Posted: Oct 10, 2022
The second half of The College of Wooster football team's (2-3, 1-3 North Coast Athletic Conference) season gets underway on Saturday, October 15 when the Fighting Scots visit Kenyon College (2-3, 1-2 NCAC) for a noon contest. Wooster is looking to snap a three-game losing streak and collect its first win in over a month, while Kenyon snapped a three-game slide on Saturday by scoring 22 fourth-quarter points to beat Oberlin College 28-21.
On The Air: Kenyon will have a livestream of Saturday's contest available at https://northcoastnetwork.com/Kenyon. Q Media Wooster (WQKT/WKVX) will carry the game on WQKT 104.5 FM and online at https://wqkt.com.
All-Time Series: Wooster leads the all-time series with Kenyon 55-23-3, and the Scots are riding an eight-game series winning streak. Wooster has won the last 11 games in the series played at Kenyon, with that run starting on November 4, 1995. Wooster and Kenyon first met in 1890, with the Scots winning that contest 30-0. Wooster's program started in 1889, so the first meeting with Kenyon was the fifth-ever game in program history. Wooster shut out six straight opponents at the onset of the program.
Last Meeting in Series: Wooster torched Kenyon's secondary for touchdown passes of 69, 55, 77, and 54 yards, and the Scots' defense contributed to the 49-7 blowout victory with a pair of takeways on September 11, 2021. Senior Mateo Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek), who only played in the first half, completed 15-of-19 passes for 340 yards and three touchdowns. At the time, the 340 passing yards were the third-most of his career.
Last Time Out: Wooster went into the trick well for a 56-yard touchdown pass, and first-year Q Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) was a defensive force during Ohio Wesleyan University's 35-7 win on October 1. Wooster was trailing 14-0 when the Scots worked the ball to senior wide receiver Troy Baughman (McKinney, Texas/Frisco Independence) in the backfield. Baughman completed a 56-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Brazos Gadler (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek). Renteria logged two sacks on the day, with those going for a loss of 27 yards.
Offense Notes: Senior running back Andrew Yannsens (Columbiana, Ohio/Crestview) is fifth in the NCAC with four rushing touchdowns. He now has 12 career rushing touchdowns, with three of them coming against Hiram College in 2021, a game in which he rushed for 107 yards on 25 carries. Renteria is 112 yards away from his fourth career 1,000-yard passing season. The five-year starter (Wooster did not play counting games during 2020-21 academic year) needs 262 yards to hit 9,000 for his career. Senior All-American tight end Cole Hissong (Shreve, Ohio/Triway) now ranks fifth in program history with 1,751 receiving yards. Alumnus Nick Strausbaugh was the most recent Scot to eclipse 2,000 career receiving yards, as he totaled a school-record 3,157 from 2017-19.
Defense Notes: Senior defensive back Matt Ulishney (Greensburg, Pa./Serra District Catholic) is fifth nationally with 12.2 tackles per game, and he is also in the top-10 in solo tackles per game (sixth, 7.4) and fumble recoveries (eighth, two). Renteria is third in the NCAC and 55th nationally with four sacks, and as a team, Wooster is 43rd in Div. III with 2.80 sacks per game.
Special Teams Notes: Senior placekicker Lake Barrett (Columbia, S.C./Hammond School), a semifinalist for the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy, is once again on the watchlist for the Fred Mitchell Award, an honor given annually to the nation's top collegiate placekicker among the more than 750 non-FBS football teams. Senior punter Matt Pardi (Arlington, Va./Washington-Liberty) continues to lead NCAA Div. III in punting with 46.2 yards per boot. Pardi, a preseason D3football.com All-American, has averaged at least 42.0 yards per punt in each game this fall.
This and That: Wooster has been flagged for 22 penalties this fall, a total tied with DePauw University for fewest in the NCAC and 28th within Div. III. The Scots continue to lead the NCAC with six fumble recoveries. After today's game, Wooster returns home for three straight contests, starting with next week's "senior day" game against Hilbert College.