Saturday the Wabash College defense met the 19th-best rushing attack in the nation from Ohio Wesleyan on the football gridiron in Delaware, Ohio. The Little Giants came out on top in the battle with a 21-0 victory over OWU.
The Battling Bishops came into the game averaging 249.6 yards per game in their first five outings. Wabash kept the vaunted "Winged T" under control for most of the afternoon, holding Ohio Wesleyan to 126 yards on the ground. OWU only threw for 31 yards for 157 yards of total offense.
Sophomores Tim Parker (Indianapolis, IN/Warren Central) and Josh Foster (Indianapolis, IN/Ben Davis) led the Little Giant "D", each finishing the contest with nine tackles. Wabash had nine tackles for losses totaling 34 yards and three sacks for 19 yards. Senior Blair Hammer (Carmel, IN/Carmel) had two of those sacks, increasing his career total to 26-1/2 to move into fourth place on the Wabash all-time list. He’s now just one sack away from tying his brother, BJ Hammer ’00, for the career record with 27-1/2 sacks.
While the Wabash defense kept the Bishops’ ground game out of the endzone, the Little Giant offense struck early. Sophomore quarterback Russ Harbaugh (Evansville, IN/Evansville Bosse) hit senior receiver Josh Bronaugh (New Ross, IN/North Montgomery) in stride on the third play of the game for a 67-yard touchdown pass to put Wabash up 7-0. The Little Giants struck again in the second period when freshman running back Aaron Lafitte (Goodyear, AZ/Ironwood) ran for 13 yards for a touchdown that capped a seven-play, 41-yard drive to make it a 13-0 contest after a missed extra point.
The final score of the contest came in the third quarter when Harbaugh threw a 36-yard scoring strike to sophomore Eric Summers (Indianapolis, IN/Cathedral).
The defense continued to keep the Bishops off the scoreboard. After the TD pass to Summers, OWU marched to the Wabash 12 yard line, then punched the ball down to the five. But Parker came up with a stop on fourth and two from the five yard line to end the Ohio Wesleyan drive.
Harbaugh finished the game 16-of-24 for 212 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Bronaugh and Summers each had five receptions. Bronaugh finished with 93 yards to move into 12th place on the Wabash all-time receiving yards list. Summers has 71 receiving yards. Lafitte added 49 yards on the ground for the Little Giants.
Wabash moves to 4-2 with the win, 2-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The Little Giants return to Byron P. Hollett Little Giant Stadium on Saturday for another NCAC contest against the Oberlin College Yeomen. Oberlin was a 9-6 winner over Kenyon College.