Football

5 NCAA National Championships • 17 NCAC Championships • 193 All-Americans

Tiger Football Drops NCAC Road Decision At DePauw

Eric Rasheed Wittenberg Football
Eric Rasheed had three catches for 80 yards against DePauw. | Photo by John Coffman

GREENCASTLE, IN - The nationally ranked DePauw Tigers scored the game's first 24 points and never looked back en route to a 44-10 defeat of Wittenberg.

The loss dropped Wittenberg to 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), heading into a two-game homestand against winless Oberlin on November 2 and NCAC co-leader Wabash on November 9. DePauw, ranked 10th nationally, improved to 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the NCAC.

After the two teams initially traded punts, DePauw put points on the board on four straight drives to open up a commanding 24-0 advantage. After Wittenberg answered with a 37-yard field goal by Lucas Swierk (Morrow, OH / Little Miami) with 4:39 left before halftime, the host Tigers put the game out of reach with another touchdown just before halftime to make the score 31-3.

Wittenberg's lone touchdown of the game was scored by freshman quarterback Jayden Miller (Amelia, OH / Williamsburg) at the 6:14 mark of the third quarter on a 15-yard run. Miller finished the game a respectable 12-of-19 passing for 193 yards.

However, Wittenberg's ground game was completely bottled up. Miller was the team's leading rusher with 14 yards on 12 carries, while running back Omar Holloway (Dayton, OH / Stebbins) managed just eight yards on eight carries.

Eric Rasheed (Fletcher, NC / Hendersonville) was Wittenberg's leading receiver with three receptions for 80 yards, followed by Earl Pope (Miami, FL / Carol City) with four catches for 61 yards.

On the other side of the ball, Luke Jackson (DeGraff, OH / Indian Lake) had a huge game, piling up a career-high 18 total tackles, including the Tigers' lone tackle for loss in the entire game. Cameron Snurr (Springboro, OH / Springboro) added 10 tackles, and Quatrell Black (Memphis, TN / Briarcrest) added eight tackles and two pass break-ups.