This Week: Wabash (5-2, 5-1 NCAC) plays host to Kenyon College (3-4, 2-4 NCAC) on Saturday, November 2 at Byron P. Hollett Little Giant Stadium in North Coast Athletic Conference action.

Game Information: Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Tickets for admission to the game, parking and tailgating spaces can all be purchased at wabashtickets.com.
Parking along Jennison Street between Will Hays Jr. Drive and Sycamore Drive is prohibited. Sycamore Drive and Thornwood Road are part of the Sycamore Hills residential area and are not public parking areas for Wabash College football games. Beginning October 21, Grant Street will be restricted to a single lane due to construction. Fans traveling to Wabash College for home events are instructed to take Washington Street (State Road 231) and turn west onto Jennison Street to avoid construction traffic on Grant Street.
A live video feed of Saturday's game will be available at https://team1sports.com/Wabash/. Updated live statistics can be found at https://sports.wabash.edu/sidearmstats/football.

Series History: Wabash and Kenyon meet for the 16th time overall with the Little Giants holding a 14-1 lead in the series. Wabash has claimed victories in the previous 14 games after losing 7-0 in the first game played between the two schools in 1942. The Little Giants ran for six touchdowns and threw for three more in a 62-7 win in the Lords' last visit to Crawfordsville in 2017. Last year Wabash took a 20-0 lead in the first quarter before eventually claiming a 47-14 win over the Lords.
 
Among The Best: Wabash enters the 2019 season as the fifth-winningest program in NCAA Division III history with a record of 692-390-59. The top-five programs in all-time victories among DIII teams are Mount Union (805), Wittenberg (777), Washington and Jefferson (749), Widener (708), and Wabash (694).
 
Scouting Kenyon: The Lords have earned three victories this season under first-year head coach James Rosenbury. The three wins are the most by Kenyon since 2013 when the team finished 4-5 for the year.

Senior quarterback Thomas Merkle has started four seasons for the Lords. He has thrown for 1,268 yards and five touchdowns this season. He ranks fifth in the conference with an average of 197.3 yards per game. Andris Balodis leads the Lords with 318 receiving yards on 29 catches through six games. Justin Bosch has caught a team-high 33 passes for 269 yards. Matt Jolliffe has caught two TD passes for Kenyon but is not listed on this week's two deep.

The Lords' leading rusher, junior running back Jimmy Andrews, is also not listed on this week's two deep. He has carried the football 83 times for Kenyon and amassed 243 yards with two touchdowns. Freshman Jack Provenza has seen limited duty to this point in the season with 14 rushing attempts for 59 yards. He is listed as the starter for the Lords this week.

Kenyon's calling card on defense has been its ability to convert turnovers into points. The Lords rank 23rd among Division III teams and lead the NCAC in defensive touchdowns scored with two. Kenyon has recovered all three fumbles it has forced this season and has intercepted five passes. Junior linebacker Michael Picone returned an interception 61 yards against Oberlin for the game-winning score in the 12-7 victory for the Lords. Senior Sam Dickey leads the team with 52 tackles. Sophomore defensive tackle Nathan Fanta is the Kenyon leader in tackles for losses with 9-1/2 for 36 yards and also tops the team list for sacks with 5-1/2 for 30 yards.

Moving With A Purpose: Isaac Avant produced 203 all-purpose yards for Wabash in Saturday's win at Oberlin. He rushed for 165 yards on a season-high 29 carries, caught one pass for 19 yards, and added a 19-yard kickoff return. Avant put together back-to-back weeks with more than 200 all-purpose yards after recording 212 yards of offense in the Little Giants' win over Wittenberg.
 
Avant Up To Seventh: Avant moved up three spots to seventh on the Wabash all-time rushing list with 2,593 total yards after rushing for 165 yards last week against Oberlin. Avant is three yards away from passing the late Stan Huntsman '54 in sixth place with 2,595 career rushing yards. Ike James remains 12th on the career rushing list with 2,150 career yards. He trails Chris Stewart '99 in 11th with 2,282 career rushing yards. James ranks sixth on the Wabash career rushing touchdown list with 27 touchdowns. He trails David Kogan '94 for fifth place. Kogan scored 29 rushing touchdowns during his Wabash career.

Avant and James rank second and fourth, respectively, in rushing yards per game among North Coast Athletic Conference players heading into week eight of the season. Avant is averaging 104.2 yards per game, second behind Denison's Alex Minton with a 129.0 yards-per-game average. James remains fourth with an average of 87.4 rushing yards per game despite missing last week's game versus Oberlin.
 
Rookie Rewards: Freshman quarterback Liam Thompson accounted for three of the Little Giants' touchdowns last weekend versus Oberlin. He threw two 14-yard touchdown passes – one to Cooper Sullivan and a second to Devon Anderson. Thompson also ran for a seven-yard TD to open the scoring in the game. He ranks second in the NCAC in passing with an average of 209.9 passing yards per game and is fourth in TD passes with 10.

Punting With A Purpose: Wabash leads all 247 Division III football teams in net punting yards per game.  The Little Giants average 39.84 net yards per punt. Sophomore punter Joey Annee ranks seventh among DIII players and leads the NCAC with an overall average of 43.0 yards per punt.

Catch Me If You Can: Sullivan and Nick Hamman are among the conference leaders in yards per catch this season. Sullivan ranks third overall with an average of 17.2 yards per reception. Hamman is fourth overall with a 15.7 yards-per-catch average. Sullivan also ranks fifth in receiving yards per game with an average of 61.3 through seven contests.

Next Week: Wabash plays its final home game in Hollett Little Giant Stadium when it plays host to Hiram College on November 9 at 1 p.m.