Wabash needed an 11-yard fourth-down completion to keep its final offensive drive alive at Denison Saturday afternoon. The Little Giants' last pass was knocked down at the line of scrimmage, ending any hope of a comeback in the 28-24 North Coast Athletic Conference loss to the Big Red in Granville, Ohio.
 
Wabash (4-2, 3-1 NCAC) trailed 14-10 at halftime but forced Denison (4-3, 3-2 NCAC) into a three-and-out on its opening series of the second half. The Little Giants marched 95 yards in 13 plays, scoring on a 28-yard pass from Liam Thompson to Derek Allen, Jr. to take a 17-14 lead.
 
The defense and special teams rose again on the next possession. The Wabash "D" pinned Denison inside its 41-yard line on a five-play drive to force a punt. The Little Giants rushed the Big Red punter, resulting in a loss of 13 yards when he could not get the punt away. Wabash followed with another score on a Thompson 28-yard rush to take a 24-14 lead.
 
Denison's offense came back to life in the closing minutes of the third quarter. The Big Red capped a seven-play, 69-yard drive with a 22-yard pass from quarterback Jimmy Stines to Josh Aiello for the duo's second touchdown of the game. The score cut the Wabash lead 24-21.
 
The Little Giant defense provided two more enormous opportunities for the offense to regain a two-score lead. Wabash recovered a fumbled Denison snap at midfield late in the third quarter, but the offense could not pick up a first down, sending the ball back to the Big Red with a punt. Wabash ended the next Denison drive with an Avery Epstein interception, but once again, the Little Giants' ensuing drive fizzled out after six plays and 21 yards at midfield.
 
Denison took the Wabash punt at its 26 yard-line with 7:34 left in the contest. This time, the Little Giants could not provide an answer on defense. The Big Red moved downfield while controlling the clock, eventually scoring on another Stines-to-Aiello pass, this time for eight yards. Denison used up 4:49 of the clock to move 74 yards in ten plays, leaving Wabash just 2:41 to mount a game-winning scoring try.
 
The Big Red squib-kicked deep into Wabash territory, forcing a return that got the ball to the 18-yard line. Thompson completed consecutive passes to Cade Campbell, Allen, Jr., and two to Penn Stoller to get the ball back to midfield. Two straight incompletions and a short pass to Allen, Jr. set up a fourth-and-11 from the Denison 40-yard line. Thompson looked to the right and released a pass, but rushing Denison defensive lineman Vince Zelisko knocked the attempt down at the line of scrimmage to end the Little Giants' comeback effort.
 
Denison's defensive front harassed Thompson all afternoon. The Big Red sacked the Wabash quarterback a season-high four times for 29 yards. Thompson ran the ball a team-high 16 times for 41 net yards and one touchdown. Cade Campbell led the ground game with ten carries for 56 yards. Thompson completed 24-of-38 passes for 280 yards and two scores. He also threw a pair of interceptions. Stoller led the Wabash receivers with a career-best seven receptions for a total of 120 receiving yards. He scored the Little Giants' first touchdown of the game on a 32-yard pass from Thompson in the first quarter to answer a three-yard TD run by Denison's Trey Fabrocini.
 
Brock Robertson made a career-high 14 tackles to lead Wabash defensively. Gavin Ruppert added 11 tackles. Steven Thomas made the Little Giants' lone sack. Brody Frey recovered the Denison fumble to join Epstein's interception for two turnovers by the Wabash defense.  
 
Wabash outgained Denison by three yards for the game. The Little Giants produced 400 yards of total offense compared to 397 for the Big Red. Fabrocini ran for 142 yards on 32 attempts. Stines completed 19-of-28 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Aiello hauled in all three scores as part of his six catches for 95 yards.
 
Wabash travels to Kenyon College next Saturday for a noon contest against the Owls.