NCAC Weekly Release (9-17-12) - Football
The first weekend of North Coast football action is in the books with Kenyon (1-0, 2-1), Ohio Wesleyan (1-0, 2-0), Wabash (1-0, 2-0) and Wittenberg (1-0, 2-0) all coming away with week one victories. NCAC play continues next Saturday (9/22) with three league contests on the schedule, including Wabash hosting Allegheny (0-0, 1-1), Denison (0-1, 0-2) traveling to Hiram (0-1, 0-3) and Wooster (0-0, 1-1) hosting Wittenberg.
ALLEGHENY was idle last week.
DENISON dropped its NCAC-opener against Wabash, 35-2, on Saturday in Granville. Big Red senior running back Sam Fioroni (Clarkston, MI/Orchard Lake-St. Mary’s) rushed for 80 yards and caught a game-high eight passes for 53 yards.
DEPAUW fell in its inaugural NCAC contest on the road against Wittenberg by a 52-14 margin. Sophomore quarterback Drew Seaman (Scottsdale, AZ/Desert Mtn.) threw for a career-high 167 yards, including two touchdown passes to junior wideout Kevin Ude (Seymour, IN/Seymour).
HIRAM dropped its league-opener against Kenyon, 24-7.
With Saturday’s 24-7 Homecoming win over Hiram, KENYON moves to 2-1 overall, marking the Lords’ best start since then 1998 season when KC also won two of its first three contests. The Lords were again led on offense by senior running back Brett Williams (Chesterland, OH/West Geauga) who racked up 121 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries, while junior Kolin Sullivan (Mentor, OH/St. Ignatius) matched his career-high with 14 tackles (9 solo, 5 asst.) to lead the defensive unit.
OBERLIN senior Clay Eaton (Findlay, OH/Van Buren) became the Yeomen’s all-time leading sack leader and senior wide receiver Robin Witjes (Howell, MI/Howell) had a career-high 187 yards receiving, but it wasn’t enough as the Yeomen fell to Ohio Wesleyan in their home-opener, 29-17. After totaling two-and-a-half sacks in the game, Eaton’s career sack total now stands at 23.5.
OHIO WESLEYAN sophomore kicker Miles MacKenzie (Denver, CO/East) set a pair of school- and NCAC-records and junior quarterback Mason Espinosa (Cookeville, TN/Cookeville) tossed a touchdown pass and surpassed 5,000 career passing yards in leading the Battling Bishops to a 29-17 win over Oberlin in their NCAC-opener on Saturday. MacKenzie kicked five field goals, breaking the school record of four set by Pete Billington against Muskingum (10/19/68), as well as the NCAC record of four accomplished on three different occasions. In addition, his 17 points scored by kicking broke the school record of 13 set by Billington (10/19/68), along with the NCAC record of 16 accomplished twice. Espinosa completed 32-of-49 pass attempts for 347 yards, which raised his career total to 5,092 passing yards.
WABASH, which moved up one spot to No. 7 on the D3football.com Top 25, won its seventh consecutive NCAC contest dating back to last season with a 35-2 win at Denison. With the win in the league opener, the Little Giants have now won nine-straight NCAC season-openers and are 10-3 in NCAC-openers since 2000. The defensive unit triggered the 33-point victory, led by sophomore linebacker Cody Buresh (Holland, MI/Hamilton) who made 11 total tackles (6 solo, 5 asst), including three-and-a-half sacks and five tackles-for-loss. His five tackles-for-loss ties a Wabash single-game record set by Blair Hammer in 2001 and Darryl Kennon in 2007.
WITTENBERG rolled past DePauw, 52-14, in the NCAC-opener for both squads on Saturday evening in Springfield. Junior quarterback Reed Florence (South Charleston, OH/Southeastern) completed 17-of-20 pass attempts for 336 yards and four touchdowns, and also tallied eight carries for 46 yards and one touchdown. The Defensive unit was led by junior linebacker Spencer Leno (Massillon, OH/Washington) who made 11 tackles (4 solo, 7 asst.) and forced a fumble on the opening kickoff that led to the Tigers’ first score just 18 seconds into the game.
WOOSTER was idle last week.
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