Cam Daniels

BEREA, Ohio – The College of Wooster scored 14 unanswered points and had two more possessions inside Baldwin-Wallace College territory with a chance to pull within 10 during the third quarter, but the Fighting Scots were ultimately done in by a slow start in their season opener as the Yellow Jackets completed a 38-14 victory Thursday night at Tressel Field at George Finnie Stadium.

With 10 new starters – six on offense and four on defense – an inexperienced Wooster squad fell behind by 31 points during the opening half, but made a valiant comeback. The Scots first started to gain the momentum when Logan Dunn caught a deflected pass for a 13-yard touchdown from freshman quarterback Richard Barnes with just :14 left before halftime. It marked the first career score for Dunn, a junior wide receiver.

Wooster scored on its second series of the second half, putting together a 12-play, 58-yard drive. Barnes hit Cameron Daniels with a short pass in the left flat and then the junior tight end broke a tackle and carried a defender into the end zone for a three-yard touchdown to pull within 31-14.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Scots' Jeremy Petit recovered an on-sides attempt. The offense advanced the ball down to the 10-yard line before the possession stalled and then Wooster misfired on a 33-yard field goal.

Two plays later, though, the Scots had another opportunity as freshman linebacker Quinn Hood collected an interception, giving the offense the ball at the Yellow Jackets' 19 at the 1:06 mark of the third quarter. Baldwin-Wallace's defense then halted the comeback bid by busting through the line for two of its five sacks on the game, as Wooster turned the ball over on downs.

The Yellow Jackets proceeded to seal the outcome via a 10-yard touchdown pass from Andrew Dziak to Aaron Manders, pushing the margin to 24 (38-14) with 9:36 remaining.

Baldwin-Wallace had the home crowd on its feet early and often, scoring just 19 seconds into the game, as a 55-yard Kevin Johnson kickoff return helped set up a 40-yard touchdown pass from Ryan O'Rourke to Keith Darbut on the initial play from scrimmage.

After a Brad Pollock 37-yard field goal on the Jackets' second offensive drive, O'Rourke added 59- and 19-yard touchdown passes to Brett Jensen for a 24-0 cushion just 3:45 into the second quarter. Baldwin-Wallace tacked on another score on its next series, capped by a Tim Miker one-yard plunge, before the Scots settled into the game.

Following the slow start which at one point saw the Jackets owning a 298-2 advantage in total offense, Wooster ended up trailing by just 124 yards (335-211) in that category.

Individually, Barnes had a solid debut, completing 20-of-35 passes for 171 yards, and he also netted 36 on the ground, despite the five sacks. Daniels was the leading receiver with six catches for 54 stripes.

For Baldwin-Wallace, O'Rourke finished 9-of-13 for 154 yards, while Miker led all rushers with 66 yards on 11 attempts.

Wooster will get right into its North Coast Athletic Conference schedule next Saturday, traveling to Wabash College for a 1 p.m. kickoff.