Round Up: Tigers Prove Their Merit Despite Young Team
The Wittenberg football program is off to a 2-0 start to the 2003 season, the seventh straight year that Wittenberg has won its first two games.
The Wittenberg football program is off to a 2-0 start to the 2003 season, the seventh straight year that Wittenberg has won its first two games. The campaign opened at Albion on Sept. 6 with a 34-7 victory and a 38-12 win over Urbana on Sept. 13.
The Tigers are outgaining opponents by a whopping 423.0-195.5 margin per game. Junior Raymar Hampshire (Lima, Ohio/Elida) leads the Tigers' rushing attack with 257 yards and three touchdowns, and he is averaging a robust 7.8 yards per carry. He has carried the ball 33 times and has been stopped for a loss just once. Through the air, junior quarterback Ryan Holmes (Oxford, Ohio/Talawanda) has three touchdowns, 343 yards and no interceptions. His chief targets have been senior Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) with nine catches for 160 yards and sophomore Jered Glover (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown) with eight receptions for 107 yards.
Defensively, the Tigers, who have led the North Coast Athletic Conference in total defense 10 of the last 11 years, have been dominant again. Even with nine new starters, the unit is holding opponents under 200 yards and 10 points per game. Sophomore safety Yusef Abdul-Zahir (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) leads the way with 23 total tackles, including 15 against Urbana.
After a week off, the Tigers are back in action on Saturday with a home game against Thomas More. The Saints bring a 1-2 record into the game, but they have posted back-to-back winning seasons, including a playoff appearance in 2001. Wittenberg has defeated Thomas More each of the last two seasons.