Tigers Clear Another Hurdle, Defeat Ohio Wesleyan, 37-7

DELAWARE, Ohio – The Wittenberg University Tigers made it eight straight wins in the 2000 campaign and took another giant step toward earning a third straight outright North Coast Athletic Conference championship and NCAA Division III playoff berth by defeating host Ohio Wesleyan University Saturday before a homecoming crowd of 3,375 at Selby Field in Delaware. The Tigers, who ran their regular season win streak to 29 games and NCAC win streak to 20, improved to 5-0 in the NCAC with two weeks remaining.

The Tiger Tale on this day was balance, as Wittenberg jumped out to leads of 17-0 by the end of the first quarter and 27-7 at the end of the second. First, Wittenberg hit the Bishops with an accurate downfield passing game. Senior wide receiver Labon Storts (Columbus, Ohio/Westland) opened the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown reception from senior quarterback Anthony Crane (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis), and junior wide receiver Michael Aljancic (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) tacked on a 37-yard touchdown reception from Crane just six minutes later.

Then it was time to show off the vaunted Tiger ground game, led by senior tailback Casey Donaldson (South Charleston, Ohio/Southeastern), but with some help this time. Donaldson struck paydirt for the 63rd and 64th times in his career and 17th and 18th times this season, tallying six points with 2:25 left in the second quarter on a five-yard run and another six on a nine-yard burst with 10:36 left in the third quarter. Donaldson, who went for 147 yards in the game on 27 carries, now has 1,100 yards on the season, the third time he has topped 1,000 yards in his four campaigns wearing the Red & White. He ranks 11th all-time in Division III history (based on pre-season statistics) with 4,816 yards in his career, and he is eighth (again, based on stats compiled prior to the 2000 season) on the all-time scoring list with 388 points in his career.

Lending welcome support was senior fullback Gary Henson (Columbus, Ohio/Marion-Franklin), who has been hampered by injuries in missing much of the 2000 season. Providing a perfect third option to the downfield passing attack and the record-setting running of Donaldson, Henson pounded the Bishops for 105 yards on 13 carries, mostly in the second half against a smaller and visibly tired OWU defense.

To round things off on the offensive side of the ball, senior placekicker Ryan Walker (Newark, Ohio/Newark) had perhaps his best of the 2000 season. Walker was three-for-three on field goal attempts — his first three since Week 4 of the season — and he was four-for-four on extra-point attempts. Walker, the Wittenberg record-holder for points by kicking, now has 228 points in his career.

Defensively, it was another day at the office for a young, rapidly improving unit. The Bishops managed just 68 yards rushing and 118 yards passing, as the Tigers' defense was once again up to the test. Defensive backs Rob Harris (Cincinnati, Ohio/Withrow) and John Hauser (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley) topped Wittenberg with eight tackles each.