The Wabash Football team will face two challenges this weekend:  Allegheny and travel. The eight-hour trek to Meadville, Pennsylvania occurs every other year. Linebacker Nate Scola claimed defeating the travel starts with the correct mindset.

"There's some guys that emphasize it as a long trip and yada yada yada," he said. "But it's not a distraction unless we make it a distraction."

Young players making the trip for the first time will rely on Scola's leadership to overcome the travel.

"Driving out there is definitely going to be an experience and something to overcome," sophomore running back Mason Zurek said. "I'll be sitting in the same seat for eight hours doing nothing but homework and watching movies. Friday night we'll be pretty lethargic so we definitely need to get a lot of sleep in and try to overcome that on Saturday."

The team's mindset for the other challenge, Allegheny, will be about redemption. The Gators dealt Wabash a crucial blow to its playoff hopes last season with a 20-17, overtime defeat in Hollett Little Giant Stadium. Despite possible revenge motives from the players, Coach Erik Raeburn cautioned against only getting psyched for certain games.

"I hope we have the same intensity every week," Raeburn said. "That's what got us beat last year, because we didn't do that. Hopefully we prepare and play with the same intensity every week."

Scola shared his coach's sentiment, but admitted the loss provided extra motivation in the off season.

"Right after the season ended, every time I came in the weight room, I'd think of those losses to Allegheny and Oberlin," Scola said. "To me, it was embarrassing. I don't necessarily want revenge — we're using the term 'redemption' this week — because when people get revenge, nothing good happens to them."

Allegheny has started slow this season. The Gators have dropped their first three games and have been outscored 83-14. Last year, they rushed for the second-most yards against a Wabash defense and have average 114-yards a game. Nick Deichler leads the team in rushing, but Allegheny has yet to score a rushing touchdown.

Sophomore safety Cody Stolar leads the team in tackles with 15 and senior linebacker has 22 stops with an interception.

"They haven't had a good season so far, but I guarantee they'll be ready to play us because everybody gives us their best game," Scola said.

Wabash will head to the Keystone State without its starting running back. Tyler Holmes suffered a torn ACL in Saturday's 50-13 win against Denison. The injury appears to have caused a change in the running game from a bell-cow back to a running back-by-committee approach.

Zurek , CP Porter, and Anthony Stella split the carries in last week's blowout. Zurek led the group with 14 carries. He added 63 yards and his first-career touchdown.

"I doubt I'll take the brunt of it and carry the ball 30 times a game like Tyler did," Zurek said. "I'll assume we'll probably split up like we did on Saturday."

Saturday also provided Zurek with more confidence. He made appearances is games last year as a freshman, but felt overwhelmed by the speed. He said a year of practicing against the Wabash defense helped prepare him the most.

"Last week was a real confidence builder for me," Zurek said. "We were moving the ball and scoring against the other team's ones (starters), so it was definitely good to see I can get up there and play against teams' best defense."

Zurek's bruising running style fits well with his 6'0, 208-pound body. Porter and Stella can be described as slashing running backs. Raeburn hopes the group's diversity will cause trouble for defenses.

"I don't know that we'll call different run plays based on who is in at running back," Raeburn said. "But certainly, when you get different backs that have different running styles, that can keep defenses on their heels a little bit."

Defensively, the Little Giants want to keep the momentum from the first two games. The unit forced 7 turnovers in the first two games and has allowed a paltry 6.5 points-per-game. Also, the defense has got off the field. Both Hanover and Denison were 1-of-11 on third down — a 9.1 percent conversion rate.

"Special teams—kickoff and punt coverage—are really the first play on defense," Scola said. "We emphasize those things as being key to being successful, and they were excellent in the first two games."

Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. WNDY will not have a broadcast available this week. Live coverage of the game can be found here.