Late Fumble Turns Costly for Scots, as Witt Prevails 24-21

Shaun Swearingen celebrates his third-quarter touchdown that cut Wittenberg's deficit to 17-14.

WOOSTER, Ohio – Wittenberg University recovered a fumble with 6:20 remaining and then marched 74 yards over 12 plays, with nine of those being runs by Tristan Murray, for the game-winning touchdown in a back-and-forth game between two rivals out of the North Coast Athletic Conference, as the Tigers edged The College of Wooster 24-21 Saturday afternoon at John P. Papp Stadium.

Leading 21-17 midway through the fourth quarter, Wooster (3-1, 0-1 NCAC) appeared to be on its way to adding another score. The Scots had taken over around midfield and moved inside the 30-yard line, however, on 2nd-and-3, Wittenberg defensive tackle Willie Jordan emerged from a pile with the ball after a rush up the middle.

The Tigers (2-2, 1-0 NCAC) then put the game on the shoulders of Murray, who accounted for 45 yards on the game-winning drive, including 18- and 13-yard carries as well as a scoring plunge from 1 yard out on 2nd-and-goal with :45 remaining.

On the ensuing kickoff, Wittenberg squibbed it right through the return team and into the end zone, leaving Wooster with 1st-and-10 from its own 20. The Scots had all three of their timeouts, but following an incompletion, they were called for holding and a series of long pass attempts fell incomplete, sealing the win for the Tigers.

Wittenberg took the game’s opening kickoff and put together an 18-play, 74-yard drive that took 8:11, but it had to settle for a Mark Porter 22-yard field goal.

The rest of the first quarter saw Wooster win the battle of the field position, and it took advantage with a 51-yard touchdown drive, which was assisted by a 15-yard personal foul on the Tigers and capped by a 10-yard pass from Justin Schafer (Bethesda, Ohio / Union Local) to Ben Schrock (Wadsworth, Ohio / Wadsworth), who was just inside the sideline on the left side of the end zone.

The Scots looked to add to their 7-3 lead, but missed a 37-yard field goal early in the second quarter. On the ensuing drive, Wittenberg also misfired on a field-goal attempt (36), however, Wooster was flagged for roughing the kicker. The Tigers proceeded to hand it off to Murray three-straight times, and he scored from 1 yard out to give his team back the lead (10-7).

Three offensive plays later, the Scots threw an interception deep in their own territory. Starting from the 16-yard line, Wittenberg got backed up to the 23 because of a holding penalty, but then on 3rd-and-17, Aaron Huffman found Murray streaking down the sideline for a 23-yard touchdown, giving the Tigers a 17-7 halftime lead.

Wooster was winning the field position battle early in the third and Shaun Swearingen (Hilliard, Ohio / Bishop Watterson) kickstarted its comeback attempt when he got behind his defender on a 3rd-and-19 play, with Schafer finding him for a 23-yard touchdown pass. The short scoring drive (5 plays, 29 yards) made it 17-14.

On the Scots’ next offensive possession, they took over on their own 30. The drive began with a personal foul face-mask on a sack of Schafer, and three plays later, Schafer connected with Aaron Gertz (Bay Village, Ohio / Bay), who juked one defender, then got a block, and sprinted down the left sideline for a 55-yard touchdown, as Wooster retook the lead at 21-17 with 3:09 left in the third.

That was all of the scoring until Murray’s game-winner.

Murray ended up with a combined 196 yards between rushing and receiving. His 31 rushes resulted in 146 yards and he was Wittenberg’s leading receiver with four catches for 50 yards. Huffman, who was sacked four times, completed 11-of-21 passes for 124 yards.

Schafer was 13-of-24 passing for 200 yards, with Swearingen leading the receivers with four catches for 68 yards. Dustin Sheppard (Johnstown, Oho / Johnstown-Monroe) led Wooster’s running attack with 42 yards on 13 rushes.

The Scots will try to rebound next Saturday at Ohio Wesleyan University (0-5, 0-2 NCAC).