Wooster has been playing the role of neighborhood bully formerly assumed by the Tigers, outscoring its foes 46.8-12.9 on the season, including last week's 59-0 demolition of winless Hiram. Wittenberg, on the other hand, struggled through several key injuries in the loss to Ohio Wesleyan while falling to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the NCAC.
There remains a very clear path to the playoffs for the Tigers, starting this week in Wooster. An upset win over the fifth-ranked Scots, followed by a win in the regular season finale against defending champion Allegheny at home, would position Wittenberg to earn a share of the NCAC title with either Wooster or Ohio Wesleyan, which is tied with the Tigers for second place currently. Wooster and Ohio Wesleyan meet the final week of the season, and a Wooster win coupled with two Wittenberg wins to close the season would create a co-championship scenario in which the Tigers would have the head-to-head victory.
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Offensively, the Tigers feature a balanced attack with averages of 252.9 yards rushing and 215.5 yards passing per game in 2004, good for an average of 468.4, which ranks second in the NCAC to Wooster and 14th in NCAA Division III. Wittenberg also ranks 24th nationally in rushing offense and 10th nationally in scoring offense.
The starting quarterback is senior Ryan Holmes, who leads the NCAC in pass efficiency for a second straight year. Holmes is ompleting just under 60 percent his passes and owner of a touchdown to interception ratio of 15-6 and a rating of 146.59, which ranks among the nation's best. Sixteen different players have caught at least one pass this season, with seven of them reaching double figures in total receptions. Junior wide receiver Jered Glover is Holmes' favorite target as he leads the Tigers with 34 receptions, 454 yards and six touchdowns, but his absence due to injury was significant in the loss at OWU. He will be a game time decision this week. Junior tailback Tristan Murray is the team's featured running back, ranking third in the NCAC with 120.5 yards per game and a robust 6.1 yards per carry, including a 218-yard performance in an Oct. 23 win over Wabash.
Defensively, the Tigers, tops in the NCAC in total defense 10 of the last 12 years, are allowing an uncharacteristic 25.6 points per game. While the big play has been a killer for this unit, balance is a key strong suit considering the fact that 20 different players have at least 10 tackles on the season and 10 players have at least 20 tackles. Sophomore safety Mitch Fonseca, fresh off a 15-tackle performance against Ohio Wesleyan, leads the team with 45 total tackles. Also of note is the play of freshman cornerback Alan Tracewell, who has 26 total tackles, including 18 solos. He also ranks among the team leaders with 3.5 tackles for loss, and he leads the team with three interceptions and four passes broken up.
The Scots are much more than All-American tailback Tony Sutton, who is in the process of re-writing the school and conference record books for rushing, total offense and scoring. But with 1,446 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns already this season, it is undeniable that this speedster (who also returns kickoffs and scored all five touchdowns in a 35-31 loss to the Tigers a year ago in Springfield) is the focal point of a veteran team.
At the offensive controls is sophomore quarterback Justin Schafer, who has shown steady progress in completing just over 50 percent of his passes for 1253 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. His favorite target is multi-talented Richie McNally, who has 40 receptions for 739 yards and nine touchdowns as a wide receiver and is also the conference's most accurate placekicker. Defensively, the Scots boast several standouts, including preseason All-America defensive tackle Joe Kearney and two-time first-team All-NCAC linebacker Tim Cline. Wooster ranks first in the conference in scoring offense and defense and total offense and defense.
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.
Feedback during and after games is encouraged using a new e-mail address: wittradio@yahoo.com. Whenever possible, e-mails will be read on the air during games by the announcers, and questions will be answered at that time.
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Jered Glover
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Jered Glover's climb up the career receiving charts at Wittenberg was slowed last week when he missed the first game of his collegiate career. The team's leading receiver each of the last two years, Glover has added 34 catches for 454 yards and six touchdowns in 2004, bringing his career totals to 130 catches, 1,814 yards and 19 touchdowns, good for fourth, fourth and fifth respectively on the all-time lists.
In all three categories, the next player Glover will leapfrog is former teammate Skip Ivery, who caught 138 passes for 2,114 yards and 24 touchdowns between 2000 and 2003. The school record for receptions is held by Michael Aljancic (147), Rod Miller leads in the receiving yards category with 2,288, and the legendary Bob Cherry is tops in receiving touchdowns with 27.
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Ryan Holmes
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Ryan Holmes is quietly making his mark on the Wittenberg record books as well. In 25 career games, Holmes has 236 completions in 402 attempts for 3,340 yards, in addition to 12 interceptions and 36 touchdowns. He stands seventh in career yardage, completions and attempts and fifth in touchdowns passing. Next up on the first three lists is Tim Green (1985-88) with 3,343 yards, 261 completions and 457 attempts. He is tied with Gene Laughman (1964-67) in touchdown passes, and he is just two behind Greg Cornett (1999-2002) and Anthony Crane (1997-2000).
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After the game of his collegiate career against Wabash, in which he cracked four punts for a 53.8 average, senior Jacob Thomas is averaging an NCAC-best 45.9 yards per punt in 2004, which puts him on pace to obliterate the school record of 41.1. His punting average would rank in the top five nationally for NCAA Division III, except that he doesn't meet the minimum standard of 3.6 punts per game for qualification.
In the Wabash game, Thomas cracked a 73-yard punt, the second-longest in school history behind only Matt Gallatin's 77-yarder in 1999. Gallatin is now the Tigers' special teams coach. Thomas, who would have set a school record for punting average in a game at 53.8 except the minimum standard is five punts, missed the Ohio Wesleyan game due to injury, but he is expected to be available for the big game at Wooster.
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Despite a stiff wind that made throwing passes and kicking footballs a risky proposition last Saturday at Ohio Wesleyan, freshman kicker Mark Porter had perhaps his best day as a collegian. After making both of his field goal attempts and all five of his extra point attempts against Wabash, Porter added a 33-yard field goal and three perfect PATs against Ohio Wesleyan. He is now 9-of-12 on the season on field goals and 36-of-42 on PATs.
Porter hasn't missed a field goal since the second week of the season, a span of six consecutive positive attempts, and he has hit his last 11 point-after attempts, dating back to a miss against Hiram on Oct. 9. His 1.1 field goals per game are 12th-best in the nation.
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Tristan Murray
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The Tigers, playing without five starters and a key special teams player due to injury by game's end, dropped a dramatic 28-24 decision against Ohio Wesleyan.
The Tigers moved the ball fairly well, but they lacked big-play capability without Jered Glover, who had three times as many catches as any other receiver coming into the game. Wittenberg's longest play from scrimmage was 26 yards, and several drives stalled as the Ohio Wesleyan defense keyed on Tristan Murray and forced the Tigers into difficult third-down situations. Murray finished with 28 carries for 123 yards and two touchdowns, but his longest play was 22 yards.
Wittenberg gave up a whopping 364 rushing yards, out of 397 total yards for the Battling Bishops. The key performer was OWU quarterback Ryan Sir Louis, who had game-highs of 139 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner on a fourth-down play with just over two minutes left on the clock and the Tigers clinging to a 24-21 lead. The Bishops converted three fourth downs on that drive, the first one coming on fourth-and-three from midfield as Sir Louis rumbled 35 yards to set up the eventual score.
The lead changed hands six times in the game. Points were posted for the Tigers by freshman kicker Mark Porter, who had a first-quarter field goal, quarterback Ryan Holmes on a seven-yard run and two short touchdown runs by Murray. Holmes finished 12-of-33 for 165 yards, and he spread the ball around to seven different receivers, led by junior wideout Braden Freeman with four receptions for 69 yards. Defensively, sophomore safety Mitch Fonseca had one of his best games, accounting for a game-high 15 tackles, and junior safety Adam Hewitt contributed 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.
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The all-time series between Wittenberg and Wooster is a long and storied one that dates back to the 1912 season and a 12-0 victory for the Fighting Scots. It is currently 27-10-1 in favor of Wittenberg.
The first win for Wooster started a trend that lasted until 1949 as the Scots won nine of the first 11 games between the two schools. But in 1956, Wittenberg broke through for a 25-19 win and since then the Tigers have enjoyed a tremendous advantage to the tune of 26 wins in the last 27 meetings, including the last six since Wooster defeated the Tigers, 21-19, at John P. Papp Stadium in 1997.
Interestingly, Wooster has not beaten Wittenberg in Springfield since 1949. Wittenberg has won the last 13 meetings at Edwards-Maurer Field, including all seven meetings since joining the NCAC in 1989, including last year when the Tigers came up with just enough big defensive plays to hold off the Scots, 35-31.
In that win, the Tigers got 48 yards on 15 carries from tailback Joe Brumfield and 47 yards on 15 carries from fullback Tyler Harmon to lead the rushing attack in the absence of leading rusher Raymar Hampshire, who had 18 yards on five carries in the first quarter before departing the game with an injury. Brumfield and Harmon both scored touchdowns in the first half as Wittenberg ran out to a seemingly comfortable 20-0 lead.
In addition to the two rushing scores, wide receiver Skip Ivery had a 12-yard scoring reception, wide receiver Jered Glover had a 30-yard scoring reception, kicker Conrad Hindert had a field goal and cornerback Mike Freeman rounded things out with a 21-yard interception return for a TD. Quarterback Ryan Holmes finished the day 16-of-31 passing for 177 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, Wittenberg "held" Tony Sutton to 179 yards on 41 carries, allowing him just one run over 20 yards. Linebacker Gary George recorded 17 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, to lead the Tiger defense, while safety Mitch Fonseca added 14 tackles and linebacker Devon Combs finished with 10.
Wooster is led by Mike Schmitz, a 1974 graduate of Bowling Green who is now in his 10th year with the college's football program and fifth as head coach. In his first four seasons at the helm, Schmitz, who also serves as the offensive coordinator, directed Wooster to a 25-15 record. Prior to arriving at Wooster, Schmitz was head coach at four high schools, compiling an overall record of 93-57-1.