for the Tigers, who are now 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, is a Parents Weekend home date with the Earlham Quakers, who are 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the NCAC after a 40-0 whitewashing of Hiram a week ago. It was Earlham's first shutout win since 2002.

Alan Tracewell

Offensively, the Tigers have a trio of standouts who are emerging as go-to players in a balanced attack, starting with senior quarterback Ryan Holmes, who ranked second in the NCAC in passer efficiency a year ago to teammate and back-up George Andress. This year, he again ranks among the conference leaders in pass efficiency (151.1), compared to his final rating of 160.0 a year ago. Again a Wittenberg back-up leads that conference statistical category, only this time it is sophomore Chris Clark (158.9).

Holmes is completing 62 percent of his passes for 772 yards and seven touchdowns so far in 2004. Junior wide receiver Jered Glover is Holmes' favorite target as he leads the Tigers with 19 receptions, 271 yards and three touchdowns, all of which came in the second half of a 48-27 win over Huntingdon. Junior tailback Tristan Murray has become the team's workhorse, grinding out a lot of tough yards to rank third in the NCAC with 119.0 yards per game after posting career-highs of 26 carries, 171 yards and four touchdowns against Denison. His rushing total has gone up in each of his four games in the Red & White.

Defensively, the Tigers, who have led the NCAC in total defense 10 of the last 12 years, continue to rotate players in and out of the lineup in an attempt to right mix. Wittenberg is allowing an uncharacteristic 32.0 points per game and have allowed at least 21 points in each game this year. Six of the team's eight leading tacklers are defensive backs, and none of the top 10 tacklers on the team is either a defensive lineman or a senior. Sophomore safety Mitch Fonseca leads with 22 tackles, junior cornerback Lavon Wilborn has the most solo tackles with 13, senior defensive end Jamie Hoover is tops with 3.5 tackles for loss and freshman cornerback Alan Tracewell has made two starts and has three interceptions.

Earlham is a pass-happy offensive team that has also shown some positive signs on defense as well in compiling a 2-3 overall record in 2004. The Quakers, who have never finished higher than fourth place in 15 NCAC seasons, rely on the strong arm of junior quarterback Justin Rummell for the majority of their offense. Operating an offense that regularly features four-wideout sets, Rummell leads the conference in passing with 296.6 yards per game.

But Rummell is not expected to play against Wittenberg on Saturday due to injury, pressing the Quakers' leading receiver James Jewell into service under center. Jewell, who has 26 receptions for 310 yards and three touchdowns this season as a receiver, has completed seven of his 11 passes for 76 yards as a quarterback.

Defensively, Earlham is third in the NCAC with 24.2 points allowed per game and 433.2 yards allowed per game. Take out a 46-0 loss to Wabash in the NCAC opener two weeks ago, and those numbers are even better. Junior linebacker Michael Thompson is the main man for the Quakers. The NCAC Defensive Player of the Week on Oct. 3 after he made 16 tackles and two pass break-ups, Thompson leads the conference with 60 tackles on the season, including 27 solos. No player on Wittenberg's roster has more than 22 tackles.

Wittenberg is blessed with outstanding radio coverage again in 2004, as Marty Bannister heads things up for a 12th straight year. Bannister is joined most games in the booth by Scott Leo on color commentary after four years as the broadcast crew's sideline reporter. When Leo has been unavailable, Tiger men's lacrosse coach Vinnie Lang and Tim Dellapina have filled in. Dellapina, a former Tiger defensive lineman and team captain, will be in the booth again on Saturday. Also on the broadcast team is Wittenberg sophomore Sean Golden, who is providing on-field insights during games and postgame interviews.

This year's broadcasts can be heard locally on WUSO 89.1-FM, the university's student-operated station. It can also be heard around the world on the Internet thanks to Wittenberg's partnership with Stretch Internet. Wittenberg fans do not have to pay to listen to broadcasts, and anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can log in and listen. 

One has to go back 12 years to find Wittenberg's last shutout loss. 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 games (the Tigers lost their 1991 season finale to Ohio Wesleyan as well). Since the defeat to B-W, Wittenberg has played 134 games without either being shutout or suffering two consecutive losses. During that span, Wittenberg has recorded 27 shutouts of its own. Not only has Wittenberg not been shutout in 134 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.

Jered Glover

Jered Glover continues to work his way up the career receiving charts at Wittenberg. The team's leading receiver each of the last two years, Glover has added 19 catches for 271 yards and three touchdowns in 2004, bringing his career totals to 115 catches, 1,631 yards and 16 touchdowns, good for fifth on all three all-time lists.

In terms of receptions, the next player Glover will leapfrog is Capital Head Coach Jim Collins, who caught 116 passes between 1984-87. The school record for receptions is held by Michael Aljancic (147). Next up in receiving yardage is the legendary Bob Cherry, who picked up 1,790 yards on 90 catches between 1961-63. Rod Miller leads in that category with 2,288. The top four in receiving touchdowns are all far ahead of Glover currently, with the top spot held by Cherry at 27.

Senior Jacob Thomas is averaging a robust 42.8 yards per punt in 2004, which would break a school record if the season ended today. It is currently held by Gary Sitler, whose 50 punts covered 2,056 yards for an average of 41.1 in 1976.

Tristan Murray

The Wittenberg Tigers made their second road trip of the 2004 season, and this time the result was much more to their liking as Tristan Murray's four first-half touchdowns sparked a 47-21 victory over the Denison Big Red.

In leading the Tigers to their eighth straight NCAC-opening win, Murray increased his rushing total for the fourth straight game as he finished with season-highs of 26 carries, 171 yards and four touchdowns. Junior tailback Will Block and sophomore fullback Tyler Harmon also had a three-yard touchdown runs and junior tight end Jon Kirkwood recorded his first collegiate touchdown on a one-yard pass.

Ryan Holmes was an efficient 13-of-16 for 143 yards before turning over the reigns to Chris Clark in the second half. Thirteen different Tiger players caught passes, with the top target being Jered Glover, who caught five passes for 47 yards.

Defensively, Alan Tracewell and Lavon Wilborn both had interceptions that led directly to Tiger touchdowns. Twenty-five different Wittenberg players recorded defensive statistics in the game, led by Wilborn with four solo tackles, including one for a loss of three yards, and sophomore linebacker Devon Combs, who had four solo stops, including one for a loss of four yards.

Wittenberg holds a commanding 22-8 lead in the series between the two schools, and the Tigers are currently riding a 19-game win streak against the Quakers. It dates back to 1909, when Earlham last defeated Wittenberg (31-0). The next year, Wittenberg eked out a 5-3 decision and proceeded to win six straight games through 1919.

The two teams didn't play again until both joined the NCAC in 1989. That year, Wittenberg won 34-14, setting the team for a one-sided rivalry. The Tigers have recorded four shutouts against the Quakers in the 13 games the two teams have played as NCAC rivals, and they have scored at least 29 points in every game. Earlham's biggest scoring output came in a 45-30 loss to Wittenberg in 1995.

This is the first meeting between the two programs since 2001, when Wittenberg captured a 38-3 victory in Richmond, Ind.

Joe Fincham

Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. In his ninth season at the helm, Fincham has a 84-12 overall record, including a mark of 55-5 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 78-8. 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.

Earlham is led by Gerry Keesling, a 1986 graduate of the college and a longtime member of the football coaching staff. He was the interim head coach in 2002 after 10 seasons as the program's offensive coordinator. He led the Quakers to a 4-3 NCAC mark that year and a 4-6 record overall.