Jeff Vorherr confirms a play with Head Coach Bill Lynch at last
year's game against Wittenberg at Blackstock Stadium.
SUNNY STRADER / THE DEPAUW
Seven turnovers doomed DePauw University’s (1-1, 0-1) hopes of upsetting 18th ranked Wittenberg University (1-1, 1-0) on Saturday evening, despite outgaining the opposing Tigers 427-350.
“Those turnovers really hurt us badly,” DePauw head coach Bill Lynch said.
Wittenberg scored 28 of their 34 points off of turnovers, as they went on to defeat DePauw 34-17.
DePauw got off to a strong start on their first drive, making it into Wittenberg territory. It was there that sophomore quarterback Matt Hunt fumbled, and Wittenberg recovered. Wittenberg marched 59 yards down the field and scored a touchdown, making the score 7-0.
“Wittenberg got off to a fast start,” said Freddy Sprunger who called the game for WGRE sports.
On the first play of the next drive, however, Hunt connected with D.J. Steward for an 82-yard score, tying it back up.
The rest of the first quarter was dominated by Wittenberg who had two drives ending in a 35-yard field goal and a 25-yard pass for a touchdown that followed from another DePauw fumble.
“Wittenberg quarterback Zach Jenkins had a really off first half," Sprunger said. "He was overthrowing his recievers, and that helped keep DePauw in the game.”
In the second quarter, the DePauw Tigers had a four-play drive to the end zone where sophomore Zac Fouche caught a pass from Hunt for a touchdown, making the score 17-14.
The tone of the last drive of the half was set by a 51-yard play from Hunt to Fouche to the 10-yard line of Wittenberg. Unable to come up with the touchdown, Marko Adams was brought on to tie the game with a 19-yard field goal.
After last season’s 45-0 loss to Wittenberg, a tie game at halftime put the Tigers exactly where they wanted to be.
“It think we were much more competitive than we were last year,” Lynch said. “We put ourselves in a position after halftime to really compete in that second half.”
At the start of the second half, Wittenberg ground out a 12-play, 63-yard drive that ended in a field goal, breaking the tie.
After a couple of series from both teams that ended in punts, Hunt completed a pass to Steward for 67-yards which was fumbled and turned over to Wittenberg.
The turnover resulted in another touchdown for Wittenberg, pushing the score to 27-17.
Junior Adam Folta picked off Wittenberg halfway through the fourth quarter. However, a fumble on the next play gave them the ball right back.
“We matched [Wittenberg’s] intensity and played hard, but the turnovers and bad execution hurt us in the end,” junior wide receiver Billy McClamroch said. “We need to work on ball security and overall team speed this week in order to get ready to play.”
Zac Fouche stepped up to the plate in a big way, snagging four catches totaling for 87 yards.
“The standout receiver for DPU was a kid who had never had a career reception before this game,” Sprunger said.
Sophomre Will Longthorne and Folta each had nine tackles and senior Garrett Rice had seven. Cody Baker, a sophomore, broke up four passes for the DePauw Tigers.
“I think the main reason for the loss against Wittenberg was the amount of mistakes we made on our end,” said first-year running back Jack Gruber. “We shot ourselves in the foot too many times to beat such a good team as Wittenberg.”
Sprunger agreed.
“This game was full of what-ifs,” Sprunger concluded. “As I was leaving the stadium I kept thinking, what if a couple of plays had gone differently? We really could have won this game if it wasn’t for a couple of mistakes.”
If not for the mistakes, Simon is sure DePauw would have beaten Wittenberg.
"For as good as Wittenberg has been historically, we beat ourselves on Saturday,” Simon said. “There was no lack of effort or desire or talent. This team has all the characteristics of a great football team. We just need to eliminate mental mistakes and, as a team, put ourselves in a position to win football games.”
The Tigers play host to the Kenyon College Lords next week, on Family Weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Blackstock Stadium.
“The past two years Kenyon has beaten us in two very close games, so I'm sure we will play with a chip on our shoulder,” McClamroch said.
The Lords have won the previous two games over the Tigers by a combined four points.