It was a great day to christen the new John P. Papp stadium. The sun was shining, the stands were full and the only thing missing was a Fighting Scot victory.
In an extremely entertaining game, which came down to the final play, the Scots came up on the losing end of a 42-39 final against the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets.
The Scots showed that they have quite the high-powered offense, totaling 500 total yards and scoring five touchdowns. They used the no huddle offense extremely well and seemed to have caught Waynesburg off guard for most of the game. Quarterback Austin Holter í10 led the way for the Scotsí offense, passing for 328 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 88 yards and another touchdown.
On special teams, Bryan Albani í10 scored the Scots other touchdown on a terrific 90-yard return off of a kickoff. Robert Flagg í12 and Kyle Murdock í11 both looked great as Holterís main targets. They both had over 100 yards of total offense and scored three touchdowns combined.
The only major flaw on the part of the Scotsí offense was a fumble at the goal line that was returned for a Waynesburg touchdown. As solid as the offense looked, the defense seemed to struggle. They had problems stopping Waynesburgís rushing attack, lead by Justin Falcon who ran for 148 yards and a touchdown. The Scotsí defense also had problems on third down, as the Yellow Jackets converted 11-of-19 on third down and were 2-for-3 on fourth down conversions.
Linebacker Matt DeGrand í10 recognized the struggles on third down. ìWe had some problems getting off the field on third down, which hurt us in the end.” But, he is optimistic that the Scots will bounce back. ìThis week will allow us to focus on some weak spots we feel need improving on both sides of the ball. We have [Ohio Wesleyan University] in two weeks, and they always play us hard. So our focus is no longer on the loss of Waynesburg, but on beating OWU.”
Wooster was also on the receiving end of some bad luck, as several calls by the referees just did not swing the Scotsí way. A touchdown pass to Mike Redick í11 was ruled incomplete and a pass to the one yard line from Holter to Luke McCann í10 was brought back on an illegal man downfield penalty.
Despite the loss, Holter and the offense showed significant progress, running the Waynesburg defense up and down the field. However, in order for the team to contend for a NCAC title, the defense will need to make significant adjustments.
The Scots will return to action next Saturday, Sept. 19, at Ohio Wesleyan University. The Bishops lost to Carnegie Mellon University last week.