Big Plays Propel Wittenberg to 56-28 Win Over Thomas More

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - Traditionally, the Wittenberg University football program has been in the three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust mold. It has usually been grind-it-out football behind mammoth offensive lines, passing only to keep the chains moving and winning primarily with defense and ball control.

While those days are hardly gone, on Saturday the Tigers turned to the big play to defeat visiting Thomas More College 56-28 on a beautiful fall afternoon at Edwards-Maurer Field. Before a Parents Weekend crowd of 3,245, the Tigers improved to 3-0 on the 2003 season, while Thomas More fell to 1-3 heading into a bye week.

After the Saints, who are now 0-3 all-time against Wittenberg, opened the scoring with a seven-yard touchdown run by Myrion Hopkins, the Tigers' Jered Glover turned things around in a hurry with a school-record 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to make the score 7-6. Just before the end of the first quarter, the Tigers struck again to take the lead for good as tailback Raymar Hampshire capped a five-play, 57-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge, and he added the two-point conversion with a short reception.

Hampshire added a five-yard scoring run to open the second-quarter scoring, and then middle linebacker Gary George got into the act, picking off a Thomas More pass and rumbling 30 yards to paydirt with 3:14 to go in the half. Then wide receiver Skip Ivery and quarterback Ryan Holmes combined to really open the game up on a 35-yard touchdown pass play that capped a three-play, 83-yard scoring drive with just 31 seconds left before halftime.

In the second half, the Tigers again got off to a relatively slow start as a bad snap to punter Jacob Thomas led to a fumble recovery for a touchdown by Thomas More's Andy Heinl. After the Saints got the ball back, Wittenberg came up with a big fourth-down stop to stem the tide, and then Glover went back to work, catching a screen pass and turning it into a 36-yard touchdown reception. The third quarter concluded with Hampshire's third score of the game, this one coming from 54 yards out on a screen pass from Holmes.

Thomas More came back with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Nate Berkley to Chase Weber in the fourth quarter, Wittenberg freshman Jason Hartzler found the end zone for the first time in his career with a 29-yard scoring run with 5:56 left in the stanza and then the Saints' Adam Morancey capped the scoring with a 21-yard touchdown reception from Berkley inside of the two-minute mark.

The game's offensive statistics told the story of a very even game, although many of Thomas More's yards came early and late in the game. The two teams each posted 22 first downs and the net yardage was 424 for the Saints and 440 for Wittenberg. The difference was turnovers and the timing of them - Wittenberg intercepted Berkley five times, returning one for a touchdown and making two of the plays in the end zone, while the Tigers' two fumbles were not converted into points.

Individually, Wittenberg got 111 yards on 17 carries from Hampshire, 69 yards on 10 carries from freshman Joe Brumfield and 45 yards on four carries from freshman fullback Tyler Harmon. Ivery totaled 64 yards on four receptions and Glover finished 154 all-purpose yards (22 rushing, 36 receiving and 96 kickoff returns). Holmes was again efficient with 166 yards, no interceptions and three touchdowns on just seven completions in 11 attempts, although he was sacked six times. Thomas More got 139 yards on 28 carries from Tyran Thompson and 209 yards and two touchdowns through the air from Berkley.

Defensively, Wittenberg got a tremendous game from freshman safety Mitch Fonseca, who had 13 tackles, including one for loss, one interception and one pass defensed. Senior linebacker Peter Franz totaled eight tackles, George had eight tackles, including one for loss, and sophomore Brandon Slade finished with three tackles and two interceptions, including one in the end zone in the first half with the game still in doubt.

Wittenberg returns to action next Saturday against the Denison Big Red, which is 0-3.