Little Giant senior captain and starting linebacker Chris Greisl isn’t sure what to expect from Saturday’s opening football game at Franklin College. He just knows what he wants from himself and his teammates.
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"We’re expecting anything and everything from Franklin," Greisl said. "They’re very talented. They can come out in a four wide receiver set, five wide, or three wide. They’re a team that likes to mix it up.
"They’ll try to keep us guessing. But no matter what they do, we have to play our style of defense. If we do that I think we can be successful. We lost some talented players from last year’s defense. But our final results this year wont’ be because of the effort of one player. We can only go as far as our team takes us."
The Little Giants will face a Franklin squad that has already knocked off one North Coast Athletic Conference opponent. The Grizzlies beat Ohio Wesleyan 38-23 last Saturday behind the 127-yard, two TD effort of junior running back RJ Hartsfield. The 5-9, 185-pounder averaged 4.5 yards per carry, leading a Franklin rushing attack that netted 214 yards.
The Grizzlies used two quarterbacks last week against OWU, and will probably repeat that strategy again Saturday. Senior Ty Fritz is listed as the starter after rushing for one score and going 4-for-6 for 53 yards as a passer. Sophomore Chad Rupp spelled Fritz, finishing the game 12-of-16 for 197 yards and one TD.
Senior Danny Sears, an All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference selection at wingback a year ago, picked up where he left off in 2005. He made four catches for 117 yards, 62 yards in kickoff returns, and eight rushing yards for a team-best 187 yards of total offense.
Franklin held the Ohio Wesleyan rushing attack to 110 yards. Junior linebacker Lance Pickrell made 16 tackles to pace the Grizzlies on defense, while senior defensive lineman Kyle Blackman had two tackles for losses in his total of nine for the game.
The Grizzlies would love nothing more than to take down the 22nd-ranked Little Giants Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. to claim a win over not only another NCAC team, but an in-state rival too. Wabash head coach Chris Creighton knows there can be an advantage to getting the first game out of the way. For his coaching staff, playing the Grizzlies for the first time since arriving in 2001 adds some interesting wrinkles to the game plan.
"Preparing for the first game of the season is almost always a nightmare," Creighton said. "This year we add a team we didn't play last season, and we're not exchanging films with Franklin. Last year Kalamazoo had a new coach and we didn’t know what kind of offense they would run, so in some ways it's similar. As a coaching staff you do a lot of research and try to prepare for what you think you will face. We don't feel we run into too many things we haven't seen before. Wheaton did a great job of providing a lot of different looks in Saturday's scrimmage.
"But no matter how prepared you are going into the first game of the season, teams can get you rattled by going into a different formation or giving you a different look. You have to be able to adjust a lot in the first game."
Wabash fans hope to see the Little Giants hit the ground running… and passing and playing defense. The team finished 12th in the nation in total defense in 2005, holding opponents 255.5 yards of offense per contest. The Little Giants were 20th in the nation last season in total offense with an average of 447.5 yards a game. While seven offensive and five defensive starters return this year, Greisl and his teammates are ready to see what this season holds in store for the Little Giant faithful.
"We’re excited to finally play a regular season game," Greisl said. "We’re a little tired of pounding on each other and hitting each other. Wheaton was good test for us because they will be a good football team. Scrimmaging them was a good way to prepare for this week."
NEWS AND NOTES
Series Record: Wabash holds a 33-8-3 edge in the all-time series versus Franklin. The Little Giants won the last six meetings between the two schools (1994-1999), including a 28-21 victory at Franklin in 1998.
Coaches: Chris Creighton (Kenyon, 1991) is starting his sixth season as the head coach of the Little Giants. He is fourth on the all-time Wabash coaching list with 44 victories (44-11) and third in winning percentage with a mark of .800. Creighton is 76-20 overall in nine seasons as a head coach.
Mike Leonard (Hanover, 1984) is in his fourth year as the head football coach at Franklin. He has a career record of 13-18. This will be his first game versus Wabash as a head coach.
Fast Start: The Little Giants are 67-30-8 in season openers dating back to a 4-0 win over Butler in the first intercollegiate football game played in Indiana back in 1884. Wabash has played Franklin four times in the first game of the season, and owns a perfect 4-0 record against the Grizzlies.
Creighton is 4-1 in opening games at Wabash. Last year the Little Giants defeated Kalamazoo 46-6 at Hollett Little Giant Stadium to start an undefeated regular season, capped by an NCAC conference title and the top seed in the North Region of the NCAA Division III football playoffs.
Radio: Wabash football can be heard on WNDY Radio (91.3 FM) all season long. Brent Harris will handle the announcing duties for Saturday's game. The pregame show begins at 1:15 p.m. The broadcast is also carried on the Internet using Real Audio on the Wabash College web site, www.wabash.edu/sports/football.
Two-Deep: View the Depth Chart for the Wabash vs. Franklin Game.
Photos: (top left) Adi Pynenberg, Chris Greisl, and Aaron Selby take a break after a defensive series last year. The Little Giants went 11-1 in 2005, including an undefeated regular season and an NCAC title.
(bottom left) Senior quarterback Dustin Huff will take over the Wabash offense Saturday at Franklin. Huff was 9-for-9 as a backup last season, but started two games in 2004. For more on Huff, check out this story in the Crawfordsville Journal Review.