The season may not have gotten off to the start the Wabash football team hoped for, but the Little Giants regrouped to cruise to a 46-6 victory over the Kalamazoo College Hornets Saturday afternoon.
Senior quarterback Russ Harbaugh (Evansville, IN/Evansville Bosse) (photo right) accounted for 345 of the Little Giants’ 582 yards of total offense in the game. Harbaugh completed 23-of-31 passes for 329 yards and three TDs and one interception. He also ran for 16 yards on four carries.
The Hornets scored first, capitalizing on Harbaugh’s only miscue. A tipped pass by Kalamazoo’s David Hyman sailed to teammate Robert Atwood, who made the pick and returned it to the Wabash 11 yard line. Two plays later Hornets quarterback Tim Kaselitz threw a TD strike to tight end Stan Peplinski to put Kalamazoo in front 6-0.
It would be Wabash’s game from there. On the very next series the Little Giants capped a six-play scoring drive with a 55-yard run by junior running back Don Juan Brown (Houston, TX/Mirabeau B. Lamar) to move in front 7-6. Brown rushed for a career-best 133 yards on 19 carries.
Wabash added another score in the first quarter on a 19-yard TD pass from Harbaugh to Geoff Walker (Schererville, IN/Lake Central) for a 14-6 lead at the end of the period.
Senior Kyle Piazza (Clarksville, IN/Jeffersonville) added a two-yard run that completed a seven-play, 56-yard scoring drive on the Little Giants’ first possession of the second quarter. Sophomore Chad Finley (Alvin, IL/Bismarck-Henning) added a 23-yard field goal, the first of his collegiate career, to put Wabash up 23-6 at the break.
Harbaugh tacked on two more scores in the third quarter. He hit sophomore Mike Russell (Terre Haute, IN/North Vigo) on a two-yard pass with 7:40 left in the period, then followed with a 55-yard catch and run by fellow sophomore Ray Green (Phoenix, AZ/Trevor G. Browne) to give the Little Giants a 36-6 lead.
While the offense was rolling, the Wabash defense was giving Kalamazoo fits. The Little Giants held the Hornets to 151 yards of total offense on 50 plays, including 33 rushing yards on 30 carries. Kaselitz was sacked three times despite completing 14-of-20 passes for 118 yards. Sophomore linebacker Adrian Pynenberg (Montgomery, IL/Oswego Community), the leading tackler in 2004 for the Little Giants, finished with seven tackles, a sack, and two tackles for losses totaling nine yards to pace the defensive unit. Sophomore defensive lineman Jared Lange (Terre Haute, IN/Terre Haute North) pitched in six stops, a sack, and 1-1/2 tackles for losses of seven yards.
Josh Vaughan (SO/Brookeville, IN/Franklin County) added his first career field goal in the fourth quarter with a 27-yard boot. The Little Giants finished the scoring with a one-yard run by senior tailback Chris Ogden (Schererville, IN/Lake Central), who missed the last few weeks of practice with an injured ankle before returning to finish with eight carries for 47 yards.
Wabash (1-0) travels to St. Louis next weekend for a 1 p.m. contest against Washington University.
QUICK HITTERS
--- Wabash is 67-44-8 in season opening games. The Little Giants are 5-2 when playing Kalamazoo in first contest of the year.
--- Harbaugh moved to sixth on the Wabash all-time passing list, passing Steve Hoffman ’85. Harbaugh has thrown for 3,926 in his career.
--- Harbaugh’s 329 yards are the third-highest single game total in his career. He threw for a career-bet 347 against Wooster last year. He also had a 344-yard game at Wittenberg last season.
(See opening day photo album of the Little Giant victory. Also see other photos, and community day highlight photo album.)
Photos - (top) Russ Harbaugh
(middle) Don Juan Brown outraces the Kalamazoo defense for his first career touchdown on a 55-yard run.
(bottom) Adrian Pynenberg records one of his seven tackles, sacking Hornets quarterback Tim Kaselitz.