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By David Jablonski, Staff Writer Updated 1:21 AM Sunday, November 1, 2009

GRANVILLE — Joe Fincham does many postgame interviews with one of his children wrapped around his neck or running around his legs. On Saturday, Oct. 31, however, he joked that his kids had ditched him go trick-or-treating back in Springfield.

“I found out where I stood real fast,” the Wittenberg football coach said.

Fortunately for the Tigers, there were no tricks at Denison University, just another treat — a 41-7 victory at Deeds Field in what has so far been one of the sweetest seasons in many years.

The No. 15 Tigers improved to 8-0 and 5-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference. This is their first 8-0 start since 2000, and for the first time since that season, they completed their regular-season schedule without a loss on the road.

After the game, with his players gathered around him, Fincham held up two fingers in the huddle, telling the team it has two more games to go. The Tigers are two wins away from a 10-0 season, two wins away from their first outright NCAC title since 2002 and likely two wins away from their first home playoff game since 2000.

It starts Nov. 7 against Allegheny, which knocked off Wooster 24-21 on Saturday to improve to 7-1 and 4-1 in the NCAC.

“I think the world of Allegheny, and their program and their coaches,” Fincham said. “It’s going to be a tough one.”

The Tigers didn’t play their best game of the season against Denison. The game was scoreless after the first quarter, but the Tigers broke through with a short pass from Aaron Huffman to Michael Cooper, who turned it into a 69-yard score. Then Wittenberg scored twice in the final minute of the second quarter, first on a 6-yard run by Huffman and then on a 45-yard field goal by Zack Harris.

It was the eighth straight first-half shutout for the defense, whose bid for a shutout was spoiled when Denison scored in the final seconds of the game against the second-team unit.

By that point, Wittenberg had put the game away with a 17-point third quarter.

“We didn’t play as well as we liked,” said free safety Seth Parker, who had two interceptions. “But the D-line got great pressure on the ball and let the DBs make plays on the ball.”

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