Box Score Sam Fioroni rushed for 127 yards off 36 carries and Max Paulus threw for 192 yards and three scores as Denison defeated The College of Wooster, 30-22 from Piper Stadium in Granville. This marked the 21st Old Red Lantern Game between Denison and Wooster, and for the second-straight season, the Big Red will retain the traveling trophy.
After a rather uneventful first half which saw Wooster take an early 7-3 lead, things got interesting in the second half. If it were not for Denison's dominate third quarter which saw the Big Red own possession for 11 of the 15 minutes while scoring two touchdowns, the outcome could have been much different.
In that pivotal third quarter, DU started things out with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Max Paulus to Braden Layer, which vaulted Denison into the lead, 10-7. A Wooster fumble on the ensuing kickoff gave the ball back to the Big Red on its own 39 yard line. On first down from mid field, Paulus hit first-year wide receiver DuShawn Brown, in stride, for a 49-yard touchdown, putting DU up 17-7.
After a five-play Wooster drive that took only 40 seconds, Denison went to work on a methodical 17-play 65-yard drive that chewed up nine minutes of clock. The result was a 3-yard TD run by Fioroni that put the Big Red in front, 24-7 early in the fourth.
Another Wooster three-and-out would result in a blocked punt by Denison's Zach Pewitt that put DU right back inside Fighting Scot territory. Five plays later Paulus feathered a perfect fade route to Layer from 8-yards out for the senior's second touchdown of the day.
In a quarter and a half, Denison went from trailing by four to leading by 23.
A lead gained that quickly can also disappear in similar fashion and the Denison defense had its hands full down the stretch as the Scots scored twice and had the ball in DU territory with a chance to tie the game pending a successful two-point conversion. On that final snap, Wooster quarterback Brett Frongillo was sacked by Denison's Charlie Baker and Lane Hartfield as time expired.
Denison moved to 2-2 with the win while Wooster falls to 1-3. For Fioroni, it marked his third 100-yard game of the season. It also moved him to 443 yards rushing on the season. Paulus was 15-for-25 for 192 yards and three touchdowns. Layer led the way with five receptions for 96 yards and two scores while Brown also caught five balls for 86 yards and one touchdown.
The Big Red have excelled in controlling the clock all season and today they did it by focusing on the ground game. DU ran the ball 48 times for 156 yards. They held the ball for 40 of the game's 60 minutes.
Wooster was led in rushing and receiving by Jordan McIntyre who finished with 53 yards on the ground and 75 yards and one TD through the air. Cale Garverick led the DU defense with 10 tackles while Adam Murray posted one half sack and three tackles for a loss. Lane Hartfield followed with two of DU's five sacks and two and a half of the team's nine TFLs.
Today's game marked the 21st Old Red Lantern Game between Denison and Wooster. DU will travel to Carnegie Mellon next Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest with the Tartans.
BACKGROUND BEHIND THE OLD RED LANTERN: The tradition began in 1989, when the two schools were commemorating the 100th anniversary of their first meeting on the football field (Nov. 23, 1889). The lantern represents the railroad light the teams used to travel by in their early meetings at the turn of the century. This marked the 81st meeting in the all-time series between DU and Wooster and the 21st time the two colleges have played for the lantern.
