New Faces Offer More of the Same for Wittenberg Tiger Football Team in Season-Opening 34-7 Win at Albion

SPRINGFIELD - With just nine starters and 24 letterwinners back in the fold, nothing about the 2003 football season was too clear. Things are a great deal clearer for the Tigers after a surprisingly easy 34-7 defeat of Albion College at Sprankle-Sprandel Stadium in Albion, Mich. on Saturday, Sept. 6.

The Tigers were outstanding from the outset, and in many ways they duplicated the dominating effort of the season-opening 44-7 victory against the same Britons in Springfield one year ago. In the 2002 game, Wittenberg made a huge stop on Albion's first drive of the game, forcing a game-changing fumble at the one-yard-line. In the 2003 game, Albion made pretty good headway on its opening drive again, but the Tigers were equal to the task as they stuffed a fourth-down run at their own 40-yard-line to set the tone.

In response, Wittenberg drove 60 yards on 10 plays, capping the first scoring drive of 2003 with a one-yard Raymar Hampshire (Lima, Ohio/Elida) plunge into the end zone. The rest of the first half was dominated by Wittenberg's defense and special teams as the Tigers allowed just 87 total yards and scored a second TD on a blocked punt recovered by freshman Ryan McCoart (Fairborn, Ohio/Fairborn). In between were a pair of Conrad Hindert (Terrace Park, Ohio/Mariemont) 37-yard field goals.

In the second half, Wittenberg again controlled the majority of the action, allowing just one long Albion drive in the fourth quarter that ended in a three-yard touchdown scamper by Ryan Williams. Bookending that Britons score were Hampshire's second touchdown of the day as the only score of the third stanza and a 21-yard jaunt by freshman Joe Brumfield (Springfield, Ohio/Kenton Ridge) on a fourth-down play at the 1:54 mark of the fourth quarter.

The final team statistics were reflective of the lop-sided final score. The Tigers, with a new quarterback, junior Ryan Holmes (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda), and a host of other new players in starting roles, gained 24 first downs to Albion's 10, outgained the Britons 409-189 in total yards and controlled the ball by nearly a 2-1 ratio.

Individually, Wittenberg got a career-high 99 yards on 13 carries from Hampshire, the fullback in the Tigers' Power-I formation, 77 yards on 17 carries from Brumfield and 55 yards on 12 totes for sophomore starting tailback Adam Hewitt (Piqua, Ohio/Lehman Catholic). Holmes was a very efficient 13-of-22 for 148 yards in his first college start. Among his receivers, sophomore Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) caught five passes for 40 yards and senior Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) hauled in three passes for 53 yards and also had two rushes for 17 yards.

For Albion, Shaun Moon had 27 yards on one reverse to lead all rushers, while starting tailback Dustin Louwaert had 12 carries for 26 yards. Quarterback Mike Gough had 13 completions in 19 attempts for 120 yards, with four of those passes ending up in Louwaert's hands for 30 yards.

Defensively, Wittenberg was paced by sophomore cornerback Yusef Abdul-Zahir (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) and senior linebacker Gary George (Cincinnati, Ohio/Purcell Marian), who had six tackles each. Freshman linebacker Serge Thebaud (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast) had a fantastic debut in the Red & White with 5.5 tackles and the blocked punt that resulted in the second quarter touchdown.

Wittenberg returns to action on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. against Urbana University on Community Night at Edwards-Maurer Field in Springfield. The Tigers have never lost to the Blue Knights, an NAIA scholarship program, in four all-time meetings.