The College of Wooster football team (2-2, 1-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) heads to Wabash College (3-1, 2-0 NCAC) for Saturday's 2 p.m. contest. Wooster had its bye week last week, and previously demolished Kenyon College (1-4, 1-2 NCAC) 70-21 back on September 23. Wabash won 31-13 at Ohio Wesleyan University (2-3, 1-2 NCAC) on September 30.
All-Time Series: Wooster is just 4-22 all-time against Wabash, but the Scots have won two of the last three meetings in the series. The teams first met in 1944. Wooster's win in 2019 snapped Wabash's 14-game series winning streak. Wooster won 44-41 the last time the teams met up in Crawfordsville. College Sports Communicators Academic All-American®
Matt Pardi booted a 55-yard punt to Wabash's 20-yard line and fellow CSC Academic All-American®
Matt Ulishney broke up the Little Giants' Hail Mary pass at Wooster's 5-yard line. Current senior
Lake Barrett (Columbia, S.C./Hammond School) knocked the 19-yard go-ahead field goal through the uprights with 5:29 remaining.
Jacob Handley missed a game-tying field goal from 39 yards out with :51 remaining.
Last Meeting In Series: Alumnus
Andrew Yanssens found success early on the ground, but Wabash contained Wooster's passing game, and a near-perfect afternoon by its quarterback,
Liam Thompson, enabled the Little Giants to roll past the Scots 48-14 at John P. Papp Stadium on September 17, 2022. Yanssens rushed for a career-high 141 yards and had five carries that went for at least 10 yards. Thompson though was electric, finishing 28-for-31 for 435 yards and four touchdowns through the air. He added a rushing touchdown as well.
Offense Notes: Wooster's 70 points scored against Kenyon are the fourth-most for the program since 1912, when six points started being awarded for a touchdown. The 70 points trail the 84 Wooster hung on Kenyon on October 9, 2004, the 77 scored at Oberlin College on November 1, 1997, and the 71 Wooster dropped at Oberlin on October 9, 1999. Wooster's 70 points are tied for the ninth-most in a NCAA Div. III game this fall and tied with Denison University for the most in a NCAC game. Denison scored 70 on Oberlin back on September 16. Wooster's 627 yards of offense its last time out marked the most since the team had 635 against Hiram College in 2005. Wooster surpassed 300 rushing yards in its most recent game, and the 308 are the most since going for 351 against Allegheny College in 2014. Sophomore
Chanden Lee (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) is 20th nationally with 290 passing yards per game, and that average leads the NCAC.
Defense Notes: Senior defensive end
Neil Clayton (Boydton, Va./Bluestone) became the first defensive lineman since at least 1999 (the start of electronic stat keeping at the College) to record a touchdown on an interception return. Clayton's touchdown, plus a fall-on-fumble in end zone by first-year
Wyatt Wilkie (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) gives Wooster three defensive touchdowns on the season and five over the last two years with four of the five coming on fumble returns. Wooster's three defensive touchdowns are tied for the fifth-most nationally and trail Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (the Claremont Colleges), Concordia University Wisconsin, Lebanon Valley College, and William Paterson University, who each have four defensive touchdowns on the year. Wooster remains in the top-20 nationally with five fumble recoveries. Junior linebacker
Jon Banal (Columbus Grove, Ohio/Columbus Grove) leads the NCAC with 1.6 tackles for loss per game, a total that ranks within the top-45 nationally.
Special Teams Notes: Barrett was announced as one of the record 201 semifinalists for the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy, regarded as the "academic Heisman". Of note, the fifth-year senior is one of just two multi-time CSC Academic All-Americans® on the list of Campbell Trophy semifinalists. Barrett surpassed 200 points during Wooster's rout of Kenyon and he went 10-for-10 on extra-point tries in the victory. Barrett has made all 23 of his kicks thus far in 2023, going 3-for-3 on field goals and 20-for-20 on extra points.
This and That: Wooster has two players on its roster from Indiana - sophomore linebacker
Braydon Hudson (North Liberty, Ind./Washington) and senior center
Bryce Kamphues (North Manchester, Ind./Manchester).
