Fighting Scots Blank MacMurray 37-0

This David Miller 32-yard reception in the third quarter helped set up the Scots' third touchdown.

WOOSTER, Ohio — Four different College of Wooster players scored touchdowns, Andy Milligan (Orrville, Ohio / Orrville) made 3-of-4 field goal attempts, and the defense posted a shutout, all part of the Fighting Scots’ 37-0 whipping of MacMurray College at John P. Papp Stadium Saturday afternoon.

After staking out to a 10-0 lead via a three-yard Amil Tinsley (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King) touchdown run late in the opening quarter and a Milligan second-quarter 28-yard field goal, Wooster (2-0) won the field position battle following two fourth-down defensive stands.

First, MacMurray (0-1) went for it on 4th-and-2 on its own 45 and a run to the outside was stopped by Andre Smith (Hendersonville, Tenn. / Beech) for a three-yard loss. The Scots got one first down on the ensuing possession, but were then forced to punt. Andrew Branch (Zanesville, Ohio / Newcomerstown) pinned the Highlanders at their own five-yard line. On its next drive, MacMurray gained nine yards and elected to go for it on 4th-and-1. A rush up the middle was stopped by Evan Watson (Crawfordsville, Ind. / Crawfordsville) and Phil Vitalbo (Monongahela, Pa. / Seton-LaSalle) among others, giving Wooster the ball at the 14-yard line.

On the very next play, Justin Schafer (Bethesda, Ohio / Union Local) threw it to the corner of the end zone, where sophomore Mike Marshall (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth) pulled the ball in for his first career touchdown.

The Scots seemed to carry that momentum into the second half, taking the kickoff and driving deep into Highlander territory before settling for a 31-yard Milligan field goal to make it 20-0.

The following drive resulted in the Wooster defense’s third fourth-down stop. This time, MacMurray’s 4th-and-4 attempt from the Wooster 30 resulted in an incomplete pass.

Schafer found David Miller (Uniontown, Ohio / Lake) for a 32-yard pass play to start the next drive, and then the Scots ran on six of the next eight plays, with the last being a Schafer five-yard touchdown.

At the end of the third quarter, the Highlanders marched all the way to the Wooster two-yard line, but the Scots once again held their opponent out of the end zone. Through two games in 2005, Wooster’s opponents have reached the “red zone” eight times only to come away with 10 points.

Milligan would go on to add a 38-yard field goal and Sean Anderson (Lowell, Ind. / Lowell) capped the day’s scoring with a 30-yard touchdown run.

Tinsley and Anderson combined for 230 rushing yards on 35 carries, or 6.6 per attempt, with Tinsley picking up 154 (22 rushes).

Schafer was 11-of-19 through the air for 164 yards and spread the ball around to eight receivers.

Peter Ereg had a 100-yard game for MacMurray, grinding out 114 yards on 33 rushes, while Michael Schmidtke connected on 13-of-27 passes for 143 yards, with four going to Ryan Eberhart for 56 yards.

Milligan’s three field goals gives him five already on the young season (out of six attempts), while including today’s 0-for-2 effort, the Scots’ opponents are 1-for-5.

Highlighting Wooster’s shutout – just its second in 33 games – was junior free safety Josh Feesler (Canal Fulton, Ohio / Manchester), who was credited with 10 tackles, had the game’s lone interception, and broke up three other passes.

The Scots have a “bye” week coming up and will then travel to Case Western Reserve University (2-0) on Saturday, Sept. 24, for what will be just the second game at the new Case Field in Cleveland, Ohio.