Posted September 22 2001, 05:30 pm
Posted by: Ryan Maurer
One week after their school-record 33-game regular season win streak came to an end at Alma College, the Wittenberg University Tigers rebounded to swarm the visiting Wabash Little Giants 14-3 in the North Coast Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
Wittenberg, which extended its regular season home win streak to 32 consecutive dating back to 1996 and its North Coast Athletic Conference win streak to 23 straight dating back to 1997, started off slow for a fourth straight game in 2001. But unlike last week at Alma, the Tigers’ defense consistently bent but didn't break early on, yielding just a field goal on Wabash's opening drive and getting stronger throughout the game. In the second half, the potent Little Giants offense, which came in averaging 39 points per game, managed just 102 total yards.
Trailing 3-0 after Wabash's Olmy Olmstead started the scoring in the first quarter with a 27-yard field goal, Wittenberg came back to take what turned out to be a surprisingly insurmountable lead. Junior running back Daniel Grove (Uhrichsville, Ohio/Claymont) capped a four-play, 25-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run that was set up by an interception by senior cornerback Jason Jackson (Columbus, Ohio/South).
Wabash threatened on several other occasions during the first half, but managed only a short missed field goal. Wittenberg could do little more offensively, missing a short field goal of its own and also concluding another drive about a yard short on a fourth down play.
In the second half, the Wittenberg defense was the story, bottling up the spread offense that the Little Giants employ and putting up some insurance points on a three-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Greg Cornett (Franklin, Ohio/Franklin) to senior wide receiver Michael Aljancic (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) with 11:43 remaining in the third quarter. That seven-play, 25-yard drive was set up by a long kickoff return by junior running back Jason Stephan (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville).
The Tiger defense took care of things from there, holding Wabash to just 14 first downs, 93 yards rushing and 198 yards passing. The Little Giants gained yardage, but Wittenberg held them to just 2-of-12 on third down conversions and 0-for-3 on fourth-down conversions. Junior defensive end Allen D'Andrea (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) and senior linebacker Nic Black (Piqua, Ohio/Piqua) led the Tigers with eight tackles each in the game. Wittenberg recorded 11 tackles for loss in the game, including three sacks - one each by D'Andrea, senior defensive tackle Michael Houck (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) and senior defensive end Tim Daoust (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic).
Offensively, Wittenberg was also bottled up for much of the game, although Aljancic had yet another fine all-around game. A week after catching 10 passes for 143 yards against Alma, Aljancic reeled in another seven passes for 97 yards - giving him 1,870 receiving yards in his career, second-best in Wittenberg history.
On the ground, Wittenberg managed just 87 yards, with Grove leading the way with 36 yards on 25 carries. Freshman fullback Raymar Hampshire (Lima, Ohio/Elida) had 11 carries for 31 yards.