Cody Daniel

Two of the three teams that have started out 2-0 in North Coast Athletic Conference play meet on Saturday, Oct. 5, as The College of Wooster welcomes No. 17 ranked Wabash College (3-0, 2-0 NCAC) to John P. Papp Stadium. Wittenberg University is the other at 2-0 in league action, bringing fans back to a familiar sight in the NCAC standings as the three "W's" battled amongst each other for conference supremacy during an extended stretch in the early 2000s. After a few lean years, Wooster, under first-year coach Frank Colaprete, has quickly returned to prominence, keyed by an up-tempo offense and opportunistic defense, but the Fighting Scots face a stiff test in the Little Giants, who currently lead the NCAA Div. III national statistics in scoring offense (61.3 ppg), total defense (127.0 ypg), and turnover margin (+12) among other categories. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. EDT.

On the Air: Wooster's football games can be heard live each week in the Wooster area on WKVX 960 AM or on the radio station's website at http://wkvx.com/.

Also, for all five home games, the audio and video from local cable provider MCTV, Inc., will be broadcast live over the web at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wooster.portal#.

All-Time Series: While the series has been competitive for the most part, Wooster has only won twice in 17 meetings with Wabash. Since the six-time NCAC-champion Little Giants became a full conference member in 2000, they hold an 11-2 advantage, with the Scots' victories coming back-to-back in 2003 at Wooster (23-7) and in 2004 at Wabash (33-30).

Last Week: On Sept. 28, Wooster scored touchdowns on three of its first four offensive series, jumping out to a 21-0 lead over Hiram College and stayed ahead by at least 14 points the rest of the way en route to a 38-24 conference victory at Charles A. Henry Field in Hiram, Ohio.

Vinnie Congedo (Pittsburgh, Pa. / North Allegheny) intercepted a pass on Hiram's third play from scrimmage, and the Scots' offense followed with a quick touchdown. Three long pass plays accounting for 59 yards keyed the six-play, 65-yard drive, including a 29-yard score from Richard Barnes (Painesville, Ohio / Harvey) to Darrian Owens (Wooster, Ohio / Wooster).

After the two teams exchanged punts, Wooster's offense put together an even quicker score, a four-play, 69-yard possession. A Barnes-to-Owens pass covered 53 yards, then three plays later, Barnes connected with Justin Rice (Concord, Ohio / Harvey) on a five-yard touchdown pass and it was 14-0 near the end of the first quarter.

The Scots kept the momentum going, as Stephen McKinney (Lampasas, Texas / Lampasas) recovered a fumble, forced by Cody Daniel (LaGrange, Ohio / Keystone), on the second play of the second quarter. Then, Barnes drove them 47 yards, with the senior quarterback finishing the seven-play possession on a 17-yard scoring run to the right side for a three-score lead.

Next, the Terriers struck for a big play – a 71-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown – midway through the second quarter, but Wooster responded with a seven-play, 67-yard touchdown march, with the Barnes-to-Rice combination, this time from 10 yards out, pushing the lead to 21 again.

The score remained 28-7 until another long Hiram play – 57 yards – resulted in a touchdown in the middle of the third quarter, and the Terriers had a couple of chances to pull closer, however, the Scots' defense held their ground each time, forcing a change of possession on a 4th-and-5 from the Wooster 36 and then on a 4th-and-1 from the Hiram 40.

The Scots turned the latter turnover on downs into a Zack Moore (Leetonia, Ohio / Crestview) 31-yard field goal, as they went up by three scores (31-14) at the 9:08 mark of the fourth. It was Moore's first career field goal, as the sophomore recently was promoted to starting placekicker.

Hiram got the field goal back on its next possession (31-17), only to see Wooster answer with an eight-play, 82-yard drive. After gaining two first downs, Sean Hackel (Farmington, N.Y. / Victor) found a hole, and 48 yards later, the junior running back had the game-clinching touchdown.

Overall, the Scots reached the 500-yard mark in total offense (546) for the second-straight week, about 100 more than the Terriers (450).

After going for a career-high in rushing (113) the previous week, Barnes threw for a career-best 343 yards while completing 25-of-34 passes during another turnover-free performance. Rice had the most receptions (7 for 59 yards), Owens the most receiving yards (137 on five catches), and Jesse Lane (Ironton, Ohio / Rock Hill) added a breakout game with six receptions and 94 yards.

Hackel recorded his third 100-yard rushing game in as many starts, totaling 151 on 27 carries.

This and That: Through three games Wooster has already equaled its win total from all of last season (2-8) ... Offensively, the Scots are averaging 79.3 plays, up 10.0 over last year (69.3), and on the defensive side, they have nine takeaways (five interceptions, four fumble recoveries), compared to 14 (8 interceptions, 6 fumble recoveries) from all of 2012 ... Versatile running back/kickoff returner Sean Hackel (Farmington, N.Y. / Victor) ranks second in NCAA Div. III with 236.7 all-purpose yards per game ... Five of Justin Rice's (Concord, Ohio / Harvey) first seven receptions this season were touchdowns.