Trevor Bowden

Trevor Bowden's school-record fifth field goal made – a 31-yarder – gave The College of Wooster a 36-34 lead with 2:17 remaining, but Hiram College answered with a 54-yard touchdown and then held off one last rally by the Fighting Scots to take Saturday's exciting North Coast Athletic Conference tilt, 40-36 at Charles A. Henry Field in Hiram, Ohio.

Wooster (2-7, 2-6 NCAC) had won the 11 previous meetings against Hiram (3-6, 3-5 NCAC), but dug itself an early hole, as the Terriers turned four Scot turnovers during the opening 20 minutes into a 27-7 lead.

Wooster steadily battled its way back into the game. In fact, after falling behind by 20 points, the Scots scored on seven consecutive offensive possessions. However, they frequently stalled in the red zone, settling for the five Bowden field goals from 25, 27, 23, 37, and 31 yards, and that proved to be the difference.

After Bowden gave Wooster its first lead, Hiram gained a couple of first downs to get near midfield, then on a 3rd-and-12 play, Nate Eaton turned a short pass from Nic Paolo on the right side into the go-ahead score at the 1:09 mark.

With the help of an unsportsmanlike penalty, the Scots started the ensuing drive at their 42-yard line. Gary Muntean scrambled for 10 yards, then threw to Tyson Vogel for 15 and Adam Coppock for 13 – part of Muntean's school-record 488 passing yards on the day – to quickly get the ball to the Terriers' 20.

From there, Muntean completed three more passes, but only netted seven yards to set up a 4th-and-3 with :12 left and no timeouts. Flushed out of the pocket, Muntean threw towards Dan Gorzynski, who finished with career highs of nine receptions and 164 yards, in the end zone, only to see the Terriers' Ronnie Jones knock it down to seal the outcome.

Wooster's rally began with a gutsy play call. Down by the 20 points midway through the second quarter and facing a 4th-and-23, the Scots successfully executed a fake as punt protector Patrick Johnson grabbed the snap and found a clear path en route to a 24-yard gain. Wooster went on to advance the ball inside the 10 and Bowden eventually converted his first field goal to complete an 18-play, 71-yard drive.

The Scots' defense followed with a three-and-out, then the offense marched 60 yards in 11 plays, capped by a Muntean five-yard run, and all of the sudden Wooster was within 27-17 heading into halftime.

The second half began with another three-and-out by the Scots' defense and Muntean directed the offense to the Hiram five-yard line, but he was sacked on 3rd-and-goal to set up Bowden's second field goal, which made it a one-score game (27-20).

Next, the two teams exchanged touchdowns – a 20-yard pass from Paolo to Jacob Luc for the Terriers and a 39-yard Muntean-to-Gorzynski connection – to make it 34-27 late in the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, Wooster marched 85 yards to the six, only to be stood up again by the Hiram defense as Bowden knocked through his third chip shot field goal.

When the Scots regained possession, a 54-yard Gorzynski catch-and-run helped them get as far as the eight-yard line, but a sack pushed them back to the 20. Bowden delivered a 37-yard field goal through the uprights, marking his second-longest of the season, and it was a one-point game (34-33) with 7:08 on the clock.

Wooster's defense came up with another stop and Muntean drove the offense to a 3rd-and-2 from the six when he was again sacked. Bowden booted in his NCAC-record-tying fifth field goal, but the Scots' lead only lasted 1:13.

Muntean's 488 yards through the air came on 37-of-55 pass attempts, as he also broke a 23-year-old team record for completions and an 18-year-old Wooster mark for total offense (482). In addition to Gorzynski's career afternoon, Vogel had a career-high 149 receiving yards on eight catches.

Bowden not only broke the school record for field goals in a game, held by Ben Arnold with four in 1997, he established a new conference record for points in a game by a kicker with 18.

Wooster will look to send its seniors out on a high note next Saturday afternoon when they welcome Ohio Wesleyan University (4-5, 4-4 NCAC) to John P. Papp Stadium.