Wittenberg Grinds Out Win Over Carnegie Mellon

Wittenberg Grinds Out Win Over Carnegie Mellon

Conner Warye

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers played perhaps their most complete game of the 2009 season, methodically working their way past visiting Carnegie Mellon for a 28-7 Homecoming victory.

The win moved Wittenberg, ranked 16th by the American Football Coaches Association and 21st by d3football.com last week, to 7-0 on the season, heading into a home stretch of three consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference games against Denison, Allegheny and Wooster. Carnegie Mellon lost to the Tigers for the second straight season to drop to 4-3, heading into a season-ending three-game stretch of University Athletic Association contests.

The Tigers were dominant on defense for a seventh straight game in 2009, yielding just 168 yards and a fourth-quarter touchdown. Ranked No. 1 in all of NCAA Division III in total defense coming in, Wittenberg allowed just 67 yards rushing to the Tartans' diversified Wing-T offense and 101 yards through the air. The Tigers made a whopping 14 tackles for loss in the game, including three on one fourth-quarter series alone from senior tackle Taylor Scherer (Crestwood, Ky./South Oldham County).

Senior linebacker Kyle Lohrman (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) was Wittenberg's leading tackler with 14 on the day, while sophomore linebacker Zach Hurtt (Fort Thomas, Ky./Highlands) added 10 stops and senior safety Trent Brunic (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) chipped in with nine tackles, including 2.5 for a whopping 10 yards in lost yardage.

While the defense continues to be the most compelling story, the Tiger offense did its job as well, churning out 20 first downs, 178 yards rushing, 183 yards passing and 399 yards in total. The tailback duo of sophomore Conner Warye (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) and junior Corey Weber (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) kept the chains moving with rushing totals of 123 and 50 yards, respectively. Weber added a 23-yard reception, part of a 221-yard passing day for senior quarterback Aaron Huffman (Newark, Ohio/Newark).

Huffman finished 12-of-22 with four touchdown passes through the air. His favorite target was sophomore wide receiver Josh McKee (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) with five catches for 98 yards, while sophomore wideout Michael Cooper (Springfield, Ohio/South) added five receptions for 92 yards. McKee finished with two TDs, Cooper added one and senior wide receiver Patrick Williams (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) rounded things out with an eight-yard scoring connection of his own.

Written by: Ryan Maurer