Wabash College Athletics

Presented by Coach Don Morel

Since my arrival at the College in 2012, every alum wants to tell me about the 2002 football team — your team. I’ve heard about Kurt Casper’s historic catch in the Bell Game in 2001 that seemed to set up your magical run.
 
After a ridiculously close win against Kalamazoo to open the 2002 season, you began steam-rolling opponents with a lethal combination of high-powered offense and smothering defense. I’m told that history will always remember Mark Server’s 27-yard field goal that beat Wittenberg in Springfield — a milestone win over an elite program that vaulted Wabash into a national conversation. After that win, five of your next six opponents scored a touchdown or less.
 
Thanks to four Jake Knott-to-Ryan Short touchdown passes, the Monon Bell Game here in Crawfordsville was over before halftime with their tails between their legs after a 34-7 beating.
 
You entered the playoffs for the first time since 1977 and whitewashed MacMurray and beat Wittenberg for a second time in the same season. How good did that feel? All of that set the stage for your trip to eventual national champion, Mount Union, where you showed a Wabash Always Fights attitude until the very end.
 
You recorded several firsts that year: our first NCAC Championship and our first 12-win season. Four men on your team — Nate Boulais, Ryan Short, Jake Knott, and Josh Bronaugh — were named to All-America teams. Jake and Nate were the NCAC’s offensive and defensive players of the year. You set four Wabash single-season records that stand to this day, and your offense racked up more than 5,200 yards of offense.
 
You set the bar high for all the teams that would follow, and today we approach every game, every season with the same sky-high expectations you established in 2002. It is with great respect and admiration that I join with the National Association of Wabash Men in inducting you into the Wabash College Athletics Hall of Fame.