Everything seemed to be clicking for the unbeaten Little Giants on Saturday, with a dominant 52-20 win over Earlham at homecoming. Sophomore quarterback Matt Hudson and the powerful Wabash defense shined in the team’s most convincing win thus far in the year.
Offensively, the Little Giants got the ball rolling with a 2 yard touchdown run from sophomore Evan Sobecki, but a missed extra point and an Earlham touchdown pass left the Little Giants down 6- 7 early in the second quarter.
But then the Wabash offense exploded, scoring 27 unanswered points in the second quarter to take a 33-7 lead at the half. The offensive attack was anchored by sophomore quarterback Matt Hudson, who had a career day, going 15-20-1 for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns. Hudson split time with sophomore Kyle Augustinovicz early in the game, but it was Hudson who took over the game, and at least for this week, the starting quarterback spot.
"I was real impressed with Matt," said Head Coach Chris Creighton. "It’s not because Kyle has done anything wrong, but Matt feels confident and he’s got a full year of experience with this offense. That really helps him out.
The rushing attack again improved this week, and this game saw the emergence of freshman running back CP Porter, who gained 41 yards. Porter also made his presence felt on special teams, blocking a punt that was scooped and scored by sophomore defensive back Chris Schweigel.
"(Porter) was on the scout block team, and we couldn’t stop him," Creighton said. "It’s cool when it works out like that, and people move up the system, so to speak."
Sobecki and Kimp added another 62 yards.. Defensively, a tenacious attack on Earlham quarterback
Randy Kerns would disallow the Quaker offense to settle in at any point. Junior defensive end Daryl Kennon led the attack, sacking Kerns four times, just a half-sack away from the Wabash school record. Senior linebacker Andy Deig also had an excellent game, earning 11 tackles and a sack on the day.
On a down note, yet another starter went down with an injury. Junior strong safety Brent Banach injured his ACL, most likely ending his season.
"By far, this is the hardest we’ve been hit by injuries since I’ve been here," Creighton said. "I’m really proud of the way these guys have responded." Junior Matt Kraft, who missed the last two games with an injury himself, is expected to take over Banach’s spot.
Now 4-0, the Little Giants focus on physical Allegheny and the long road trip to western Pennsylvania.
"They’re real strong," Creighton said of the 3-1 Gators. "They’ve been winning with defense and special teams, which makes for an interesting matchup because we’ve also been winning with defense and special teams."
The Alligators lead the North Coast Athletic Conference in Scoring defense (10.2ppg) and passing defense (140.2 ypg) Offensively, Creighton said Allegheny will work hard to establish the run. He also said they will need to keep a check on mobile quarterback TJ Salopek.
"(Salopek) is very athletic, he’s got good feet," Creighton said. "He’s the kind of guy who can just make something happen, really bleed you with his feet." Creighton said they too will work to establish the run and physical tone of the game, and focus on winning the field position battle, which Wabash has done an excellent job of the last few weeks.
"We want to avoid putting our offense out there with a full field in front of them with their defense," Creighton said.
The Little Giants will head out for Meadville Friday morning, and the game starts at 1 pm. Creighton said if the team needs to remember anything on the trip, it’s a hard nosed attitude.
"It will be by far the most physical game of the year," Creighton said. "And it will go down to the wire."