The College of Wooster football team's 2025 season kicks off under first-year head coach
Austin Holter '10 at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6, when the Fighting Scots hit the road to take on Wilmington College. Wooster is coming off a 4-6 season, while Wilmington posted a 1-9 record in 2024.
On The Air: Wilmington will provide a livestream of the contest. Please note as the Ohio Athletic Conference has signed a streaming contract with FloSports, those wishing to watch Saturday's game will need to
purchase a FloSports subscription if you do not already have one. Clicking on the
monitor icon for the game on the football schedule page of the athletics website will take you to the site to purchase a FloSports subscription.
All-Time Series: Wooster is 2-2 all-time against Wilmington. The teams first met in 1992, a game won by Wooster 30-20. Wilmington won the next meeting, 41-19, which marked Wooster's 1993 finale. This is the third straight year Wooster and Wilmington have met in the lid-lifter. Wilmington won 63-43 in 2023, while Wooster claimed a 56-13 victory last year.
Last Meeting: Carter Warstler returned the opening kickoff of the 2024 season 90 yards for a touchdown, and Wooster had three touchdowns 59 yards in length or longer in the 2024 season opener. Warstler's kickoff return touchdown was his third return one of his career. Later, Warstler hauled in a 59-yard touchdown reception and
Jace Austin had a 74-yard touchdown run. Defensively,
Louie Lindsay (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro Area Senior) and
Tate Journell (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) picked off Wilmington's quarterback, while on special teams, Austin fell on a bad Wilmington punt snap in the end zone for a touchdown.
Mo Bajinka (Chelsea, Mass./Portsmouth Abbey School (R.I.)) led the defense with seven tackles in his first collegiate start.
Offense Notes: Wooster will have a very new look on offense this year in terms of personnel, as senior wideout
Jordan Lewis (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) is the only projected starter to have started at least half of last year's games. Wooster graduated its entire starting offensive line, which was one of the most experienced units in all of Div. III last year, with all five being multi-year starters and four of the five having at least three full seasons of starting experience. Junior quarterback
Michael Boyle (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) made four starts last fall, and completed 75-of-121 passes for 965 yards and 10 touchdowns. Boyle is also the leading returning rusher to the team. He carried the ball 22 times for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Defense Notes: Wooster returns its top four leading tacklers from last year's team, and the entire quartet of senior
Wyatt Harris (Phoenix, Ariz./Notre Dame Preparatory), senior
Wyatt Wilkie (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North), Lindsay, and senior
Braydon Hudson (North Liberty, Ind./Washington) had at least 50 tackles on the year. Lindsay and Wilkie are the returnees who had multiple interceptions a season ago, while Hudson's three sacks in 2024 were tops among returnees.
Special Teams Notes: Special teams has been an area of strength for Wooster in recent years. Recent alumnus
Lake Barrett was the North Coast Athletic Conference's Don Hunsinger Award winner (NCAC Male Student-Athlete of the Year) for the 2023-24 academic year and set numerous placekicking records.
Sebestyen Balassy, a 2025 alumnus, did it all last year, earning All-NCAC honors as a punter with a 40.9 average over 34 boots. He was the kickoff specialist and placekicker. Wooster will also have new primary returners with the graduation of
Brazos Gadler, who was key in Wooster having one of the top kickoff return units in Div. III.
This and That: Saturday marks the collegiate head coaching debut of Holter, a 2010 Wooster alumnus. As a player, Holter led the program to an 8-2 record as a junior and was a two-time All-NCAC selection. His 5,628 passing yards were the second-most in program history upon graduation, while his 43 passing touchdowns ranked third. Holter's 2,106 passing yards as a senior were the most in program history, as were his 2,873 yards of total offense.
