2003 Wittenberg Football Game Notes Game 4 vs. Denison University Big Red

The Wittenberg Tigers are off to a 3-0 start to the 2003 season, the sixth time in the last seven years the Tigers have swept their traditional three-game nonconference schedule. Wins over Albion, Urbana and Thomas More, all by at least 26 points, have prepped the Tigers for the North Coast Athletic Conference schedule, starting with this week's game against Denison.

October 4, 2003

Ryan Holmes

Setting The Scene:

The Wittenberg Tigers are off to a 3-0 start to the 2003 season, the sixth time in the last seven years the Tigers have swept their traditional three-game nonconference schedule. Wins over Albion, Urbana and Thomas More, all by at least 26 points, have prepped the Tigers for the North Coast Athletic Conference schedule, starting with this week's game against Denison.

Junior Raymar Hampshire leads the Tigers' rushing attack with 368 yards and six touchdowns (including one receiving), and he is averaging a robust 7.4 yards per carry. Through the air, junior quarterback Ryan Holmes has six touchdowns, 509 yards and no interceptions. His chief targets have been senior Skip Ivery with 13 catches for 224 yards and three touchdowns and sophomore Jered Glover with nine receptions for 143 yards and three touchdowns (including one on a school-record 96-yard kickoff return). The Tigers, who have led the NCAC in total defense 10 of the last 11 years, have been dominant again. The unit is holding opponents to 271 yards and 14 points per game. Safety Yusef Abdul-Zahir leads the way with 27 total tackles, including 15 against Urbana. Linebacker Gary George has 23 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, and two interceptions, including one against Thomas More he returned 30 yards for a score.

Denison is off to an 0-3 start, with season-opening losses against Waynesburg (70-14), Case Western Reserve (51-20) and Ohio Wesleyan (17-10). The Big Red finished 2-8 a year ago, 2-5 in the NCAC.

Denison averages nearly 300 yards per game in total offense, but has managed just 14.7 points per game. Individually, Phil Bouwhis leads the rushing attack with an average of 108 yards per game, Larry Capetto has thrown for 305 yards and two touchdowns and Josh Jirgens, who owns several school records for receiving, tops the team with 15 receptions. Defensively, Tim Koprowski leads with 26 tackles.

Tigers on the Radio:

Wittenberg is blessed with outstanding radio coverage again in 2003, as Marty Bannister heads things up for an 11th straight year on WULM. Bannister is joined in the booth by former Tiger All-American offensive lineman Xan Smith, who provides color commentary, while Scott Leo patrols the sidelines to provide insight.

All season long, WULM also hosts Tiger Talk on Thursdays from 8-9 p.m. The show includes interviews and analysis with Wittenberg Head Coach Joe Fincham and his players and assistant coaches.

Internet Broadcasts:

Wittenberg has partnered with Stretch Internet to make selected sporting events available around the world. Wittenberg fans will not have to pay to listen to broadcasts, and anyone with a computer and an Internet connection will be able to log in and listen without risk of getting bumped off due to listener limitations. Stretch Internet utilizes QuickTime, so prospective listeners need only to download the free QuickTime Player and they're ready to listen to Wittenberg games live.

No Shutouts:

One has to go back 11 years to find the last shutout that Wittenberg has suffered. Baldwin-Wallace did the honors in the opening game of the 1992 season, which also is the last time that Wittenberg lost back-to-back games (the Tigers lost their 2001 season finale to Ohio Wesleyan as well). Since the defeat to B-W, Wittenberg has played 124 games without either being shutout or suffering two consecutive losses. During that span, Wittenberg has recorded 25 shutouts of its own. Not only has Wittenberg not been shutout in 124 games, the Tigers have been held below 10 points in a game on just one occasion during that span - against Mercyhurst in a 7-6 victory in 1993.

Landmark Season:

Starting in 1892, the Wittenberg football program has played at least three games every year except 1943 and 1944 due to World War II. Entering the 2003 season, Wittenberg has played 992 games on the gridiron, meaning that the eighth game of this season, on Nov. 1 at Allegheny College, will be No. 1,000 in school history.

Skip Ivery

Record-Breaker at Receiver:

Senior wide receiver Skip Ivery has grown from a promising freshman catching a few passes in garbage time of games during the 2000 season to one of the Tigers' team leaders. This season, he leads the team with 13 receptions for 224 yards and three touchdowns, bringing his career totals to 101 receptions for 1,452 yards and 15 touchdowns. He ranks No. 4, No. 6 and tied for No. 4 on those respective school record lists.

Mr. Efficiency:

Junior quarterback Ryan Holmes knew heading into this season, one in which he was replacing record-setting Greg Cornett under center, that it was not his job to win games by himself. Instead, he would be expected to show leadership, direction and poise while using the considerable weapons around him. Through three games, he has done just that.

Holmes leads the NCAC and ranks among the best in the nation in passing efficiency with a spectacular rating of 178.4. After finishing 7-of-11 for 166 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions against Thomas More, Holmes is now completing more than 60 percent of his passes, and he has more than 500 yards passing for the season. And he has no interceptions yet this season, although he has absorbed nine sacks the last two games.

Last Time Out:

The Tigers turned to the big play to defeat visiting Thomas More 56-28 on Sept. 27 at Edwards-Maurer Field.

Jered Glover

After the Saints opened the scoring, Jered Glover turned things around with a school-record 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Just before the end of the first quarter, the Tigers struck again as tailback Raymar Hampshire scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge and caught a short pass for the two-point conversion.

Hampshire added two more scores, on a five-yard run and a 54-yard swing pass, linebacker Gary George picked off a pass and went 30 yards to paydirt, wide receiver Skip Ivery hauled in a 35-yard touchdown pass, Glover caught a 36-yard screen pass for a touchdown and freshman Jason Hartzler scored for the first time in his career from the 29 yards out. 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 collected five interceptions, returning one for a touchdown and making two in the end zone, while the Tigers' two fumbles were not converted into points. Individually, Wittenberg got 111 yards on 17 carries from Hampshire, Ivery totaled 64 yards on four receptions and Glover finished 154 all-purpose yards (22 rushing, 36 receiving and 96 kickoff returns). Holmes had 166 yards and three touchdowns on seven completions.

Defensively, freshman safety Mitch Fonseca had 13 tackles and an interception, linebackers Peter Franz and George totaled eight tackles each and sophomore Brandon Slade finished with two interceptions.

Last Meeting:

Wittenberg pounded visiting Denison 53-7 on Oct. 3, 2002. The Tigers scored touchdowns on their first six possessions and didn't put a starter on the field in the second half.

Dustin Goldsbury

The rout was on early as tailback Daniel Grove capped a seven-play, 76-yard drive with a 39-yard scoring run on fourth-and-one with 11:52 remaining in the first quarter, and then he added touchdown runs of 14 yards and five yards. Grove finished the game with 14 carries for 173 yards and three touchdowns. In addition, Raymar Hampshire finished with 72 yards and two touchdowns on six carries and Jason Stephan contributed four rushes for 54 yards and one score.

Rounding out the scoring for the Tigers, who held a 425-12 advantage in total yards in the first half and 564-116 in the game overall, were Jered Glover, who caught a 44-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Greg Cornett in the first quarter, and wide receiver Tim Horn, who was on the receiving end of an eight-yard scoring hook-up with quarterback Kurt Forrest. Cornett finished with a 14-of-18 passing day for 187 yards and the Tigers posted 231 yards passing as a team.

Defensively, the Tigers were led by linebacker Dustin Goldsbury, who had 10 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss of four yards. Linebacker Anthoni Fazio added six tackles.

Series History:

Wittenberg leads the all-time series between the Denison and Wittenberg 43-23-2 and has won 13 straight games dating back to a 21-14 Denison win in 1989. Since 1955, when the Big Red won 13-8, Wittenberg has won 26 of the last 28 meetings, with the 1989 loss and a 10-10 tie in 1975 the only interruptions in that streak. Amazingly, 13 of those 28 meetings have resulted in shutouts for the Tigers.

The Rankings:

Wittenberg ranks No. 11 in the American Football Coaches Association poll, No. 15 in the d3football.com poll and No. 7 in National Football Gazette.

Joe Fincham

The Coach:

Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. In his eighth season at the helm, Fincham has a 76-9 overall record, including a mark of 48-3 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 70-5. His teams have claimed five conference titles, including four straight outright with undefeated records from 1998-2001. Fincham, who ranks second in winning percentage in NCAA Division III history among coaches with five or more seasons, has been named NCAC Coach of the Year four times.