GRANVILLE, Ohio (September 17, 2022) – The first North Coast Athletic Conference game of the 2022 season for the Denison University football team ended with a 51-10 victory at home over Oberlin College on Saturday inside Deeds Field-Piper Stadium.

After the Big Red gave up two sacks on their first drive of the game, Denison was stopped on fourth-down-and-five from the Oberlin 35-yard line on its first drive, missed a 40-yard field goal on its second drive, and then had to punt the ball away on its third drive as the two teams entered the second quarter tied at 0-0.

In the second quarter, however, things certainly changed as on the first change of possession of the period, Jaylin Epps pumped the excitement into the home crowd with a big 60-yard punt return for a touchdown that saw him make a great cutback to leave the Yeomen in the dust.

On the ensuring Oberlin possession, an 11-yard sack on third-and-six by Thomas Berry led to an incompletion on fourth-and-17 to give the ball back to the Big Red. That led to an eight-play, 72-yard drive that finished with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Drew Dawkins to Josh Aiello with five and a half minutes left in the quarter.

Then after a touchback by Daniel Cunningham on the ensuing kickoff was followed by an Oberlin three-and-out, Denison followed with a quick five-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a long 42-yard touchdown pass from Dawkins to Mack Marston, who made a great move going in between two defenders before sprinting down the sideline to the endzone to make it 21-0 with less than two minutes to go until halftime.

As if a three-touchdown second quarter was not enough, Epps left no doubt about his abilities as he seemingly shot out of a cannon, made a number of guys miss and finished off the first half with a 94-yard punt return again going all the way for a touchdown to make it 28-0 at the break.

The Big Red added three more touchdowns and 23 points in the third quarter to break the game even further open as Trey Fabrocini capped off a six-play, 52-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 35-3 with 9:14 left in the third quarter.

On the next Oberlin drive, a 10-yard sack on third down by Clay Denstorff made it fourth-and-20 from the Yeomen 15-yard line, setting the stage for a blocked punt by Sean Carr that was recovered in the endzone by Andrew Brown to make it 42-3 with 7:18 left in the third period.

With the benefit of a short field, Dawkins added a 17-yard touchdown run on Denison's next drive, and then after a sack fumble by Denstorff recovered by Collin Hill on the next possession, Cunningham got the Big Red over the half-century mark with a 20-yard field goal.

Dawkins would finish 12-for-17 passing for 184 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Marston (85 total yards) and Aiello (52 total yards), who both finished with four catches on the game, while Fabrocini rushed for 110 yards on 17 carries (6.5 avg. per rush).

On defense, Michael Ballenger would finish with a team-high seven tackles while Epps, Nathan Hallenbeck and Jeff Moore each added four tackles. Denstorff had a forced fumble to go along with three tackles for a loss of 19 yards and two sacks for 15 yards while Berry added two tackles for loss and one sack.

The Denison defense worked hard all game long to hold Oberlin to only 14 yards rushing on 29 attempts, resulting in an average of only 0.5 yards per carry, and limited the Yeomen to a conversion rate of 5-for-16 on third down.

Next up, Denison's first conference game on the road of the 2022 season will feature a long trip over to Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 24, between the Big Red and the Little Giants. Wabash has started off its season 2-1 with a 56-12 loss at home vs. No. 2 nationally-ranked North Central College last weekend, followed by a 48-14 win at the College of Wooster in their NCAC opener this weekend.