The Monon Bell is ringing once again on the Wabash College campus after three record-setting performances helped the Little Giant football team earned a 37-20 victory over the DePauw Tigers in the 110th meeting between the two schools. The Little Giants take a one-game lead, 51-50-9, in the series with the victory. View action shots from the game.
Senior tailback Chris Morris (Zionsville, IN/Zionsville) ran wild in the second quarter, scoring two rushing touchdowns and a third on a pass reception on the way to a 102-yard afternoon. He finished his career with 3,247 rushing yards, passing Wabash legend Daryl Johnson '82, who held the record for 22 seasons. Morris scored on a nine-yard run in the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7. He gave the Little Giants the lead for good midway through the second when he broke a 21-yard run around the right end to make it 14-7.
Senior defensive tackle Blair Hammer (Carmel, IN/Carmel) picked up a sack to tie his brother, B.J. Hammer '00, for the all-time sack record. The Hammers head the list with 27-1/2 career sacks. Hammer’s hit also led to points for the Little Giants. His hit on DePauw quarterback Andy Yoder forced a fumble that was scooped up by Josh Foster (Indianapolis, IN/Ben Davis) at the 15 yard line and raced in to give the Little Giants a 34-13 lead.
DePauw closed the gap in the second quarter on a Ross Wiethoff 60-yard run, but a blocked extra point by Pete Wagner (Poneto, IN/Southern Wells) let the Little Giants hold on to a one-point lead.
Morris scored on an 11-yard shovel pass from Russ Harbaugh (Evansville, IN/Evansville Bosse) just before the half to send the Little Giants to the locker room with a 20-13 lead.
The third record breaker of the day broke the game open for the Little Giants. Freshman Aaron Lafitte (Goodyear, AZ/Ironwood) split the defense on the second drive of the half and scampered 52 yards for his first touchdown in a Monon Bell game and his 16th of the season. Lafitte climbed over the 1,000-yard mark, the first freshman running back to reach that level in Wabash history. He finished the day with 101 yards, giving him 1,008 for the season and giving the Little Giants two 100-yard rushers on the afternoon.
For 14 seniors the final moment that defined their four years at Wabash may have come when kicker Olmy Olmstead (Alexandria, OH/Granville) hit a 36-yard field goal with 1:36 left in the contest.
The mood saw much more somber on the other side of the field. DePauw head coach Nick Mourouzis saw his team lose in the final game of his coaching career. Mourouzis came to DePauw in 1981 and ended his career as the Tigers’ head coach with a record of 11-11-1 against Wabash in Monon Bell games.
Harbaugh finished 15-of-19 for 197 yards, one TD on the shovel pass to Morris, and one interception before leaving the game with an injured shoulder. That moved him past Don VanDuersen '71 into 13th on the Wabash all-time passing list with 1,798 career passing yards. Harbaugh gave way to sophomore Mitch Tanney (Lexington, IL/Lexington Community), who was 2-of-3 for 20 yards, but threw a two-point conversion pass after the Foster fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Sophomore Aaron Selby (Crawfordsville, IN/Southmont) and senior Stu Johnson (West Lafayette, IN/Harrison) paced the Wabash defensive effort. Both had eight tackles to lead the way for the Little Giants. Johnson made his final career interception in the game. Junior Dustin Deno (Lafayette, IN/Jefferson) and freshman Billy King (Peoria, AZ/Peoria) also had picks for the Little Giants.
The win puts the Bell on the Wabash campus for the third year in row and ends the Little Giants’ season at 7-3. The last time the Little Giants had the Bell for three consecutive seasons was from 1993-96. Head coach Chris Creighton is now 3-0 in Monon Bell games, and 27-6 since coming to Wabash. He is only the third Little Giant coach in Wabash College history to start his career 3-0 against DePauw.