Wooster Wk. 4 Game Notes (PDF)
The College of Wooster football team (2-1, 1-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) hosts DePauw University (1-1, 1-0 NCAC) as part of a jam-packed Black & Gold Weekend slate. Kickoff for Saturday's football game is set for 2 p.m. at John P. Papp Stadium. Wooster is looking to bounce back from a 31-7 defeat at Ohio Wesleyan University (3-0, 2-0 NCAC). DePauw is aiming to keep rolling after a 44-0 rout against Kenyon College (0-3, 0-2 NCAC) on Saturday.
On The Air: Livestreams of Wooster's home football games are produced by MCTV, the local cable company in Wooster. You can view the stream at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wooster. MCTV customers living in Wayne and Stark Counties can catch the first replay at 8 p.m. on Saturday on both Ch. 22 and Ch. 621. WQKT Sports Country Radio will carry this week's contest on its AM station (WKVX 960) live and online at https://wqkt.com.
All-Time Series: DePauw leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1975, 7-3. The Tigers won the last counting meeting 31-26 on October 5, 2019. DePauw visited John P. Papp Stadium this spring for an exhibition contest won by the Tigers, 37-3. Wooster's last win in the series came on Black & Gold Weekend in 2018 (24-21). In that contest, then-first-year Mateo Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) electrified the team with 388 yards passing in his first collegiate start, and the Fighting Scots' defense protected a three-point lead with an interception and fourth-down stop down the stretch.
Last Time Out Versus DePauw (counting game): Then-sophomore Cole Hissong's (Shreve, Ohio/Triway) extra effort landed Wooster's star tight end in the end zone with :32 remaining, but DePauw's Gavin Ritter sealed the game by recovering the Scots' onside kick attempt, as the Tigers held on for a 31-26 victory at Blackstock Stadium on October 5, 2019. Up 31-17, DePauw punter Ty Johnson elected to run out of the end zone with 1:38 remaining after receiving a snap from the Tigers' 5-yard line. Leading up to that, Wooster's defense did its part to keep the Scots in the game after the offense turned the ball over on downs at the Tigers' 2-yard line. Fortunately, Wooster had all three timeouts left, and then-sophomore Angelo Petracci (Youngstown, Ohio/Canfield) rose to the occasion with a pair of solo tackles. Then-first-year (freshman) Korey Simmons breathed new life into Wooster by running the free kick back to Wooster's 44-yard line, and four plays later, Renteria connected with Hissong on a 24-yard touchdown.
Offense Notes: Hissong is 118 yards away from becoming the 20th 1,000-yard receiver in program history. Should he get there, he'll join Wooster alumnus Jacob Lewis as the only players in program history to hit the milestone as tight ends. Hissong logged his second career 100-yard game last Saturday at Ohio Wesleyan, turning eight receptions into 114 yards. Renteria is now fifth all-time in program history with 5,467 passing yards. With two more touchdown passes, he'll be the seventh in program history to have 40 in a career. First-year Bryant Douglas II (Youngstown, Ohio/Chaney) is averaging 28.6 yards per reception, and that's seventh in Div. III.
Defense Notes: Two of the top five tackle leaders in the NCAC are from Wooster, and the Scots are the only team with multiple players in that group. Petracci is second in the league with 9.7 tackles per game. Sophomore Domenic DeMuth (Mayfield Village, Ohio/Mayfield) checks in fifth with 8.3 per outing. Junior Dorion Talley (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) is tied for second in the NCAC with four pass breakups.
Special Teams Notes: Junior Matt Pardi (Arlington, Va./Washington-Liberty) has the eighth-highest punting average in Div. III at 42.3 yards per boot. Classmate Lake Barrett (Columbia, S.C./Hammond School) is now a perfect 14-for-14 on extra-point tries this season. Barrett's tied for the NCAC lead for most extra points, and Wooster's one of three teams that hasn't missed an extra point try this season with at least 10 attempts. Junior Matt Ulishney (Greensburg, Pa./Serra District Catholic) is fifth in the NCAC with 21.7 yards per kickoff return, and his long of 36 ranks fifth in the conference.
This and That: Leading up to the 2018 meeting, both Wooster and DePauw entered the week of the contest in the top 35 in Div. III in rushing defense. The defenses combined to hold the offenses to negative 31 net yards rushing on 58 carries. DePauw's Chase Andries' 9-yard scramble near the end of the second quarter marked the longest run of the game by either team. Wooster is 3-3 over its last six Black & Gold Weekend games. That includes a 1-1 mark against DePauw. The Scots have hosted the Tigers on Black & Gold Weekend the last three times (2016, 2018, 2021) DePauw's been in town for a counting game.