SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – Senior Lake Barrett added to his field goal record and capped a career as one of The College of Wooster football team's top placekickers in Saturday's season finale at Wittenberg University, where the Fighting Scots fell to the Tigers 52-24 at Edwards-Maurer Field.
Barrett tied his career-long with a 42-yard field goal in the second quarter that had Wooster (4-6, 3-5 North Coast Athletic Conference) within 21-10 with 2:24 on the clock. The make was Barrett's eighth of the year, giving the five-year standout three seasons with at least eight field goals. He capped his career 29-for-38 on field goals, with the makes ranking as the most in program history, while his 76 percent success rate is second all-time in College history.
Barrett made it three consecutive seasons without missing an extra point, and the final one of his career came following a 1-yard touchdown plunge by sophomore Jarvis Mims Jr. with 3:08 to play in the season. The make was Barrett's 155th, the second-most all-time, while his 99.4 percent success rate tops the program leaderboard. Barrett will graduate with 242 career points, the fifth-most all-time at Wooster.
Wooster forced a fumble early when the Scots chased down Max Milton on Wittenberg's (7-3, 6-2 NCAC) second drive and senior Domenic DeMuth was credited with a strip sack on the play. However, the Tigers recovered and took the lead on Troy Teepe's 28-yard touchdown reception.
Wooster answered right back, capping an 11-play, 78-yard drive with a touchdown at the 1:27 mark of the first quarter. Sophomore Shakir Perkins motored in from five yards out for the score. Earlier in the drive, sophomore Noah Clark scrambled for a first down on a third-and-4 snap, and later, the Scots' quarterback found junior Brazos Gadler for 41 yards on a third-and-8 play. A roughing the passer infraction called on Wittenberg gave Wooster a third third-down conversion on the scoring drive.
From there, Wooster was playing catch up, not scoring again until Barrett's field goal. Mims Jr.'s 10-yard touchdown reception had Wooster within 28-17 in the third quarter, and the final score of the year came from the sophomore in the fourth quarter.
Turnovers hurt Wooster, as Wittenberg had five takeaways in the game, plus five sacks. Twenty-eight of Wittenberg's points came off Wooster turnovers. Wooster did have a couple of big defensive plays with junior Jon Banal tackling Reed Hall just shy of the marker on a fourth-down play in the second quarter, and senior Paul Thomas Fischer forced his first fumble of the year, but unfortunately, Wittenberg recovered the bouncing pigskin well in front of the forced spot.
Clark completed 15-of-26 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown. Mims Jr. carried the ball 21 times for 85 yards and sophomore Maine Martin sparked Wooster with 35 yards rushing on three carries. Gadler led Wooster's receivers with 78 yards on six catches, and his season total reached 821, a total tied for the ninth-most in single-season program history. Gadler surpassed 1,500 career receiving yards in the game and moved into the program's top-10 all-time for yards.
Defensively, sophomore Brock Sivon and Fischer had nine tackles each. Sophomore Braydon Hudson and Banal followed with seven tackles apiece. Senior Neil Clayton had Wooster's other sack and it went in the books for 15 yards.
Milton completed 18-of-22 passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns. Bryce Anderson rushed for 97 yards on 11 carries. Connor Walls had 10 tackles, three tackles for loss, and two sacks in the win.
Wittenberg totaled 434 yards of total offense and was 6-for-11 on third down, compared to a 9-for-16 showing for Wooster.