Wk. 5 Wooster Football Game Notes (PDF)
Week five is already here for The College of Wooster football team (2-2, 1-2 North Coast Athletic Conference). Wooster heads to Oberlin College (0-4, 0-3 NCAC) for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, October 2. Wooster, which has its "bye week" next week, is looking to bounce back from a two-game skid. Oberlin lost 24-21 at Kenyon College (1-3, 1-2 NCAC) last Saturday. Overall, the Yeomen are looking to snap an eight-game losing streak that dates back to 2019.
On The Air: Oberlin will carry a livestream of Saturday's game at https://www.oberlinsportsnetwork.com/index.html. 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: Wooster leads the all-time series 71-23-2, and has won four straight. Wooster's beaten Oberlin more than any other opponent in program history, and the Scots have played the Yeomen more times than any other team. Kenyon College is No. 2 all-time on Wooster's win list at 55, while Denison University is second for most meetings in program history at 88. The Wooster-Oberlin series dates back to 1903. The Yeomen won that game 30-0. Wooster's 28-4 in the series since the NCAC was founded.
Last Time Out Versus Oberlin: For the first time since 2000, Wooster blanked its opponent in the program's NCAC opener, as the Fighting Scots shut out visiting Oberlin 17-0 on September 14, 2019. Wooster senior defensive tackle D'Andre Brown set the tone on the game's first play, stopping Oberlin ball carrier Kobe Brooks for no gain, and the Yeomen couldn't muster any sustained success offensively at any juncture in the game. The Yeomen snapped off 17 plays in the opening quarter, but Oberlin chalked up just 19 yards. Wooster held Oberlin to 212 total yards, 47 yards rushing, and 10 first downs.
Offense Notes: Senior Cole Hissong (Shreve, Ohio/Triway) is the 20th player in program history to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards, and he's the second to do so as a tight end. Alumnus Jacob Lewis holds the record for most receiving yards by a tight end at 1,468. Hissong's touchdown as time expired on Saturday marked his 10th, and he joined Cameron Daniels (2008-11; 13), Lewis (2016-19; 12), and Vince Cellini (1977-80; 10) as tight ends with double-digit receiving touchdowns. Hissong's 334 receiving yards this fall are the most in the NCAC. Senior Mateo Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) logged his sixth 300-yard game last Saturday. Wooster now has 36 games where its starting signal-caller has surpassed 300 yards, and 20 of them have come since the start of the 2015 season. Renteria is one of 21 Div. III quarterbacks with over 1,000 passing yards this season. Wooster ranks 22nd nationally in third-down conversion percentage. The Scots have converted 23-of-46 through four games. The Scots are 12th nationally with 330.8 passing yards per game.
Defense Notes: Wooster's 10 fumble recoveries are the fifth-most in Div. III and tied for tops within the NCAC. Sophomore Andrew Armile (Poland, Ohio/Cardinal Mooney) had the latest fumble recovery for the Scots. Wooster's allowing 166.5 passing yards per game, a total that rates as the 46th-lowest in Div. III, and it's the best mark within the NCAC. Senior Angelo Petracci (Youngstown, Ohio/Canfield) is tied for the conference lead in tackles at 41, and he's one of two players league-wide averaging over 10 tackles per game. Sophomore Domenic DeMuth (Mayfield Village, Ohio/Mayfield) made two tackles behind the line of scrimmage against DePauw University (2-1, 2-0 NCAC), and he now leads the team with four tackles for loss.
Special Teams Notes: Junior Lake Barrett (Columbia, S.C./Hammond School) is now tied for ninth in program history with 12 made field goals. Barrett's 21-yard make against DePauw upped his career field goal percentage to 80.0 (12-for-15). Junior Matt Pardi (Arlington, Va./Washington-Liberty) is averaging 46.4 yards per punt over his last 10 boots. Pardi's 43.2 season average would rank fifth in Div. III if he qualified for the NCAA statistical leaderboard, which requires a minimum of 3.6 punts per game.
This and That: Wooster is 11-9 in its first October games in the 2000s. That stretch is headlined by a nine-year run of wins from 2002-10. Wooster's 3-1 on coin flips this year. The Scots' offense has scored a touchdown on its first drive in all three games Wooster's won the coin toss. The home team has won the coin toss in all four of Wooster's games this year. Saturday's attendance of 4,627 marked the second straight year Wooster's had a home crowd over 4,600 on Black & Gold Weekend.