The College of Wooster football team scored first, kept No. 17 DePauw University off the scoreboard until the second quarter, and pulled within two touchdowns of the Tigers twice in the fourth in Saturday's 41-28 loss at John P. Papp Stadium.

Wooster, which scored the second-most points allowed by DePauw this fall, regained possession at the 11:34 mark of the first when Gray Schmittel muffed a punt return. Senior Brock Sivon, who was already well on his way to a career day for the Fighting Scots, recovered the fumble, setting the offense up at its 48-yard line. Wooster turned to junior Austin Fancher, who logged 29 of his career-high 109 yards on the drive. His seventh carry of the drive was the scoring one, coming from three yards out with 5:07 on the first quarter clock. Prior to Fancher's touchdown, sophomore quarterback Damon Hooks found senior tight end David Parker for a chain-moving 6-yard completion on a third-and-5 snap and scrambled 10 yards on another third-and-5 play on the drive.

DePauw overtook Wooster, scoring on three consecutive possessions in the second quarter. Logan Shoffner broke free for a 52-yard rush to put the Tigers on the board with 9:34 left in the first half. Next, Jack Kazmierczak found Luke Dockery for a 36-yard touchdown pass with 5:46 on the clock. DePauw's lead reached 21-7 when Evan Pitzer caught a 6-yard touchdown pass in the final minute.

Wooster nearly capitalized when DePauw got greedy at the end of the half. A Wooster penalty gave DePauw an untimed down 41 yards shy of the end zone. The Tigers went for the score, only for the pass to get intercepted by Sivon at Wooster's 3-yard line. He ran the pick back to DePauw's 16 before Tiger running back Carson Johnson tripped him up just enough for Pitzer to down the Scots' senior and stop the pick-six try.

Wooster's comeback bid started in the third, when the Scots capped a 10-play, 66-yard drive with a 2-yard Hooks-to-Parker touchdown pass. Wooster converted two big pass plays on the drive, first with first-year Zeek Seraphin catching a 27-yarder on third-and-22. Then, Wooster went for it on fourth-and-2 from DePauw's 40, and junior wideout Chance Bennett's acrobatics pulled in a 39-yard pass down the sideline, setting the Scots' up at the 1-yard line.

Hooks' 9-yard keeper to the right and sophomore Nolan Hendricks' extra point had Wooster within 34-21 with 10:35 remaining in the game. Hooks found Fancher open down the sideline for a 30-yard completion on a fourth-and-1 play, while earlier in the drive, sophomore Landon Medrano was open over the middle for a stick-moving 13-yard reception when the Scots were faced with third-and-7.

DePauw answered back two drives later with Johnson bullying his way up the middle for a 5-yard touchdown rush that extended the lead back to 20. Wooster's last touchdown came on Fancher's 7-yard run with inside a minute to go in the game. DePauw recovered Hendricks' ensuing onside kick.

Sivon's 17 tackles marked a new career-high. He added two breakups to his 81-yard interception return and fumble recovery. Sophomore Brady Keller made eight tackles from his corner position, while classmate Grady Harban added six tackles from the other corner spot. They combined for three pass breakups on the afternoon.

Hooks completed 13-of-33 passes for 195 yards. Fancher's 109 yards on the ground marked a career-high and came over 27 carries. Seraphin was the leading receiver with 66 yards on three catches. Elsewhere, Bennett went for 53 yards on three receptions and Medrano had 61 yards receiving, 44 of which came on senior Michael Boyle's fourth-quarter completion.

Johnson and Shoffner combined for 218 rush yards on 29 carries to power DePauw's offense. Dockery was the spotlight receiver, with 142 yards and a touchdown on six catches. Kazmierczak was just 7-of-14 passing for 67 yards when not trying to target Dockery as his receiver.

Robert Pasinato made 10 tackles and had an interception to lead the Tigers' defense.

DePauw had 438 yards of offense to 379 for Wooster. The Tigers went 3-of-8 on third down, while the Scots were 8-of-18.

DePauw is now 8-1, 7-1 North Coast Athletic Conference. Wooster dropped to 3-6, 3-5 NCAC.

Next, Wooster wraps up its season at Washington University in St. Louis on Saturday, Nov. 14. Kickoff is at 2 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. CT, and the eighth-ranked Bears enter the contest 9-0, 8-0 NCAC.