Wittenberg Stunned By Ohio Wesleyan

DELAWARE, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers invaded Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday with a head of steam, needing only a 13th straight win over the Battling Bishops to set up a much-anticipated showdown with nationally ranked Wooster next week for the conference championship. However, playing without three starters for the entire game and losing two more during it, the young, shorthanded Tigers were stunned 28-24 by Ohio Wesleyan.

The loss dropped the Tigers into a second-place tie with the Battling Bishops, who have rebounded from an 0-4 start to the season to even their record at 4-4 overall, including a 4-1 mark in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Wittenberg, which had been ranked No. 22 in the nation by the American Football Coaches Association, dropped to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the NCAC just a week after an emotional Homecoming win over then-nationally ranked Wabash.

Wittenberg was missing key players in every facet of the game Saturday and it showed by game's end. The offense was hamstrung by the absence of junior wide receiver Jered Glover, who had three times as many receptions as any of his teammates coming into the game, the defense was without junior cornerback Lavon Wilborn, junior defensive end Dave Fleck and senior defensive tackle Jarrett Brown, all starters, and the special teams was missing the nation's leading punter, senior Jacob Thomas, and sophomore Jordan Brock, who has made several big plays on kickoff and punt returns.

Offensively, the Tigers moved the ball fairly well, but they lacked the big-play capability that Glover, the team's leading receiver each of the last two seasons, possesses. Wittenberg's longest play from scrimmage was 26 yards, and several drives stalled as the Ohio Wesleyan defense keyed on junior tailback Tristan Murray and forced the Tigers into difficult third-down situations. Murray finished with 28 carries for 123 yards and two touchdowns, but his longest play was 22 yards.

Defensively, Wittenberg gave up a whopping 364 rushing yards, out of 397 total yards for the Battling Bishops. The key performer was OWU quarterback Ryan Sir Louis, who had game-highs of 139 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winner on a fourth-down play with just over two minutes left on the clock and the Tigers clinging to a 24-21 lead. The Bishops converted two fourth downs on that drive, the first one coming on fourth-and-three from midfield as Sir Louis rumbled 35 yards to set up the eventual score.

The lead changed hands six times after Ohio Wesleyan started the scoring with a one-yard scoring run by Sir Louis in the first quarter. A 33-yard Mark Porter field goal and a seven-yard touchdown run by Wittenberg quarterback Ryan Holmes made it 10-7 going into halftime, but that lead was shortlived as Sir Louis scored on a 30-yard run on the Bishops' first possession of the third quarter. Murray put the Tigers back on top with a four-yard scoring burst, Ohio Wesleyan's Eric Indiciani answered on a 63-yard jaunt early in the fourth quarter, and then Murray gave Wittenberg its last lead with 9:48 left in the game on a one-yard run.

After the Tiger defense made a big stop to force a punt, Holmes fumbled a shotgun snap and the Bishops then marched 57 yards in 11 plays for the aforementioned game-winning touchdown. Wittenberg, out of timeouts, reached the Ohio Wesleyan 29-yard-line, but Bo Mayer came up with an interception to seal the game for the Bishops with just seconds remaining on the clock.

Holmes finished 12-of-33 for 165 yards, and he spread the ball around to seven different receivers, led by junior wideout Braden Freeman with four receptions for 69 yards. Defensively, sophomore safety Mitch Fonseca had one of his best games, accounting for a game-high 15 tackles, and junior safety Adam Hewitt contributed 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.

Six different OWU players had at least 19 yards in the game, led by Sir Louis. Indiciani had six carries for 85 yards and Nick Rice added 11 carries for 66 yards and four receptions for 34 yards.

All is not lost for the Tigers, but now they must find a way to pull off an upset and then hope for help from other sources. They conclude the regular season with a road trip to Wooster next weekend and then return home to face defending champion Allegheny on Nov. 13.