Wittenberg Picks Up Big Win Over Hiram

Jeff Wilbur

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — By the end of Wittenberg's 70-7 victory over visiting Hiram, the only Tigers truly exhausted were the cheerleaders. Conditioned to do pushups matching the number of Wittenberg points on the scoreboard following each scoring play, the Tiger cheerleaders got themselves an extraordinary workout by doing 385 pushups each in about two hours as the fans counted along with the ringing of the Victory Bell.

It was that kind of day at Edwards-Maurer Field, as the Tigers improved to 4-0 on the season and Hiram dropped to 0-4. Wittenberg is now 2-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, heading into back-to-back road trips to Indiana (against Earlham and Wabash), while Hiram is now 0-2 in the conference in 2009 and 0-11 all-time against Wittenberg.

Eight different Wittenberg players scored in the game, not counting the two placekickers who split the 10 point-after attempts. Touchdowns were scored in almost every manner imaginable, including five rushing, three receiving, a blocked punt and an interception return. Twenty-nine different players recorded defensive statistics for Wittenberg, and a whopping 85 players saw action in the game overall.

After Wittenberg forced a three-and-out to open the game, the Tigers needed just one play from scrimmage to take control of the game as junior tailback Corey Weber (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) took a handoff and ran 71 yards untouched to the end zone. By the end of the first quarter, the Tigers had tacked on a 14-yard touchdown reception by senior tight end Cody Parsell (Caledonia, Ohio/River Valley) and a 44-yard touchdown reception by sophomore wide receiver Michael Cooper (Springfield, Ohio/South).

By halftime, the lead had ballooned to 49-0 as Weber added a 55-yard scoring run, sophomore wide receiver Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) caught a 43-yard scoring pass, sophomore tailback Conner Warye (Cincinnati, Ohio/Kings) ran 11 yards to paydirt and sophomore defensive back Mike Box (Littleton, Colo./Hyde School (Maine)) returned a blocked punt 40 yards for a score. Sophomore defensive back Seth Parker (DeGraff, Ohio/Riverside) blocked the punt and Box scooped it up on the first bounce.

In the second half, the Tigers continued the onslaught as senior tailback Jeff Wilbur (Ann Arbor, Mich./Community) scored on runs of 57 and 39 yards. Just 17 seconds after Wilbur's second TD run, freshman cornerback Jamaal Everett (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) returned his first career interception 29 yards for the Tigers' final score of the game at the 8:03 mark of the third quarter.

After recording two straight shutouts, Wittenberg finally yielded an opposing score on a 15-yard touchdown pass with just 42 seconds left. For the game, the Tigers outgained Hiram 549-126 after holding the Terriers to just 20 yards in the first half. On the season, Wittenberg has now allowed just 13 points and 462 yards in four dominating victories. None of the Tigers' first four opponents have scored in the first three quarters of a game.

Wilbur wound up leading the Tigers with 146 yards on 11 carries, while Weber added 132 yards on just four carries and Warye had 45 yards on five totes. Senior quarterback Aaron Huffman (Newark, Ohio/Newark) finished 8-of-10 passing for 150 yards and three touchdowns in a little more than a quarter of work.

Defensively, the Wittenberg leader was freshman Josh Colbert (Urbana, Ohio/Urbana), who finished with seven tackles and a sack, one of the Tigers' 14 tackles for loss in the game.

Written by: Ryan Maurer