#14 Wittenberg Washes Away Westminster In Home Opener

The 2018 Wittenberg football season kicked off on Saturday afternoon, as the #14 Tigers hosted the Titans of Westminster College.

#14 Wittenberg Washes Away Westminster In Home Opener
September 1, 2018
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Springfield, Ohio – The 2018 Wittenberg football season kicked off on Saturday afternoon, as the #14 Tigers hosted the Titans of Westminster College. For the fourth consecutive year, Wittenberg has won their opening game of the season, this season taking down the Titans by a final score 34-21.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Wittenberg was able to keep the Titans off the board for almost all of the first half, taking a 20-7 lead into the break. Westminster was able to chip away at the Wittenberg advantage with the only points of the third quarter. The momentum swing for the Tigers came at the beginning of the fourth quarter when Jake Kennedy connected with Bryce Bailey on a 52-yard catch and run crossing into Westminster territory and setting up the 40-yard Adam Acquista field goal conversion. Thaddeus Snodgrass opened the scoring effort in the first quarter hauling in the 42-yard pass from Kennedy to give the Tigers the early lead in the first quarter. After a shovel-pass from Kennedy to Kendall at the end of the first quarter extended the lead out to 13-0. Kennedy would take the ball in himself for the score with just of thirteen minutes remaining in the second quarter to give the Tigers the 20-0 advantage. Wittenberg would never surrender the lead to Westminster, although allowing the Titans to pull the game to within a score with just under 10 minutes in the fourth quarter.

WHO STOOD OUT: The Wittenberg receiving core or Bailey (64), Snodgrass (63) and Tiffner (50) would all finish with 50+ yards through the air and long receptions of over 20-yards each. The Tigers got many skill players involved, as three running backs racked up 15+ yards on the day, including Tristan Davis, Troy Clay, and Sam Kayser. Kennedy would finish the day with 230 yards 22 completions on 34 attempts and three TDs. The Tiger defense came up with three takeaways by way of interception from Terrance Crowe, Thomas Scholl, and Trevor Good. Jonathon Seay led the Wittenberg defense with 14 tackles, including two for a loss of eight yards. Crowe was the second Tiger defender to rack up double-digit tackles with 12, along with a sack.

UP NEXT: Wittenberg will have a bye during the second week of the season, but will return to action on Saturday, September 15 at 2:30 PM as they travel to Oberlin to kickoff NCAC action