Round Up: Crucial Victory Over Wooster Takes Tigers to NCAA Playoffs
The Tiger football team lives to play another day. The Tigers received one of three Pool C bids into the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
The Tiger football team lives to play another day. The Tigers received one of three Pool C bids into the NCAA Division III Playoffs. Wittenberg will play at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. at noon, Saturday, Nov. 23.
This is the Tigers' fifth straight trip to the NCAA Division III Playoffs and 11th overall since the division was created in 1973 (Wittenberg also won the inaugural Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in 1969 as a member of the NCAA College Division). Wittenberg has an overall playoff record of 16-8. The Tigers won national titles in 1973 and 1975 and finished second in 1977 and 1979, all under the direction of National College Football Hall of Famer Dave Maurer. Under Fincham, Wittenberg is 6-4 in the national competition and has advanced to the quarterfinal round each of the last two years, only to lose to eventual national champion Mount Union College.
Hanover enters the playoffs with a perfect 10-0 overall record and the No. 9 ranking in the nation. The Panthers won the 2002 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship. Last Saturday, the Tigers pulled out a crucial victory at the College of Wooster to ensure themselves an opportunity to play in the national competitition. Playing in rain, cold and lots of mud, the Tigers came up with four huge defensive plays with the game - and season - on the line to pull out a crucial 14-9 victory over the Scots.
The biggest play of the game came with 3:33 left in the fourth quarter when senior linebacker Dustin Goldsbury (Columbus, Ohio/Ready) came clean on a blitz to sack the Wooster quarterback, force a fumble and then recover it as well. Wittenberg then ran out most of the clock, but when the Scots got it back senior defensive end duo of Jim Lackmeyer (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian) and Allen D'Andrea (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) combined to register one final sack.
The great defense, a trademark of the Tigers, who have ranked first in total defense in the NCAC 10 of the last 11 years, didn't overshadow the phenomenal efforts of senior tailback Daniel Grove (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont). Grove, playing his first game since breaking two bones in his foot five weeks earlier in an overtime loss to Wabash, posted 212 yards on 34 carries. It was Grove's second 200-yard rushing day in 2002 and his fourth in the last two seasons. He finished the season 929 yards and 16 touchdowns on 129 carries in just six games.
Grove's biggest carries of the game came immediately after two of the aforementioned huge defensive plays. After senior Andy Waddle (Springfield, Ohio/Greenon) intercepted a Wooster pass early in the fourth quarter, Grove went 27 yards on the second play of the ensuing possession to give the Tigers a little breathing room at 14-3. Then, after Wooster closed to within 14-9 but were stopped on Goldsbury's sack, Grove went 31 yards deep into Scots territory, which allowed the Tigers to nearly run out the clock.
The fourth huge defensive play was made by junior cornerback Tim Gaal (Amanda, Ohio/Clearcreek), who intercepted his first pass of the season in the first quarter, which led to Wittenberg's first scoring drive. Sophomore fullback Raymar Hampshire (Lima, Ohio/Elida) capped that eight-play, 74-yard drive with a 22-yard run.
Senior quarterback Greg Cornett (Franklin, Ohio/Franklin) finished 13-for-22 passing for 120 yards and freshman wide receiver Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) topped the team in catches with six for 50 yards.
Defensively, Goldsbury, the team's leading tackler, finished with seven stops, including two for a total loss of 13 yards. Lackmeyer and senior linebacker Ryan Gresham (Columbus, Ohio/Eastmoor) added six total tackles and one for loss each.
While it wasn't much of a day for offense, Wittenberg did break two school and NCAC offensive records. The Tigers broke the record for total points in a season (485) and points-after-touchdowns in a season (57). Wittenberg came into the game leading the nation in scoring with 52.3 points per game and concluded the regular season averaging a phenomenal 48.5 points per outing.