The Wabash defense forced five turnovers and the ground game produced 163 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Little Giants to a 35-0 victory over Kalamazoo on Saturday afternoon.
The Little Giants traveled to the same field that saw the Hornets come away with a 28-21 victory one year ago. But Saturday’s game had a completely different feel from the outset.
A Garth Cheek (JR/Evansville, IN/Evansville North) punt pinned Kalamazoo at its own seven yard line after Wabash could not continue its initial eight-play drive. The Little Giant defense held on three consecutive plays before Dustin Deno (SR/Lafayette, IN/Jefferson) blocked the Kalamazoo punt out of the back of the endzone for a safety.
The Wabash offense marched down the field on the ensuing kickoff, capping a five-play drive with a 16-yard TD pass to the corner of the endzone from junior quarterback Russ Harbaugh (Evansville, IN/Bosse) to Eric Summers (JR/Indianapolis, IN/Cathedral) to make it a 9-0 contest.
The score remained 9-0 into the third quarter before Harbaugh struck again, finding J-back Brandon Roop (JR/Newburgh, IN/Castle) for a four-yard touchdown pass to make it a 15-0 contest.
Harbaugh added TD runs of one and four yards in the fourth quarter to complete the offensive scoring for Wabash. The final score of the game came when freshman linebacker Justin Gardiner (Delphi, IN/Twin Lakes) stepped in front of a Tim Kaselitz pass and returned it 35 yards.
The Wabash defense made turnovers its specialty on Saturday. The Little Giants had fumble recoveries by Justin Jannuzzi (SR/Richmond, VA/Hampden-Sydney College) and Aaron Selby (JR/Crawfordsville, IN/Southmont) and an interception by Adrian Pynenberg (FR/Montgomery, IL/Oswego Community) in addition to the blocked punt and Gardiner’s pick.
The brunt of the offensive attack for the Little Giants came from 5-9, 188-pound junior running back Chris Odgen (Schererville, IN/Lake Central). "Oggie" carried the ball 31 times for a career-best 149 yards, pounding out an average of 4.8 yards per carry. Harbaugh finished the game 23-of-29 with two TDs and one interception. Roop led the receiving corps with seven catches for 47 yards and one score. Brandon Clifton (SR/Lafayette, IN/McCutheon) and Summers each had six receptions.
Junior linebackers Tim Parker (Indianapolis, IN/Warren Central) and Peter Kempf (Auburn, IN/DeKalb) each had eight tackles to led the defensive squad. Kempf added 2-1/2 sacks for eight yards and a forced fumble to his totals for the afternoon. Parker had one of five sacks by Wabash.
The Little Giants had 437 yards of total offense while holding the Hornets to 146 yards on 51 plays, including just 16 yards on 25 rushing attempts.
Wabash (1-0) will open the home portion of the 2004 season on Saturday when the Battling Bears of Washington University (St. Louis) travel to Byron P. Hollett Little Giant Stadium.
QUICK HITTERS
Wabash is now 65-44-8 in season openers.
Chris Ogden had career highs in carries (31) and yards (149). His previous career best were 20 carries and 102 yards against Hiram on November 9, 2002.
Thirty-five points in an opening game of the season is the most by a Wabash football team since the Little Giants defeated Manchester College 45-21 in the first game of the 2001 season.
The last time the Little Giants shut out an opponent in the first game of the year was in 1996 when Wabash defeated Wilmington 14-0.
Saturday’s game marked the fourth time in Russ Harbaugh’s career that he has thrown for more than 200 yards in a game. His 260 yards are a career-best, topping his previous best effort of 254 against Wittenberg last year. His 23 completions are also a career-high.