By Andrew Bell
Vell Robinson ’25 and William Hicks Jr. ’27 led the Fighting Scots’ stampede down the hill and onto Andrew Field at John P. Papp Stadium to take on the preying Tigers of DePauw University. The dismal clouds of cutting rain not only made for a soggy day for fans, but they also seemed to hold a proverbial storm over the Scots. Coming off a disappointing loss to Wabash College, Wooster faced a challenge entering this game. Wooster has a top-40 NCAA Division III scoring offense, but DePauw leads the conference standings and had racked up 1,406 rushing yards prior to this game. The two-time defending NCAC champion Tigers appeared ready to pounce from the opening kickoff.
Wooster started the game on offense but found themselves quickly defending when the fourth-down snap of the wet pigskin hailed into their end zone and resulted in a safety. DePauw launched a fast-opening drive with a 35-yard pass and a nine-yard touchdown reception on a back shoulder fade. DePauw followed this up with two more touchdowns to take a decisive 23-0 by the end of the first quarter.
DePauw matched their first quarter points in the second quarter with 23 more points to seize a 46-0 halftime advantage. The Wooster coaching staff implemented a variety of options to gain some momentum during the second quarter. One notable choice was a substitution of the entire defense for a series or two. Head Coach Frank Colaprete reflected on this decision, saying that “we rotated because we wanted to give some other players opportunities. Some of these other players are very deserving, so we thought that we’d try to mix it up.”
As the rainclouds gave way to brighter yet overcast skies for the second half of play, the Fighting Scots found their brightest spots. Midway through the third quarter, the Scots made a huge defensive stand on a Tigers’ fourth down attempt. Defensive back Jon Banal ’25 muscled into the backfield and wrangled the Tigers’ Aiden Baker ’24 for a turnover on downs. Wooster held DePauw to just seven points in the entire second half and scored seven points of their own during the fourth quarter.
The Black and Gold took advantage of favorable field position when DePauw punter Ben Gomez ’26 bobbled the football at the 10:30 mark of the fourth quarter. Noah Clark ’26, replacing a sidelined Chanden Lee ’26, connected with Brazos Gadler ’25 for a first down catch. Lead rusher Shakir Perkins ’26 ran a hand-off inside the red zone from the Tigers’ 13 yard line to the two yard line. Perkins punched the ball into the end zone for the Scots’ only touchdown score of the game.
A defensive standout was Wooster’s defensive back Brock Sivon ’26. His number was called for a career-high 16 tackles, one of which set up the Scots’ 23-yard scoring drive. Sivon broke through the Tiger’s line repeatedly and played with an aggressive edge on nearly every series of defensive plays.
DePauw overpowered Wooster, as evidenced in the Tigers’ 380 offensive yards compared to the Scots’ 45 net combined rushing and passing yards. Wooster also gave up three turnovers. With this result, the Scots dropped to a 2-4 record on the season. Colaprete was disappointed after the game, but emphasized the importance of looking to the future. “It’s the 24-hour rule. We’ve got to deal with it for 24 hours. When we come back on Sunday or Monday, it’s over. We’re on to next week. We have to put it behind us.”
The Fighting Scots are sure to engage in a hard week of practice and will be ready for action when they face conference rival Denison University on Saturday.