DELAWARE, Ohio – It was tough sledding for The College of Wooster football team, which fell 49-20 at Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday evening at historic Selby Stadium.

A drastic second-half turnaround is a positive Wooster (1-2, 0-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) can take forward for the rest of the year. Wooster kept Ohio Wesleyan (2-1, 1-0 NCAC) off the scoreboard in the third quarter and tied the Battling Bishops on the scoreboard after halftime with both teams scoring 14 points.

Wooster's offense hit a pair of big passing plays for its touchdowns. First, sophomore Chanden Lee was on the money to junior Brazos Gadler, who had a step on an Ohio Wesleyan defender, then sprinted out ahead of the Battling Bishops on his way to a 79-yard touchdown early in the fourth. Junior Andrew Hammer extended just enough to get a touchdown on an 11-yard Lee pass in the closing seconds.

Defensively, Wooster recorded its first third-down stop of the night in the third quarter. Devin Haley tried to move the chains on the ground on a third-and-2 play from Wooster's 38 yard line, only to get nowhere once seniors Kobe Nadu and Langston Williams brought him down at the line of scrimmage. On the next drive, junior Ray Richard quickly tackled Jakii Alston short of the marker on third down, and Wooster was all over rallying to the ball to keep Ohio Wesleyan from converting a fourth-and-inches quarterback sneak.

Earlier in the game, senior Lake Barrett was Wooster's bright spot, hitting field goals from 21 and 35 yards out in the first half. Those makes upped Barrett's career count to 24, a total tied with Andrew Milligan for the second-most in program history.

Wooster was able to string drives together before ultimately having to turn to its accurate placekicker for the pre-halftime points. On the first scoring drive, the Scots converted a pair of third-and-1 plays on the ground to move the chains. The big pickup was a 12-yard Lee-to-Hammer completion that moved the ball down to Ohio Wesleyan's 37-yard line.

On the second scoring drive, sophomore Jarvis Mims Jr. found a seam for a 9-yard gain on a third-and-1 play, while later, Lee and Hammer dialed up a 9-yard completion while needing five yards to move the sticks.

Wooster's rushing defense really stepped up Saturday night, holding Ohio Wesleyan to 111 yards on 32 carries, which averaged out to 3.5 yards per tote. However, Ohio Wesleyan did find success through the air, completing 28-of-33 passes for 350 yards. Austin Womack had 273 of the yards and three of OWU's four passing touchdowns.

The Battling Bishops quickly opened up a 14-0 lead and were up 28-3 at the second period's 9:51 mark. Haley caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Womack for the fourth Battling Bishops' scoring play of the night.

Lee competed 20-of-38 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns for Wooster. Boosted by the 79-yard touchdown, Gadler went for 130 yards on seven receptions. Lee and Mims Jr. rushed for 70 yards apiece.

Senior Neil Clayton's eight tackles were the co-game-high for Wooster. Williams matched Clayton for high honors, while sophomore Brock Sivon was next with seven.

Josh Hurst caught 12 passes for 123 yards and a touchdown. Drew Thornton logged nine tackles and returned an interception 30 yards for a touchdown.

Ohio Wesleyan outgained Wooster 461-358 and was 12-of-15 on third down to Wooster's 6-of-14.

Next, Wooster hosts Kenyon College (0-3, 0-1 NCAC) at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 23.