Wabash's Tyler Burke threw for 350 yards and four touchdown passes in his first career start as the Little Giants handed Denison a 55-20 loss from Deeds Field-Piper Stadium on Saturday afternoon in Granville, Ohio.  Burke, who was filling in for the injured Chase Belton, scattered his four TD passes to four different players while his defense forced the Big Red into three turnovers.

Wabash looked ready to take a 24-0 lead into the locker room but the Big Red had other ideas after holding the Little Giants on fourth down and taking over deep in their own territory with just 47 seconds remaining.  Denison quarterback Max Paulus (Massillon, Ohio/Jackson) hit senior running back Dan Crawford (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) for consecutive gains of 20 and 22 yards to get the ball to the Wabash 30-yard line.  Faced with a 4th-and-13 with just 0.4 seconds left in the second quarter, Paulus conjured up memories of the Big Red's dramatic overtime win in Week 3 versus Hiram when he went up top for Braden Layer (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) who out-leaped the defense for a 33-yard touchdown pass.  After the point-after by Kevin Schneider (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington), the Big Red went into the half trailing 24-7.

Early in the third quarter it appeared as if DU was going to make a run after sophomore Cale Garverick (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) intercepted Burke over the middle, setting up the Big Red offense on the Wabash 39-yard line.  That offensive drive would be stalled after a Denison fumble was recovered by Wabash's JD McClintic on the Denison 47-yard line.  Three plays later Burke would connect with Derick Yoder for a 23-yard touchdown pass, giving Wabash a comfortable 31-7 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter Denison's running back duo would reach the end zone as Sam Fioroni (Clarkston, Mich./Orchard Lake St. Mary's) broke off the team's longest rush of the season when he streaked 57-yards for his team-best seventh touchdown of the season.  With just under five minutes to play, Crawford would cap off the best receiving day of his career with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Paulus that would set the final score at 55-20.

Crawford caught six passes for a career-high 95 yards.  Paulus was 21-of-26 for 241 yards and two touchdowns.  Layer ended up with four receptions for 55 yards and a score while senior Shawn Eagle (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) caught three passes for 31 yards.  On the ground, Fioroni rushed for 92 yards off 16 carries while Paulus tucked the ball 11 times for 35 yards.

The Little Giants were led in receiving by current NCAC Offensive Player of the Week, Jonathan Horn.  He caught five passes for 128 yards and one TD.  Tyler Holmes led the stable of Wabash running backs with five carries for 56 yards.  Wabash kicker Spencer Whitehead was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts and a perfect seven-for-seven on point-after attempts.  His long field goal came from 38-yards.

Defensively, Eric Conrad (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota East) led the way for Denison with eight tackles and one pass break-up.  Alex Sycher (Columbus, Ohio/New Albany) added seven tackles and one forced fumble while Garverick contributed five tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception.

Wabash improves to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference while Denison drops to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the NCAC.  Denison will look to get back into the win column next Saturday (Oct. 30) when they travel to Oberlin, Ohio for a 1 p.m. kickoff against the Yeomen.

Prior to the start of today's game the Denison football program recognized the contributions of their 13-member senior class.  James Hall, Seth Hodge, Shawn Eagle, Kyle Bliss, Jake Shafer, Jeff Cochran, Kevin Drake, Tyler Lambert, Joe Lucking, Dan Crawford, Nick Weiss, Nick Elliott and Kevin Schneider all played their final home game this afternoon.