Scots Celebrate "Homecoming" With 37-7 Win Over OWU

The Scot defense, led by Joe Kearney (#76), crunches OWU running back Nick Rice during the Scots' 37-7 victory.

WOOSTER, Ohio — The nationally-ranked College of Wooster football team (No. 19 in D3football.com, No. 24 in American Football Coaches Association) more than doubled the yardage output (493-228) of visiting Ohio Wesleyan University in a dominating 37-7 win in front "Homecoming" crowd of nearly 4,000 at John P. Papp Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the North Coast Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Wooster (4-0 / 1-0), which entered the game leading the conference in rushing and third in Division III averaging 350.3 yards per game, showed more balance in its offense Saturday, as 189 yards of their offensive output came from the arm of freshman quarterback Justin Schafer (Bethesda, Ohio / Union Local), who completed 13-of-19 passes.

The balance may be important for the Scots, as the country’s leading rusher Tony Sutton (Akron, Ohio / Archbishop Hoban) injured his knee on the first play of the second half. Sutton, a week after setting school and NCAC records for rushing yards in a game (338) against Case Reserve, had already rushed for 191 yards in the first half alone before being injured. The exact injury to his knee is still to be determined, but early reports do not have the injury as season-ending.

Wooster got on the board just 23 seconds into the game, as Schafer connected with Ritchie McNally (Westerville, Ohio, St. Francis DeSales) on a 50-yard touchdown pass on just the second play from scrimmage. McNally, starting his first career game at wide receiver, finished with four catches for 89 yards. He also connected on a 35-yard field goal and converted four extra points.

On their next possession, the Scots went 88 yards on just seven plays, capped by a Sutton 21-yard touchdown run. Sutton carried the ball five times on the drive, three of which went for more than 20 yards.

Ohio Wesleyan (1-3 / 0-1) scored its lone touchdown of the game less than 30 seconds later. After a 31-yard halfback pass from Nick Rice to Kyle Sherman got the Bishops to the Wooster 36-yard line, Ohio Wesleyan scored on a fluke play. Rice was stopped after a one-yard gain, but before going down he lateraled the ball back to quarterback Tim Sir Louis, who streaked down the sideline for a 35-yard touchdown.

That proved to be all the offense that Ohio Wesleyan could muster. The Bishops finished with only 228 yards of total offense, gaining just 76 yards in the entire second half.

Wooster only led 14-7 after the first quarter, but quickly extended the lead to 20-7 early in the second quarter when David Puckett (Painesville, Ohio / Thomas W. Harvey) scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns from four-yards out.

McNally added a field goal late in the second quarter to give the Scots a 23-7 halftime lead.

With Sutton injured in the second half, Puckett shouldered most of the offensive load. He finished the game with 87 yards rushing on 20 carries, including 60 yards in the second half alone. He put the game out of reach touchdown runs of four and 11 yards, respectively, in the third and fourth quarters.

The Wooster defense, which gave up 33 points last week, played very well Saturday, holding the Bishops scoreless over the final three quarters. Leading the way were Tim Cline (Gambier, Ohio / Mt. Vernon), who had 13 tackles, and Kevin Rooker (Uniontown, Pa. / Laurel Highlands), who had 11 tackles, including, 1.5 for a loss, and two interceptions.

Individually for Ohio Wesleyan, Rice rushed for 56 yards on 16 carries, while Sir Louis had 52 yards on six carries. Passing, Sir Louis and Jeff Hanna only combined to complete 8-of-19 passes for 63 yards.

Wooster returns to action next Saturday (Oct. 11), when it travels to Oberlin in a NCAC contest.