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The bend-don’t-break defense that also produced three turnovers Saturday night led the No. 15 Tigers to an important 28-12 North Coast Athletic Conference victory over Denison.
The early-season challenge was a Denison (3-1, 2-1) offense that came in ranked No. 2 in the nation, averaging 616.7 yards and 52 points a game. Twice the Wittenberg (4-0, 3-0) defense forced short field goals. And early in the fourth quarter the Tigers made a goal-line stand that kept them in control.
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Trailing 21-6, Denison crafted another long drive mixing the run and pass and made a first down at the Wittenberg 3-yard line. A yard straight ahead on first down was followed by incompletions to each back corner of the end zone. Quarterback Canaan Gebele tried to follow a blocker into the end zone around the right end on fourth down, but he was stopped a foot short by cornerback Michael Ford with an assist from sophomore linebacker Jonathan Seay, who had a team-high 16 tackles.
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“We were ready for whatever they were going to throw at us,” Seay said. “We were just going to play Wittenberg football. That’s what we live for — moments like that.”
Denison outgained Wittenberg 382 to 322 and ran 23 more plays but didn’t reach the end zone until there were 36 seconds left. Gebele threw for 157 yards and ran for 44, but the Tigers’ pass rush kept him moving in the pocket and forced to throw the ball away several times. That pressure resulted in three turnovers and turned promising second- and third-quarter drives into 29- and 24-yard field goals by Pat Kramer.
“We knew they were going to put drives together tonight — they’re a good team,” said senior cornerback Jay Mastin who made two interceptions. “It was all about sticking together and holding them out. We can live with three points but we can’t live with seven.”
The Tigers won the NCAC last year but lost to Denison on a late field goal.
“I was trying to forget about that game for 12 months,” Fincham said.
So a fast start was what he wanted. After defensive end Brandon Daniels hit Gebele hard from behind to force a fumble, DeShawn Sarley rushed for a 41-yard touchdown on the Tigers’ first offensive play.
“It’s always nice to get out of the chute well,” Fincham said. “There’s some things I wish we would’ve done better in the second half but certainly pleased with getting things going early.”
From there it was the passing game that built a 21-3 halftime lead. Jake Kennedy threw touchdown passes of 20 and 19 yards to emerging junior receiver Liam Duncan. Fincham said Kennedy (15-of-25, 196 yards) played his best game of the season.
Duncan came from Oregon as a quarterback. He switched to receiver during his freshman season and had his second straight strong game with four catches for 49 yards.
“We knew we were going to need somebody to step up and make some plays on the edge,” Fincham said. “He certainly made some big plays tonight.”
Fincham is glad to be 4-0 and likes his team’s progress, but three of the next four games are on the road. The last two are tough ones at DePauw and No. 25 Wabash.
“Anytime you go on the road there’s concerns about it,” Fincham said. “Are we prepared for it? We have a good senior class and we have pretty good senior leadership. Those are some of the things that it takes to win on the road.”
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