GRANVILLE, Ohio (September 11, 2021) – The 2021 North Coast Athletic Conference opener for the Denison University football team, which was also its first home game of the season, finished with a 31-0 shutout victory for the Big Red over Allegheny College on Saturday at Deeds Field-Piper Stadium.

Denison (1-1 overall, 1-0 NCAC) scored in every quarter of the game, including finishing with a touchdown on the very first drive of the game. After a big 65-yard pass from Drew Dawkins to Aidan Brownlee to get the Big Red to the 10-yard line, Dawkins found Josh Aiello for an 8-yard score to make it 7-0 less than three minutes in.

In the opening minute of the second quarter, Trey Fabrocini rushed one in from 10 yards out, and then Fabrocini added another score from two yards out on Denison's next possession to make it 21-0 with just under nine minutes to go in the quarter.

Each of Denison's first two scoring drives of the game saw the Big Red start from within their own 25-yard line.

With 6:15 on the clock in the third quarter, Denison started a drive with an 11-yard completion from Dawkins to tight end Mack Marston to get back into Allegheny (1-1, 0-1) territory, and then the pair finished off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass six plays later to make it 28-0.

Pat Kramer was a perfect 4-for-4 on extra point tries and added a field goal in the fourth quarter to cap off the scoring.

As a team, Denison was 5-for-5 in the redzone and was 8-for-16 on third down.

The Allegheny offense, meanwhile, only got into Denison territory three times on the day, the first of which saw an interception by Ryan Hallinan in the first quarter. Then in the second quarter, the Gators got down to the Big Red 8-yard line before a fumble on second-and-five was recovered by Hallinan.

The final time Allegheny got into Denison territory came in the fourth quarter when a sack by Michael Freilino stopped the Gators from the 33-yard line on fourth-and-11.

Dawkins finished by completing 13 of his 26 passes for 176 yards and two touchdowns while also adding 58 yards on the ground on 10 carries.

Accounting for all but two of Dawkins' completions were Aidan Brownlee with five catches for 98 yards, Aiello with four catches for 38 yards and a touchdown, and Marston with two catches for 24 yards and a score.

Fabrocini finished with 17 carries for 85 yards and two touchdowns. As a team, the Big Red rushed for 199 yards, accounting for over half of its 375 combined yards of offense.

Leading the Big Red defensive effort was Jeff Moore with 13 total tackles, seven of which were solo tackles, and two tackles for a loss of five yards. Collin Hill added six tackles and two tackles for a loss of three yards.

The Denison defense also held the Gators to only 25 yards rushing and an average of only 0.7 yards per attempt on the ground.

Thomas Gelorme punted seven times for an average of 31.1 yards per kick, but had a long kick of 54 yards, put two inside the opponents' 20-yard line, and had one touchback.

The win on Saturday was Denison's eighth straight victory over Allegheny dating back to the 2013 season.

Next up for the Big Red next Saturday (Sept. 18), will be a 1 p.m. gametime at Oberlin College, another team Denison will enter the game with a seven-game winning streak against.