Thomas Pitney
Sports Editor
On Saturday, Sept. 25, Wooster football hosted a game on Black & Gold Weekend for the first time since September 2019. The bleachers and grass surrounding John Papp Stadium were teeming with students, families, faculty and community members eager to watch the Scots take on the DePauw Tigers. The team was extremely thankful for the community support, especially captain and quarterback Mateo Renteria ’22, who said, “the crowd was surreal. It has been a very long time since we got to experience something like that on campus.” Unfortunately, despite the positive community atmosphere unique to Wooster, it was not the Scots’ day, as the Tigers took advantage of five turnovers en route to a 34-30 victory.
On the opening kickoff, it was clear that the Scots fed off the crowd’s energy. On the Tigers’ opening offensive drive, defensive back Kobe Nadu ’24 got a sack on a 3rd down to force the Tigers to go three and out. Starting with great field position, the Scots’ offense moved down the field with precision in six plays to score with a Renteria pass to captain tight end, Cole Hissong ’22, to take a 7-0 lead. The Scots’ defense continued to dominate DePauw’s offense, forcing a punt on the next DePauw drive.
Unfortunately, the Tigers’ defense also posed a challenge to Wooster’s offense. As Renteria put it, DePauw’s defense “was very basic, but very well executed. They forced us to either execute our offense or pay the price.” And pay the price the Scots did. In the middle of the first quarter, the Tigers intercepted Renteria and returned it for a touchdown. Fortunately for the Scots, the touchdown return was nullified by an illegal block in the back penalty. After another strong three and out from the Wooster defense, the first quarter finished with the Scots maintaining a 7-0 lead.
Early in the second quarter, both offenses were sparked to life when the Tigers got their second turnover of the day, recovering a Wooster fumble at midfield. From there, DePauw tied the game on a touchdown drive elapsing just over two minutes. The Scots quickly re-took the lead with a 68-yard touchdown drive, highlighted by a 38-yard connection from Renteria to Mitch Heilman ’24 and a 15-yard touchdown catch by Hissong. Heilman and Hissong were major catalysts on offense for Wooster in this game, as Heilman caught a career-best 8 catches for 145 yards, while Hissong caught 10 passes for 119 yards. DePauw countered with a methodical 16-play touchdown drive that took over seven minutes off the clock to tie the game 14-14 at halftime.
After a 62-yard kickoff return by the Scots to open the second half, DePauw took the momentum back by forcing its fourth turnover on an interception. The Tigers took advantage of the interception with a 73-yard touchdown drive to take their first lead of the game at 21-14. After both teams stalled on their next offensive drives, the Scots’ offense found themselves in DePauw territory in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Once again, DePauw’s opportunistic defense recovered a third Wooster fumble for its fifth turnover of the day. The Tigers’ ensuing drive got as close as the Wooster 16-yard line. Fortunately for the Scots, captain linebacker Angelo Petracci ’22 made a crucial tackle to stuff a DePauw running play for no gain on a 3rd and five, forcing them to bring on the field goal unit.
DePauw opened the fourth quarter with a successful 33-yard field goal attempt to stretch the lead to 24-14. Despite facing a ten-point deficit, Wooster did not quit. Petracci said that “the mentality down 10 at that point was to limit the big plays from the DePauw offense to let our offense get back on the field and work their craft.” Wooster’s offense rose to the occasion, capping off a 75-yard touchdown drive with a pass from Renteria to Heilman to cut the Tigers’ lead to 24-21. Andrew Armile ’24 then came up with a game-changing fumble recovery with just over 10 minutes to go in the game to set up Lake Barrett ’23 to make a game-tying 21-yard field goal.
DePauw responded to the Wooster surge with a bruising 13-play touchdown drive to take a 31-24 lead, then forced a turnover on downs with 01:15 remaining in the game. Wooster’s defense continued to play valiantly, forcing a three and out and a 32-yard field goal attempt. Unfortunately for Wooster, the kick was good and gave DePauw a two-score lead with 52 seconds left. Despite this, Wooster’s offense did not give in, as Renteria tossed a last-second touchdown to Hissong, ending the game in a 34-30 defeat.
Renteria, who completed 29 of his 41 passes for 355 yards, took away the positives from the defeat, but harped on the need to limit mental errors. “This past game shows how much potential this offense has if we just eliminate mental mistakes and turnovers.” Petracci had similar feelings, saying “the defense has been learning and building off our performance from the week prior, so I’m happy to see us progress and move forward to excellence next week against Oberlin. I think we can continue to build a stronger trust in one another and focus on limiting mental mistakes to maximize matching the goals we have set for the season.”
The Scots next face a tough challenge on the road, playing at Oberlin on Saturday, Oct. 2.