Wittenberg Slugs It Out Before Prevailing 35-31 Over NCAC Rival Wooster

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg University Tigers have won a lot of games by wide margins in the 2003 season, blowing out each of the first five teams to visit Edwards-Maurer Field by at least 26 points. But on Saturday, as expected, the Tigers had to slug it out with a quality conference rival, the College of Wooster Fighting Scots.

In the end, the Tigers came up with the big defensive plays at the right moments and got just enough offensive production to ease their way past the Scots, 35-31. The win gave Wittenberg a season-ending 8-2 overall record and a 4-2 mark in the NCAC, which is good for a second-place tie with Oberlin and Wabash. Wooster capped its season with marks of 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the NCAC.

The storyline coming into this game was Wooster's Tony Sutton against a young Tiger defense and Wittenberg's wide receiver duo of Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) and Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) against a Wooster defense ranked eighth in the NCAC in pass defense. In a sometimes ragged game that included a combined six turnovers, 11 penalties and seven missed extra point attempts, all three featured performers got their yards and points, but none factored prominently in the decisive five minutes of action.

Wooster fielded a punt with 9:41 remaining in the fourth quarter and drove 38 yards in the next seven plays that took 4:26 off the clock. But the drive stalled when Sutton, the leading rusher and scorer in all of college football (regardless of division), was unable to make a dent on three straight plays and then Scots quarterback Justin Shafer was sacked by Wittenberg's Clinton Tiggs (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne) at the Tiger 30-yard-line.

Wittenberg then took the ball and ran 10 plays for 51 yards to burn the final 5:15 off the clock. The Tigers picked up three third-down conversions along the way and rode the broad shoulders of fullback Tyler Harmon (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian), who carried six times in the drive.

The Tigers got 48 yards on 15 carries from freshman tailback Joe Brumfield (Springfield, Ohio/Kenton Ridge) and 47 yards on 15 carries from Harmon to lead the rushing attack in the absence of leading rusher Raymar Hampshire (Lima, Ohio/Elida), 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.

Sandwiched in between their scores was a 12-yard scoring reception by Ivery, who finished with 48 yards on five catches. Glover added seven catches for 85 yards and a 30-yard scoring reception in the third quarter that provided what turned out to be the winning points. Harmon also had two catches for 22 yards as junior quarterback Ryan Holmes (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda) finished the day 16-of-31 passing for 177 yards and two touchdowns.

For Wooster, it was the Tony Sutton show once again. With 41 carries for 179 rushing yards and three catches for another 27 yards, Sutton broke the NCAC rushing and all-purpose yardage records for a single season. His five touchdowns in the game (Sutton scored 30 of Wooster's 31 points) gave him 31 on the season to break a couple more conference records.

Defensively, Wittenberg "held" Sutton in check for the most part, allowing him just one run over 20 yards, that coming on a dazzling change of direction touchdown run in the third quarter that covered 30 yards to the end zone, but actually about 70 yards total from side to side. The Tigers rattled Shafer, however, as they recorded four sacks and intercepted four passes two each by sophomores Brandon Slade (Louisville, Colo./Monarch) and Mike Freeman (Huber Heights, Ohio/Wayne). The last one was a terrific juggling pick along the sidelines that Freeman took to the house in the third quarter.

Senior linebacker Gary George (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian) recorded 17 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, to lead the Tiger defense, while freshman safetyMitch Fonseca (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) added 14 tackles and freshman linebacker Devon Combs (Columbus, Ohio/South) finished with 10. Freeman had eight tackles, the aforementioned two interceptions and two passes defensed. For Wooster, linebacker Tim Cline and safety Brian Kight shared high tackle honors with 10 each.

In the long history of this series, the game followed a script that has become familiar in recent years. Wittenberg has now won 26 of the last 27 games between the two teams, dating back to the last time Wooster won in Springfield in 1949. But many of the games have been close, including four of the last six meetings that have been decided by a touchdown or less.