Wooster Football Game Notes (2022 Game 2) | Wooster Football Record Book
The College of Wooster football team (1-0, 0-0 North Coast Athletic Conference) is at Hiram College (0-1, 0-0 NCAC) for the conference lid-lifter. Kickoff from Charles A. Henry Field at Malmisur Stadium is set for 12 p.m. on Saturday, September 10. Wooster is coming off a 33-25 win over Geneva College, while Hiram fell 26-16 at Bethany College (W.Va.) on September 3.
On The Air: Hiram will provide a livestream of this week's contest at https://team1sports.com/hiram/. Q Media Wooster (WQKT/WKVX) will carry the game on WKVX 960 AM and online at https://wqkt.com/.
All-Time Series: Wooster leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1906, 42-5. Wooster won the first meeting 95-0. The Scots have dominated the series of late, with victories in 16 of the last 17 meetings. Wooster logged a 23-game winning streak in the series from 1919-74. Wooster has a two-game winning streak in the series on the road.
Last Meeting: Wooster blitzed Hiram at the onset, and flat out dominated in every facet during a 51-14 rout at John P. Papp Stadium on October 30, 2021. Wooster scored points on its first six drives, came away with three takeaways, and Hiram did not run a single play in Wooster territory until the 8:05 mark of the fourth quarter. Wooster started eight of its 16 drives on Hiram's side of the field. Wooster had just 362 yards of total offense, but that low number was partially attributed to the great field position all afternoon.
Last Time Out: Wooster overcame a 19-0 deficit to beat Geneva 33-25 in the season-opener on September 3. D3football.com Preseason All-American Cole Hissong (Shreve, Ohio/Triway) sparked Wooster with a 23-yard reception on a third-and-14 play in the second quarter. A play later, he caught a 28-yard pass, putting the ball at Geneva's 1-yard line. Wooster's defense forced four fumbles in the game, and senior Brandon Holt (College Park, Ga./Banneker) sacked Geneva's quarterback on fourth down in the final 40 seconds.
Offense Notes: Hissong became the ninth player in program history to surpass 1,500 career receiving yards, and he now holds the top spot among tight ends in program history. Hissong is the first Scot over 1,500 career receiving yards since Nick Strausbaugh logged a school-record 3,157 yards from 2017-19. Hissong is two receptions shy of 100 for his career. Senior quarterback Mateo Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) surpassed 8,000 career passing yards in the 2022 opener and he is exactly 200 shy of matching Gary Muntean's (2014-17) career program record of 8,295. Renteria enters the week at 62 career touchdown passes, three shy of matching Muntean's program record. Sophomore Logan Pugh (Youngstown, Ohio/Jackson-Milton) made his first career start on the offensive line on Saturday. Junior Bryce Kamphues (North Manchester, Ind./Manchester) made his first start at center after sliding over from the right guard spot.
Defense Notes: Wooster was one of three NCAA Div. III teams - others are Coe College and Waynesburg University - to force four fumbles on opening week. Wooster's forced fumbles came from first-year defensive end Q Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek), sophomore wide receiver Brazos Gadler (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek), junior linebacker Kobe Nadu (Summerville, Ga./Darlington), and senior defensive back Matt Ulishney (Greensburg, Pa./Serra District Catholic). Junior Domenic DeMuth (Mayfield Village, Ohio/Mayfield) logged a career-high 16 tackles in Saturday's win. Senior Langston Williams (New York, N.Y./Xavier) had a key pass breakup on third down on Geneva's final drive of the game. Senior Harvey Briscoe (West Bloomfield, Mich./West Bloomfield) logged two sacks in the last Wooster-Hiram contest.
Special Teams Notes: Senior Matt Pardi (Arlington, Va./Washington-Liberty) averaged 51 yards over three punts in the season-opening win. Senior Lake Barrett (Columbia, S.C./Hammond School) became the fourth Scot to make 20 career field goals when he booted a 32-yarder through the uprights in the fourth quarter on Saturday. Wooster went 2-for-2 on two-point tries last week. Hissong rushed in for Wooster's first one, then Renteria completed a pass to senior wideout Troy Baughman (McKinney, Texas/Frisco Independence).
This and That: Wooster is 7-1 in NCAC openers under 10th-year head coach Frank Colaprete. This is Wooster's first time opening conference play on the road since 2017. Wooster last started the year with back-to-back road games in 2014. Wooster secured at least a .500 finish for the fourth straight year with its win over Hiram in 2021. Wooster's last trip to Hiram was on November 16, 2019, in what was the season finale. Barrett drilled a 37-yard field goal in the second quarter of that game to move into solo possession of first-place on the program's single-season field-goal leaderboard with 11 makes. Strausbaugh caught his school-record 31st touchdown reception on the next drive, and he ended the season at 19.0 yards per catch, the program's top total.