Justin Rice

The 2014 season has not gone the way The College of Wooster had hoped or planned for. Nonetheless, the Fighting Scots will try to build positive momentum in their second-to-last game, and more importantly, send out 16 seniors with a victory during their final home appearance at John P. Papp Stadium as they welcome North Coast Athletic Conference foe Kenyon College (1-7, 1-6 NCAC) on Saturday, Nov. 8. Wooster is attempting to end a surprising three-game skid, in which both sides of the ball have struggled at times. The Scots led the NCAC in total offense, but have slipped to third (407.9 ypg) during the losing streak, while their defense has yielded 40.7 points per game the last three weeks, compared to 28.2 the first five. Saturday's kickoff is scheduled at 1 p.m. EST.

Prior to kickoff, Wooster's seniors – quarterback Richard Barnes (Painesville, Ohio / Harvey), defensive back Shawn Bowman (Mineral City, Ohio / Tuscarawas Valley), defensive end Ian Crawford (North Canton, Ohio / St. Thomas Aquinas), linebacker Mitchell Czerniak (Newton Falls, Ohio / Newton Falls), defensive tackle Cody Daniel (LaGrange, Ohio / Keystone), defensive back Bryan Daugherty (Girard, Ohio / Girard), placekicker Trent Dunn (Louisville, Ky. / duPont Manual), punter Tyler Gerwig (Doylestown, Ohio / Archbishop Hoban), running back Sean Hackel (Victor, N.Y. / Victor), defensive back Brandon James (Barberton, Ohio / Barberton), wide receiver Nate Kleinman (Bronx, N.Y. / Fieldston School), right guard Michael McCants (Conway, S.C. / Conway), linebacker Matt Osolinski (Delaware, Ohio / Olentangy Liberty), wide receiver Justin Rice (Painesville, Ohio / Harvey), running back Chase Ullman (Orange Village, Ohio / Orange), and linebacker Colin Woodward (Jeannette, Pa. / Hempfield Area) – will be recognized.

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: Wooster has won over two-thirds of the games in its long-running series with Kenyon, holding a 48-23-3 advantage (.669). Since the two institutions helped form the NCAC in 1984, the Scots are ahead 16-10 (.615), thanks to victories in 13 of the last 15 meetings. One of the more notable games occurred in 2005, when Kenyon upended Wooster to halt the Scots' 14-game regular season winning streak – the sixth-longest streak in NCAA Div. III at the time.

Last Week: On Nov. 1, in a game with third-place in the NCAC on the line, Wooster dug itself an early hole that it was unable to get out of as DePauw University returned an interception for a touchdown, then scored three more during its first four offensive series, and the Tigers went on to a 42-13 NCAC road win.

With wind chills in the low 30s, the Scots started out into the stiff breeze and were picked off by DePauw, which returned it 27 yards for a score just :36 into the action.

Wooster was pinned deep its next two possessions, beginning from the 18- and 9-yard lines, and combined for just one first down, thus had to punt and give the Tigers favorable field position each time. They took advantage with eight-play, 51-yard and six-play, 58-yard touchdown drives to push the score to 21-0 after 12:06 had elapsed.

The Scots got out of the first quarter without further damage, but DePauw converted another relatively short field into a touchdown, covering 44 yards in just eight plays, early in the second en route to a 28-0 advantage.

Wooster, which wound up trailing 35-0 at halftime, played better throughout the second half, but could not cut into the deficit until the fourth quarter. The Scots moved into the red zone on their first possession of the third, only to miss a field goal.

Early in the fourth, freshman quarterback Gary Muntean (Poland, Ohio / Struthers), who made his first collegiate start, directed an 11-play, 82-yard touchdown march. The biggest play was a deep pass to Justin Rice (Painesville, Ohio / Harvey) down the left sideline for 40 yards, and on 1st-and-goal from the four, Muntean lofted the ball to Darrian Owens (Wooster, Ohio / Wooster) in the corner of the end zone for his first collegiate touchdown pass.

After the Tigers answered with a touchdown, Wooster capped the scoring as Sean Hackel (Victor, N.Y. / Victor) ran in from one yard out to cap a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown series.

Statistically, the Scots had more first downs (19-16) and more total offense (353-325), but were done in by a minus-three turnover margin and poor field position.

Muntean was one of two freshmen quarterbacks Wooster tested. He got the majority of the action and finished 18-of-32 passing for 210 yards while contributing another 44 stripes on the ground. Owens was a favorite target, as he wound up with nine receptions for 118 yards.

Hackel's 2,000-Yard Pursuit: Despite not playing running back until his junior year and missing time to injury this season, senior Sean Hackel (Victor, N.Y. / Victor) has a chance to hit an elite milestone at Wooster. With 1,786 yards, he needs 214 more to become the 12th in school history to reach 2,000 rushing for a career.