Ian Ricoy
Sports Editor
For the first time since 2004, The Wooster Fighting Scots defeated the Wabash Little Giants. The Scots’ defense showed up big time with seven sacks, three interceptions and four fourth down stops against a non-punting team. Quarterback Mateo Renteria ’22 had another great game to put him atop the conference in passing.
The Scots dominated the flow of the game from the very start. On Wabash’s opening drive, defensive end Christian Santos ’20 intercepted a pass at the 31-yard line where running back Troy Baughman ’22 rushed for a 22-yard explosive run to start the drive and scored a touchdown four plays later. Defensive end K.C. Okoronkwo ’20 got a sack that forced Wabash to attempt a field goal, which they missed, and gave Wooster the ball back. Wide receiver Cole Hissong ’22 caught a 33-yard pass from Renteria to make it 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Charlie Henegar ’23 caught an 18-yard pass to score his first touchdown of his career and make it 21-10 going into the half. From there, the Scots continued to suffocate the Wabash offense, shutting them out in the second half. “We played well and were able to make critical plays at the critical times,” said Head Coach Frank Colaprete.
The Scots’ defense came prepared to execute a well-thought-out game plan. “Our plan was to make them one-dimensional, force them to throw the ball,” said Santos. “They had a first-year quarter-back so we took advantage of that and got him frazzled.” The Scots executed the plan perfectly. Wabash running back Ike James, the leading rusher in the conference, averaged 122.2 yards per game and rushed for just 46 yards including just six yards in the second half against Wooster. Wabash quarterback Liam Thompson completed 24 out of a staggering 41 pass attempts with three interceptions. The defense sacked Thompson seven times for a total loss of 29 yards. The Scots held Wabash to their lowest point total of the season who before this game averaged a conference second best 36 points.
The Scots were very efficient offensively and executed well on scoring opportunities. “The offense isn’t centered around one guy. We keep the defenses guessing,” said Renteria. Hissong had a breakout game with 75 yards off of four touches and a touchdown. Overall, four Scot receivers had over 30 yards including Nick Strausbaugh ’20 who had a 31-yard reception. Renteria threw for 222 yards completing 17 out of 27 passes with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Currently, Renteria leads the conference in total passing yards with 1280 and yards per game with 256 which is 41st out of 250 nationally. “It’s a surprise to be honest but it’s satisfying to see that I’m up there in the conference,” said Renteria. Though Wooster struggled to convert on third down with 36 percent conversion rate and was outgained by 130 yards, the Scots dug deep to make those yards count more than the Little Giants with three touchdowns to Wabash’s one.
This historic win meant a lot to the whole program. “I’m not from the area and I’m a sophomore, but personally it was cool seeing the effect the win had on the seniors, coaches and fans,” stated Renteria. Especially after back-to-back road losses, including a close loss to rival Wittenberg, this win gave morale a big boost. “It was monumental. We know what we have now, you can feel that, we got momentum now,” said Santos. Santos said extra work and initiative paid off for the team .“We’ve been watching a lot of film outside of practice. We had a session in Luce and every guy there had a great game. As captains we try to lead by example and be contagious with our energy rather than trying to be a commander,” he said.
The Scots have one more tough enemy to face that concludes their four-game gauntlet playing the best teams in the conference: Denison. This game is important to the team because the Scots are hungry to avenge a 48-point loss to Denison. “I put the score of that game on my wall and it stayed there all year. Coach told us to ‘know your why’ and I know mine,” said Santos. The Denison game still stings for Renteria because it was the only game where he didn’t score. “Oh yeah, it’s still fresh in my mind,” said Renteria. This season is shaping up to be one of Wooster football’s best in a long time even with a tough schedule. Santos concluded with, “We still have a shot at the championship. We’ve been saying all year we have the people and schemes to beat teams we shouldn’t and we’re going to do it again.” The last time the Scots beat Wabash, they won the conference.