Round Up: Tigers Defeat Huntingdon, 48-27
The Wittenberg football team is still in search of that elusive dynamic - momentum.
The Wittenberg football team is still in search of that elusive dynamic - momentum. Two Tiger wins in the last two weeks on their home turf was a good start, however, including last Saturday's 48-27 win over Huntingdon.
In the win, the Tigers relied on an emerging big-play trio to get things going. Junior wide receiver Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) exploded for three touchdowns in the second half, including a 65-yard score with 10:47 remaining in the third quarter that broke the game open. Glover finished with 119 yards receiving on six receptions and a total of 193 all-purpose yards, which included a pair of kickoff returns for 71 total yards.
Senior quarterback Ryan Holmes (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda) finished his day before the fourth quarter started with efficient stats of 10-of-13 passing for 176 yards and two touchdowns, in addition to his second rushing touchdown of the season. Sophomore quarterback Chris Clark (Springfield, Ohio/South) was solid in his first extended collegiate action, turning in a 6-of-9 performance that included 105 yards passing, 17 yards rushing and two touchdown passes.
The third member of that big-play troika is junior tailback Tristan Murray (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh), who did the majority of the dirty work on the ground. Toting the ball 24 times in the game, Murray accumulated 127 hard-earned yards and scored the game's first touchdown.
In addition, freshman kicker Mark Porter (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) had his best game as a collegian, converting a pair of field goal attempts. Junior tight end Nate Cherry (Toledo, Ohio/St. John's Jesuit) hauled in a three-yard scoring strike from Clark to cap the scoring.
Junior safety Adam Hewitt (Piqua, Ohio/Lehman Catholic) intercepted two passes in the first quarter that led directly to the first 10 points of the game. Safety Mitch Fonseca (Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus) finished with eight tackles and junior cornerback Lavon Wilborn (Columbus, Ohio/Westerville South) and freshman linebacker Matt Ruggles (Wheelersburg, Ohio/Wheelersburg) had seven stops each.
Wittenberg, now 2-1 overall, returns to action Saturday with a road game at Denison. It will be the North Coast Athletic Conference opener for both teams.