Tigers Fall In Season Opener To SUNY Cortland

Springfield, OH – The Wittenberg University football team returned to action on Saturday afternoon, hosting the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons from Edwards-Maurer Field. It had been over 500 days since the Tigers competed in their last meaningful game, falling the Red Dragons in the opener 38-16.

The Tigers struggled to get the ball moving, picking up just 12 first downs on the day to Cortland's 24. With a new play-caller under center, sophomore Collin Brown earned his first start at quarterback for the Wittenberg football program. Brown completed 10 of 19 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns. Brown connected with Jake Saus for the first Tiger touchdown of the day, a 75-yard pitch-and-catch, knotting things up at 7-7 midway through the first quarter. Cortland recaptured the lead heading into the half, putting together an 80-yard scoring drive. The Red Dragons went ahead 24-7 with just over two minutes in the half, coming off an eight play 32-yard scoring drive.

Wittenberg was the first to strike out of the half, marching 66-yards in two plays to cut the Cortland lead to 24-14. Brown found Sam Kayser on the 58-yard touchdown reception. The Tigers had an opening late in the fourth quarter as the Cortland special teams unit botched a snap, leading to a Wittenberg safety. Returning with favorable field position, the Tigers were unable to complete the four-down conversion on the goal line, with just under seven minutes left in the action.

Logan Jewsikow led the Tiger defense with 11 tackles, including seven solo. Jordan Burkey provided seven solo tackles and a pass break-up on the outside for the Red and White. Anthony Pedro and Liam Wooldridge each provided six solo tackles for the Tigers, with Pedro finishing with eight total and Wooldridge tallying seven. Matt Render was the only Tiger to get to the Cortland quarterback for a sack on one of his three tackles on the day.