After the Fighting Scots rough start to the season, there were questions about what Wooster needed to win.† After their performance against the Denison University Big Red it was clear that all the Scots needed was time.† After starting the season 0-2, Wooster has run off three strong wins against NCAC opponents.
They started their run against Oberlin College (2-2) and continued it against Ohio Wesleyan University (0-5) and now the Scots have found themselves above .500 at the mid-point of the season with a 38-28 victory.† But, the game was not as close as the score seems.
Wooster dominated for almost four quarters, controlling both sides of the ball for the entire game. The game started off with a bang, as Girard Ogletree-Crawford ’13 scored the first touchdown of his career in impressive fashion, returning the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown.
Denison quickly answered in response as it capped off a 58-yard drive for a touchdown to tie the game .† Richard Barnes ’14 then passed for three straight touchdowns, with two to Cameron Daniels ’12 and one to Mike Redick ’11 to put the Scots up 31-7.
The score remained that way until the fourth quarter when Denison scored two touchdowns to bring the score to 31-21.† But, the Scots put the game away when Robert Flagg ’12 scored on a 33 yard touchdown run to make the score 38-21.† Denison would score a meaningless touchdown in the last minute to end the game 38-27.
The Wooster offense was clicking all night, especially quarterback Barnes who went 14-20 for 174 yards and three touchdowns.† He spread the ball around, hitting four different receivers.† Barnes has shown serious growth over the course of the year.† He has gone from just being a solid replacement to a major component of this Scot offense.
Redick has continued his strong play at receiver, catching seven passes for 49 yards and one touchdown. Daniels also had a strong game catching three passes for 34 yards and two touchdowns.
Flagg continued his streak of 100-yard games by going for 140 yards and one touchdown.† Flagg’s continued strong play has been strength for this Scots’ offense; they’ll need his play if they hope to win the NCAC title.
The defense also played exceedingly well, only allowing seven points over three quarters.† They allowed 21 points in the fourth quarter, but by that time the game was far out of reach.† The Scot defense continued to hound the quarterback the entire game.
Dan Terhune ’12 continued his relentless pursuit of the quarterback, picking up two sacks.† John Robinson ’14 also had a sack, and Matt Breidigam ’12 and Paul Kessler ’13 each had half of a sack.† The Scots’ defense showed that their slow start was nothing to be concerned about and, like the offense, just needed time to come together.
Wooster plays their next game on Oct. 18, when they return home to play Washington University in St. Louis. Last season, the Scots upended the Bears in a 24-20 victory on the road.