Box Score Ian MacDougall etched himself into the record books Saturday and the Wabash defense dominated in a 66-0 victory over Hiram.
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MacDougall kicked his 118th extra point, surpassing the 117 record mark shared by Spencer Whitehead '11 and Joe Bevelhimer '86. The Little Giants (8-0, 7-0 NCAC) held the Terriers (2-6, 1-6 NCAC) to 58 yards in the shutout. The win sets up the near-annual Wittenberg showdown for a conference championship and shot at the playoffs next Saturday at Little Giant Stadium.
View photos from Saturday's win over Hiram
here.
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"I thought we got great effort out of our guys, particularly that first half," Coach Erik Raeburn said. "I couldn't imagine it going any better."
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Anthony Stella started the scoring with a three-yard-touchdown run on Wabash's first drive. The following possession,
Michael Putko found
Houston Hodges open in the middle of the end zone, 14-0.
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The defense joined the scoring party on the next two series. Hodges followed his offensive touchdown with a 30-yard interception return. Â
Justin Woods registered a 38-yard pick six on the next series, 28-0.
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"We wanted to come out here and make a statement," Hodges said. "We wanted to make sure we establish our run and that's what we did on the first drive. That was a big thing for us."
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After two more scores and a MacDougall field goal, Woods took his second interception gave him another score and the Little Giants led at the half, 45-0. MacDougall made the record-setting kick on the last first-half score.
"It's not really a measurement of me," MacDougall explained. "It's a measurement of how good our offense and our defense has been. (Alex) Hirsch has been doing a great job snapping and Cam (Sobleski) holding. It's pretty much a product of everybody."
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The senior kicker has converted 41 extra points this year and is 12-of-14 kicking field goals.
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Putko finished the game 5-of-8 passing for 78 yards and a touchdown in a half of work.
Andy Walsh completed 4-of-5 passes in relief.
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Wabash ran for 211 yards led by
Matt Gibson's 57. Gibson also had two scores.
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Nate Scola paced the Little Giant defense with 8 tackles, five of those behind the line of scrimmage. That left the senior linebacker just a half tackle shy of the single game record.Â
Cody Buresh made 5.5 tackles-for-loss in a game earlier this season. Sophomore
Chris Broecker had 6 stops.
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The Little Giants will face Wittenberg (7-1, 7-0 NCAC) next Saturday. The conference show down will determine the 2013 NCAC champion.
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"It's a big game for us," Hodges said. "It's going to be a battle. They have a lot of athletes like we do. They've been putting up a lot of points like we have. We have to be mentally prepared this week and do everything we can in practice to make sure we're ready."
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Kickoff will be 1 p.m. from Byron P. Hollet Little Giant Stadium.
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Game Notes
Wabash made its 14th field goal of the 2013 season, tying the mark set by the 1985 team.
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The Little Giants have returned 7 interceptions for touchdowns this season. The 1996 team previously held the record with 5.