Tom Runge
Football
Wabash plays its final regular season game on the road for the 2023 football season on Saturday when the Little Giants travel to Hiram, Ohio to take on the Terriers in North Coast Athletic Conference competition.
Game Information: Wabash College (6-2, 5-1 NCAC) at Hiram College (1-8, 1-6 NCAC)
location: Charles A. Henry Field (2500) in Hiram, Ohio
Time to play: Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 12 noon
Wabash owns sole possession of second place in the NCAC standings and could set up a battle for a share of the conference title against DePauw at 129th Monon Bell Classic with a road win this weekend at Hiram. DePauw is inactive this week and leads the conference standings with a 7-0 league record and a 9-0 overall record.
Wabash scored early and often in a 52-20 home win over Wittenberg last Saturday. The Little Giants led 24-6 in the first quarter and had a 38-6 halftime advantage. Wabash led 52-6 after three quarters before the visiting Tigers scored twice in the fourth quarter. The win marked the 100thth in head coach Don Morrellthe career of. He turned 31St current Division III head football coach with 100 or more career wins.
The Little Giants gained 517 yards of total offense and limited Wittenberg to 176 yards of offense through three quarters before the Tigers rallied for 111 yards after trailing by 46 points. The Little Giants also forced a pair of fumbles and scored 14 points off those turnovers.
Sophomore defensive back Brock Robertson earned North Coast Football Conference Defensive Athlete of the Week honors for his performance Saturday against Wittenberg. His eight tackles shared team-high honors, while his five solo tackles topped the defensive list for the Little Giants. Robertson also managed a fable, the first of his career.
series: Wabash is a perfect 15-0 in games played against Hiram. The two teams first played in 2000 when both schools joined the conference. The Little Giants are 7-0 in games played at Hiram, including a 42-14 win in their last visit in 2021. Wabash won last year’s game in Crawfordsville 59-23 when Liam Thompson broke the school record by catching seven touchdown passes. He completed 28 of 37 passes after starting the game, connecting on 14 of his first 15 attempts. Thompson finished the game with 392 yards through the air and 55 yards on the ground. He broke the previous single-game record of six touchdown passes set by Jake Knott against Hiram College in 2000. Knott matched that six-TD effort a week later against Allegheny. Matt Hudson also threw six touchdown passes in 2008 at Denison.
Senior defender Liam Thompson broke the NCAC career record for touchdown passes and eclipsed the Wabash career record for total offense. He threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 78 yards and one score. Both previous career records were held by former Wabash quarterback Jake Knott ’02, who threw for 97 touchdowns after the Little Giants joined the NCAC. Knott accounted for 12,054 career yards in four seasons as Wabash’s starter. Thompson has 99 career TD throws and 12,275 career rushing yards with two games remaining in the regular season. Thompson is second on the NCAC’s all-time passing list with 10,839 career passing yards. Mason Espinosa holds the all-time rushing record with 11,069 yards. Knott holds the Wabash career rushing record of 11,213 yards, which Thompson trails by 529 yards. To break that record, Thompson needs to average 264.5 passes over the next two games.
Senior wide receiver Cooper Sullivan needs 162 receiving yards to surpass Wabash’s career mark held by Mike Funk ’89, who amassed 2,858 receiving yards in his four-year career. Sullivan enters the game against Hiram with 2,697 receiving yards for fourth on Wabash’s all-time rushing list. Ryan Short ’03 ranks third with 2,773 receiving yards and Kurt Casper ’02 ranks second with 2,806 receiving yards.
Senior wide out Derek Allen Jr matched his single-game high with three touchdown receptions against Wittenberg for his 23rd career TD reception, sixth-most by a Wabash player.
Hiram Intelligence:
Hiram closes out the 2023 season this Saturday at home against Wabash. The Terriers enter the contest with a 1-6 conference record after posting a 27-19 win against Oberlin in their last home game two weeks ago.
Sophomore quarterback Sean Tejada threw for 359 yards and three touchdowns last year in the Terriers’ 59-23 loss to Wabash. This season, Tejada has thrown for 1,716 yards and completed 149 of 293 passes for six touchdowns with 12 interceptions. Raequan Davis-Hereford caught 15 passes for 104 yards and one touchdown in last year’s game against the Little Giants. His 41 receptions for 474 yards and two touchdowns tops Hiram’s receiving list this season. Jarius Green is second in receiving for the Terriers with 34 catches for 440 yards and two scores. Tristan Molohan has 25 receptions for 363 yards and one score.
Junior Gabriel Hoskins leads the Hiram offense with averages of 36.6 yards per play and 3.6 yards per carry. He has rushed for 329 yards and one touchdown through nine games. Fellow junior Egya Quaison-Sackey’s three rushing touchdowns are the most by a Terrier this season. He is averaging 22.1 yards per play and has rushed for 177 yards on 48 attempts in eight games.
Dylan Baliker has recorded 71 total tackles to pace Hiram’s defense in 2023. Tonvanta Revis leads the conference in solo tackles with 39 and 48 total stops this season. His 5-1/2 tackles for losses totaling nine yards are the most by a Terrier player. Riley Haugh leads the team with 2-1/2 sacks for 19 yards. Gavin Kruser has three of Hiram’s eight interceptions this year.