Posted October 20 2001, 06:58 pm
Posted by: Ryan Maurer
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — The Wittenberg Tigers are used to perfect regular seasons, but won’t enjoy one in 2001. So on Saturday before 3,245 fans on Senior Recognition Day at Edwards-Maurer Field, the Tigers did the next best thing — they foiled Ohio Wesleyan’s bid for an undefeated regular season with a 39-14 victory.
The win was Wittenberg’s 27th consecutive in NCAC action, dating back to 1997 and moved the Tigers, 7-1 overall this year and 5-0 in the NCAC, one step closer to an unprecedented fourth consecutive outright conference crown. The Bishops are now 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the NCAC. It was the 10th straight time that Wittenberg had defeated OWU.
The Tigers jumped in front on a play that would become a recurring theme — or nightmare, for the OWU defense. Junior tailback Daniel Grove (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont), who ran for a career-high 259 yards on 31 carries in the game, scored on an 11-yard run to cap Wittenberg’s opening drive and give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish. He went on to score three touchdowns to run his season total to a North Coast Athletic Conference-best 14.
The Tigers opened the scoring in the second quarter as junior wide receiver Adrian Crane (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) and junior quarterback Greg Cornett (Franklin, Ohio/Franklin) hooked up on a 36-yard pass play following a short OWU punt. After the Bishops scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Mike Jonesco to sophomore wide receiver Bryan Beigie, Wittenberg got a pair of field goals from sophomore kicker Conrad Hindert (Terrace Park, Ohio/Mariemont) sandwiched around a 72-yard touchdown run by Grove.
The third quarter was more of the same domination by Wittenberg, beginning with Grove’s third TD, this one coming from two yards out. Freshman fullback Raymar Hampshire (Lima, Ohio/Elida) capped Wittenberg’s scoring with an eight-yard scamper.
Ohio Wesleyan senior tailback Matt Capone, who broke the school rushing record with 135 yards on the day, finally got the Bishops back on the board with a two-yard scoring run with 3:45 remaining in the game.
While Grove was the feature story, there were the usual subplots. With All-NCAC senior wide receiver Michael Aljancic (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) covered tightly on every play and managing just two catches for 15 yards in the game, the always efficient Cornett found plenty of other receivers. Sophomore wide receiver Skip Ivery (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport-Madison) led both teams with five receptions, while Crane led both teams with 105 receiving yards on four acrobatic receptions.
Defensively, OWU came into the game ranked third in the nation in rushing offense, and while the Bishops did run up 282 rushing yards the Tigers came up with several big stops in key situations. Senior linebacker Nic Black (Piqua, Ohio/Piqua) led the charge with seven total tackles, while junior linebacker Andy Pope (Hamilton, Ohio/Lakota East) was everywhere with 6.5 tackles and 1.5 sacks for a loss of 19 yards.