Little Giants Looking For Discipline

First, there is sophomore running back Tommy Parks. In two games as a freshman last year, Parks ran 30 times for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

Parks last year against the Little Giants had seven carries for 34 yards before suffering a season-ending injury in the 49-7 loss.

Second, there is sophomore running back Francis Adarkwa. He picked up a bulk of the carries after Parks was injured and was named the University Athletic Association Rookie of the Year, rushing 157 times for 655 yards and eight touchdowns.

Then, there is junior wide receiver Clay Wolff.

Last year, Wolff had 53 catches for 662 yards and eight touchdowns and was named First-Team All-UAA. He was limited to one catch for 22 yards last year against Wabash.

Raeburn saw good things from all three of those players as Chicago opened its season with a 37-36 overtime victory at Kenyon last Saturday. Parks had 32 carries for 186 yards and two touchdowns, including what proved to be the game-winner in overtime.

“He had some great runs against us last year before he got hurt,” Raeburn said.

“Just from watching the film, I could see that he worked during the offseason to rehabilitate himself.”

Adarkwa had 17 carries for 58 yards and one touchdown against Kenyon.

Wolff was the primary target for first-year quarterback Marshall Olum Saturday. He had nine catches for 152 yards and one touchdown.

“If we get too nosey watching the backfield, then they just have an unbelievable receiver who can be a handful,” Raeburn said.

Wolff’s presence, however, hasn’t changed Raeburn’s philosophy entering Saturday.

“We have to stop the run,” Raeburn said. “If you can’t stop the run, then you never feel comfortable with what you’re doing. Hopefully we can stop the run and then get to their quarterback enough during the passing game.”

Wabash enters Saturday ranked No. 13 and coming off a season-opening 56-7 home win over North Coast Athletic Conference foe Denison. The Little Giants came into the contest with question marks, and Raeburn was pleased with the way his players responded.

Junior Nick Durm and freshman Erik Hackett rotated at center.

Last year against Denison, Wabash quarterback Matt Hudson was sacked twice and had a snap go over his head. Saturday Hudson wasn’t sacked and all the Little Giant signal callers were able to handle the snaps.

“I expected to see some first-game jitters like a bad snap or a blown assignment,”

Raeburn said. “But for the most part their snaps were right on. They were not perfect, but the quarterbacks were able to handle all of them.”

Raeburn also was pleased with his team’s defensive line, which graduated three All-Americans following last season. Denison rushed for more than 200 yards in its opener against Kalamazoo, but only had 49 rushing yards against Wabash.

“Denison probably felt more confident that they would be able to establish the run against us this year,” Raeburn said. “But our defensive line stepped up and we had good linebacker play as well.”

Tommy Mambourg led Wabash’s rushing with 25 carries for 120 yards.

“Going into the game Tommy was a little banged up so we thought we were going to have to rotate some players in just to give Tommy a breather,” Raeburn said. “But he didn’t seem to tire, so we didn’t have to rotate people in as much as we thought.”

Still, Raeburn said Saturday’s opener wasn’t perfect and talked to his team this week about discipline.

Wabash was penalized nine times compared to Denison’s one. Offensive linemen also had trouble with footwork, but got away with the blocks just because of their talent.

He also saw Hudson make some bad reads.

Defensively, Raeburn like how Wabash flew to the football, but players had footwork problems and didn’t get the proper gap defended at times. They also didn’t use the right technique in certain coverages.

Linebacker CJ Gum will miss Saturday’s game after a concussion against Denison. Junior Deonte Singfield will start in his spot. Singfield had one interception along with four assisted tackles against Denison.