 Josh Stanton (37) scoops up one of five fumble recoveries for the Wabash defense |
Wabash will play at Mount Union, two-time defending national champions, next Saturday afternoon in Alliance, Ohio. Mount Union, the top seed in the North Region, defeated Wheaton 42-21 in second round action.
The Wabash-Wittenberg game was a rematch of the North Coast Athletic Conference shootout at Wittenberg on October 12, a game Wabash won in overtime by a 46-43 score.
“Wittenberg is just a great football team,” said Wabash coach Chris Creighton. “They’ve been on top for so long, building a dynasty in the North Coast Conference, and in many ways we’ve been pursuing them, trying to be like them. Our guys were really motivated to beat them twice in one year, which is always hard to do, but we stayed focused and got the job done.”
The Wabash offense has shattered the record book during the 2002 campaign, but it was the Little Giant defense that stepped up against Wittenberg. Senior defensive end Blair Hammer made 10 tackles, forced two fumbles, sacked Wittenberg quarterbacks three times, and returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown to lead the way for Wabash.
But it was Nick Fanelli, who made 11 tackles, who might have provided the game’s biggest play. With the score tied 7-7 and the first half clock winding down, Wittenberg marched 65 yards on 12 plays with the wind at its back. But Fanelli snuffed out the scoring opportunity by blocking a chip shot field goal.
“That would have been a lead change and a major momentum swinger,” said Creighton, who is now 20-2 in his two-year Wabash career. “That field goal block was really big for us.”
Wittenberg’s All-American tailback, Daniel Grove, became the first player to rush for over 100 yards on Wabash’s stingy defense this year. Grove’s 145 yards on 30 carries led all rushers, but he never found the end zone. Meanwhile, Wabash tailback Chris Morris managed just 25 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries.
Snow flurries and 30 miles-per-hour wind gusts made passing difficult, but the two teams put up 81 pass attempts nonetheless.
Wittenberg struck first when Greg Cornett took advantage of a short field and connected with Jered Glover on a 31-yard touchdown pass.
Wabash came right back. NCAC Offensive Player of the Year Jake Knott, who hit 19-of-39 passes for 216 yards, countered with an 18-yard dart into the wind to Bronaugh that could easily have been the offensive play of the game. Knott was scrambling on the fourth-and-15 play, but found Bronaugh streaking across the back of the end zone and snaked the ball in perfectly.
“I just heaved that one as hard as I could,” said Knott.
The game remained tied until Wabash scored with 2:34 remaining in the third quarter. Morris bolted in from five yards out for the go-ahead touchdown after Nick Dawson had gotten Wabash close with a 29-yard reception from Knott.
Dawson put the game out of reach with an 11-yard touchdown catch and run with 5:19 to play in the fourth quarter. The Little Giants had driven to the Wittenberg 16 on the previous series, but Knott was intercepted by Ryan Gresham to end the drive. Hammer sacked Wittenberg quarterback Kurt Forrest on the ensuing play, setting up the Knott to Dawson scoring strike.
Dawson led the Wabash receiving corps with five catches for 69 yards, while Bronaugh totaled 124 all-purpose yards.
Forrest and starter Cornett combined for 190 yards passing, but threw three interceptions, were sacked six times, and fumbled five times.
“Coach (Neal) Nethery and the defensive staff are phenomenal coaches and we’ve got great players who know our schemes,” said Creighton. “We worked all week on putting pressure on their quarterback because we didn’t feel like we did that back in October. Then we hear there’s going to be gale force winds, and we wonder if Wittenberg won’t just come in and play smash mouth.
“We swarmed and punished and got pressure on the quarterback, and when you do that you force turnovers.”
Wabash safety Stu Johnson led all tacklers with 15 tackles, while linebacker Nate Boulais had 12 tackles. Linemen Matt Mercer, Josh Stanton, and Josh Mills all had quarterback sacks that resulted in Wittenberg fumbles.
”It’s so much easier when you can rely on your defense,” said Knott, who now has 115 touchdown passes in his career. “We’ve played in so many field position games this year when our offense goes out there and has had a short field to work on.”
Wittenberg was led defensively by Gresham, who made 10 tackles, including three behind the line. Linebacker Andy Pope made five tackles, forced a fumble, intercepted a pass, and broke up two others.
Wabash All-American tight end Ryan Short was held in check, and caught just five passes for 47 yards. He did become Wabash’s all-time leading receiver in the game, catching his 239th pass to move ahead of Wabash Hall of Famer Mike Funk ’89.
Wabash has never won as many as 12 games in a season. The 1977 Little Giants set the previous standard with an 11-2 record and runner-up finish in the NCAA Division III Championship.
This Saturday’s elite eight showdown at Mount Union will mark the first ever meeting between the two schools. Kickoff is slated for 12:00 p.m. EST. Ticket information will be available on the Wabash College website Monday afternoon.
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