Wooster Football Game 8 Game Notes (PDF)
The College of Wooster football team (4-3, 3-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) hosts Hiram College (1-6, 0-6 NCAC) at noon on Saturday in what marks the Fighting Scots' first home game since September 25. Wooster fell at Denison University 52-28 on Saturday, while Hiram lost 31-28 to Oberlin College. Hiram is on a six-game losing streak after winning its season-opener against Bethany College (W.Va.) 41-21.
On The Air: Wooster's home games are produced by MCTV, the local cable company in Wooster. The Scots' livestreaming link is https://portal.stretchinternet.com/wooster/. MCTV customers in Wayne and Stark Counties can catch first replay at 4:30 p.m. on Ch. 22 and 8 p.m. on Ch. 621. WQKT Sports Country radio will carry this week's contest on its AM station (WKVX 960 AM) live and online at https://wqkt.com.
All-Time Series: Wooster leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1906, 41-5. Wooster won the first meeting 95-0. The Scots have dominated the series of late with victories in 15 of the last 16 meetings. Wooster logged a 23-game winning streak in the series from 1919-74. The Scots have scored at least 35 points in four of the last five games in the series played at John P. Papp Stadium.
Last Time Out Versus Hiram: Wooster continued its recent run of record-setting performances when it plays at Hiram, where the Scots closed out the 2019 season with a 37-12 victory on November 16. Then-first-year Lake Barrett's (Columbia, S.C./Hammond School) record-setting field goal led off the lineup for Wooster. The rookie drilled a 37-yarder with 5:47 remaining in the opening half, with that marking his 11th make of the year, which moved him out of a four-way tie atop the program's single-season leaders list. On the next drive, alumnus Nick Strausbaugh caught a 37-yard touchdown reception to cap a seven-play, 58-yard drive. The touchdown marked the 31st of his career, and he moved past Brandon Good for the most in program history. Strausbaugh's three-year line wound up at 167 receptions for 3,178 yards and 31 touchdowns. At 19.0 yards per catch, he became Wooster's new leader in that category, exceeding Chris Cabot's '02 per-catch average of 16.1.
Offense Notes: Senior Mateo Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) is now fourth all-time at Wooster with 48 passing touchdowns, 17 of which have come this year. Renteria's 17 passing touchdowns are a single-season best, and it marks the second time he has thrown 17 touchdown passes in a season. Renteria had three passing touchdowns on Saturday and he has had at least three in five of Wooster's seven games this year. Senior Cole Hissong (Shreve, Ohio/Triway) caught his 11th career touchdown pass last Saturday and needs two more to tie Cameron Daniels (2008-11) for the most by a tight end in program history.
Defense Notes: Wooster senior Angelo Petracci (Youngstown, Ohio/Canfield) finished as the Scots' leading tackler for the sixth time this year at Denison. Petracci is averaging 10 tackles per game, and is seeking to become the first Scot to hit triple-digits in tackles since Wooster great Mitchell Czerniak (125) in 2014. Wooster now has seven takeaways on the year. First-year David Lewis (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy) forced a first-quarter fumble at Denison that was recovered by sophomore Alex White (Fayetteville, Ga./Fayette County)
Special Teams Notes: Wooster continues to rank in the top-10 nationally in net punting, with the Scots checking in eighth this week at 38.92 yards. Wooster's 11th in Div. III in kickoff return average at 26.4. The Scots have six kickoff returns of at least 30 yards in length with three (30, 98 TD, 43) by sophomore Carter Warstler (New Albany, Ohio/Columbus Academy), two (36, 62) by junior Matt Ulishney (Greensburg, Pa./Serra District Catholic), and one (55) by sophomore PT Fischer (King, N.C./South Stokes).
This and That: Wooster has a winning record in October (16-13) under ninth-year head coach Frank Colaprete. Wooster's 8-2 in its final October game over the last 10 seasons. Wooster last had over a month between home games in a season in 1998. That year, Wooster beat Grove City College 26-17 on September 5 and then next played at home on October 10 versus Oberlin, a game won by the Scots 55-8.