The DePauw Tigers led 14-0 against the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers at halftime on Saturday, but none of those points were scored on offense. In fact, both teams were struggling to get anything going on the offensive end with just four first downs in the first quarter alone.
Instead, the Tigers scored their first touchdown on a 38-yard interception return by junior free safety Robby Schuler and a 38-yard punt return for a touchdown by junior kick returner and wide receiver Taylor Wagner.
"I saw him break on it and his return was awesome," defensive coordinator Scott Srnka said about Schuler's interception. "We work on interception returns and guys blocking ahead of him, it was a great lift for the defense at the time."
For Srnka, his first game as defensive coordinator was a success, scoring the first touchdown of the season and holding the offense of Rose-Hulman to just 80 yards in the first half. The Engineers' main offensive threat, all-region running back Kyle Kovach, was held to just 68 receiving and rushing yards in the entire game. Last season, Kovach averaged 105.6 yards per game.
"Rose-Hulman is a good football team," Srnka said. "We just have to eliminate the mistakes we made in the second half and we'll have something good."
In the second half, the Tiger offense finally started hitting its stride and extended its lead 23-6 in the third quarter.
After a seven play 75-yard touchdown drive by the Tigers capped by a 14-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Ethan Schweir, Rose-Hulman would respond with their own five-play 79-yard drive featuring a long pass down field from quarterback Mitch Snyder to wide receiver Dominic Sena for 55 yards.
"I think we have a great young football team and we have a lot of work to do," Srnka said. "The good thing is we have an extra week to prepare so we can work on the mistakes we made tonight."
On the offensive end, in his first starting role in the quarterback position, senior Ethan Schweir overcame a shaky first half to finish the night throwing for 276 yards and rushing for one touchdown.
"It was a little fast going out there at first but I adjusted," Schweir said. "Everybody adjusted and I like where we're headed."
Schweir found much of his success making short passes on out routes to his receivers near the sidelines.
The short passes coupled with strong running by senior Jon Ellis and sophomore Armani Cato continually moved the chains in the second half.
"We saw what we expected in practice all week," Ellis said of the Rose-Hulman defense. "All of what went into our slow start in the first half was jitters. A lot of us were thinking of scoring a huge touchdown instead of taking it play by play."
Ellis carried the ball 26 times for 78 yards averaging 2.9 yards per carry. Cato carried the ball nine times for 31 yards while averaging 3.4 yards per carry.
While the average carry number may seem small, it set up chances for Schweir to make short throws for first downs.
Juniors Bobby Coburn and Taylor Wagner along with senior Steve Ganser each had six catches for 89 yards, 66 yards and 52 yards respectively.
The longest throw completed by Schweir in the game was a 31-yard strike down the middle of the field to Coburn as time expired in the first half. Schweir was 29-42 in passing attempts and capitalized on his wide receivers' quickness and agility to get into open space.
"They were in a defense we expected them to be in," Schweir said. "They had four linebackers and came down with their other safety so their corners would bail. We just took what the defense gave us."
Cato and Wagner often went into motion behind the offensive line, attracting attention from the Rose-Hulman linebackers and freeing up space behind the line of scrimmage for the tight end Coburn to run down field and get open for Schweir.
On the defensive end, senior defensive back Ben Brandstatter led DePauw's defense with 11 tackles as Rose-Hulman quatrback Mitch Snyder turned to his arm to move his offense down field.
As Kovach's runs were stopped by DePauw's strong defensive line, Brandstetter and sophomore linebacker Mitch Dwenger closed down on the passing routes left open.
Their immediate tackles restricted yards after the catch and were key in the win.
The Tigers will learn much about the identity of this team as they examine the results of the game in this week's practice.
With a bye week next weekend, the team will have extra time to prepare for their next matchup against at Allegheny College of the NCAC on September 17.
In the Tiger's first taste of NCAC competition, look for the DePauw offense to continue to rely on the short pass and tough running behind a strong offensive line led by senior captain and all-region lineman Lewis Brown.
— Ryan Foutty contributed to this article