Posted October 6 2001, 07:18 pm
Posted by: Ryan Maurer
GRANVILLE, Ohio — This was more like it. After three straight nail-biters — their first loss in 34 regular season games at Alma College, a defensive struggle back home against Wabash College, and a thrilling rally to win on Homecoming Weekend over arch-rival Allegheny College — the Wittenberg University Tigers got back on track Saturday with a 72-14 rout of Denison University.
Wittenberg, which has beaten Denison 12 straight times by an average of more than 35 points per game, improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the NCAC. The win was the Tigers’ 25th straight in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Denison, which has surrendered at least 43 points in all five games this year, fell to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
The Tigers’ dominance in this one was evident from the outset as Denison quarterback Greg Neuendorf was sacked on two of the first three plays of the game. After a short Big Red punt, Wittenberg struck quickly as junior quarterback Greg Cornett (Franklin, Ohio/Franklin) threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) on the Tigers’ first play from scrimmage.
Denison then caught Wittenberg’s secondary napping with a 65-yard scoring hook-up between Neuendorf and wide receiver Ryan Hite – the nation’s leader in total offense to the NCAC’s leading receiver. But after the Big Red stuffed Wittenberg on a fourth down deep in Denison territory on the next drive, the Tigers forced a fumble on the very next play and senior linebacker Nic Black (Piqua, Ohio/Piqua) pounced on it in the end zone to give Wittenberg a lead they would never relinquish.
Neuendorf’s next attempt to exploit the Tiger secondary led to an interception by senior defensive back Jason Jackson (Columbus, Ohio/South), who returned it 55 yards. Junior tailback Daniel Grove (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont) did the rest, rumbling four yards for another score. That was followed just three minutes later by a touchdown pass from Cornett to senior wide receiver Michael Aljancic (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville).
In the second quarter, freshman fullback Raymar Hampshire (Lima, Ohio/Elida) scored his first collegiate touchdown from one yard out, junior tailback Jason Stephan (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville) had a 10-yard rushing touchdown and junior wide receiver Adrian Crane (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) rounded things out with a 16-yard scoring catch from Cornett. Denison then put together a 65-yard drive that Matt Roberts capped with a two-yard run.
The second half was a time for reserves to shine, particularly freshman tailback Alex Smith (Blue Bell, Pa./Germantown Academy). In the first playing time of his college career, Smith went for 107 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries – in just one half of football. He scored all of the points in the game of the third quarter, while Wittenberg added a team safety on a bad punt snap and junior fullback Trent Coffman’s (Springfield, Ohio/Northeastern) first college touchdown from 18 yards out with two minutes remaining.
Cornett finished the day a very efficient 7-of-11 for 92 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Smith led the Tigers, who have had three running backs top 100 yards in a game and six different players score rushing touchdowns this year, with 107 yards on the ground, followed by Grove with 67 yards on 13 carries and Stephan with 60 yards on just six totes. Ivery was the top receiver with three catches for 49 yards.
Defensively, Wittenberg gave up several big plays but came up with even more of its own. Neuendorf, who was averaging 395.5 yards per game of total offense, was sacked 10 times for a loss of 83 yards and managed just nine completions for 125 yards. Senior defensive tackle Juan Howard (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) led the charge with six tackles, including 2.5 sacks. Eight different players recorded at least 0.5 sacks in the game, and all 27 defensive players who made the trip picked up at least one tackle.