The DePauw Tigers kicked off their first home game of the season with a convincing 35-14 victory over one of their conference opponents, the Kenyon Owls.
The week prior, the Tigers went on the road to defeat Centre by the same score, 35-14. With a thus far undefeated regular season, the Tigers were ranked No. 14 going into their game against Kenyon and moved up one spot to No. 13 in the AFCA Division III Coaching Poll after the win.
DePauw won the coin toss and elected to defer for the first half. Kenyon opened up the first quarter with a strong opening drive to make the score 0-7. The Tigers responded immediately with a handoff to running back Carson Johnson ‘27 for a 9-yard touchdown run and a successful PAT by kicker Matthew Berry ‘27 to make the game even 7-7. Defense in this game was key in the first half, with both Kenyon and DePauw exchanging punts until backup quarterback Anthony Garzolini ‘27 came in for the banged-up quarterback Scott Ballentine ‘28 and threw a 40-yard explosive touchdown pass to wide receiver Lleyton Lukowski ‘26 to make the score more respectable before the half 14-7.
Kenyon received the ball to start the second half and marched 15 yards down the field until the quarterback fumbled the ball and was scooped up by defensive lineman Luke Nolan ‘26. The Tigers began on Kenyon’s 36-yard line. Ballentine returned and threw a 17-yard touchdown to wide receiver Lukowski, in addition to a made extra point by Berry, extending the lead to 21-7. This was not the end for the Owls, as wide receiver Frankie Ricciardi ‘27 fumbled the ball and allowed Kenyon’s offense to score, making the game closer with a score of 21-14. By the end of the third quarter, the score was still the same. At the start of the fourth quarter, DePauw was past midfield on Kenyon’s 38-yard line and the offense marched down the field. With Kenyon’s defense backed up in the end zone, Ballentine was able to push his way into the end zone to make the score 28-14 with 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Safety Holt Heldebrand ‘26 sealed the game with an interception two minutes later, and Ballentine added another touchdown pass — this time to wide receiver Robby Ballentine — with Berry’s extra point making it 35-14 with three minutes left. DePauw ran out the clock to close the game.
Following the win over Kenyon, the Tigers moved to 3-0, starting their season off strong. With that being said, Coach Dietz emphasized there is always room for improvement. “We had over 110 yards in penalties today,” he said in an interview. “That can’t happen going forward.”
The following week, the Tigers went on the road to dominate Wittenburg with the final score being 28-0. This week, the Tigers look forward to playing Oberlin at home on Oct 4.
