Wabash College Athletics

Bell Game Story
 
A sold-out crowd of over 8,100 witnessed history in the 129^th Monon Bell Classic. It was the first-ever overtime game, and fittingly, a single overtime period wasn't enough in a back-and-forth battle between Wabash and DePauw. The Tigers escaped with a 33-30 win when Nathan McCahill hit Will Kaster on an 11-yard touchdown in the second overtime.
 
DePauw improved to 10-0 on the season and will receive the North Coast Athletic Conference's automatic berth in the Division III playoffs. Wabash ended the year 7-3 and 6-2 in the NCAC.
 
Wabash had taken a 30-27 lead on Brody Rucker's 41-yard field goal in the second overtime before McCahill's heroics. Rucker booted three field goals in the game but had a game-winning attempt blocked in the first overtime after Jake Pasch recovered a fumble on DePauw's first overtime possession.
 
"I'm just incredibly proud of our football team. The guys played their hearts out and left it all on the field," said Wabash Head Coach Don Morel. "They played so hard, and I just wish we had a better outcome. But we will regroup like the good Wabash men we are and get ready for next year."
 
The loss ended the career of record-setting quarterback Liam Thompson, who rewrote the Wabash and NCAC record book with more than 20 game, season, and career records. He toppled the NCAC's all-time passing record in the loss.
 
"I feel awful for Liam, who had a sensational career – on the field, in the classroom, and as a leader on our campus," Coach Morel said. Thompson, a two-time NCAC Player of the Year, is a finalist for the William Campbell Award, presented to the top scholar-athlete in all of college football. He and the other 15 finalists will be honored in Las Vegas on December 5.
 
After NFL great Archie Manning flipped the coin to get things started, DePauw took the opening kick and drove the length of the field for an early 7-0 lead when McCahill hit Robby Ballentine from eight yards out.
 
The Little Giants withstood the early gut punch and went right down the field on the next possession, with senior running back Cade Campbell rushing for 39 yards, including a five-yard touchdown run to cap an 11-play, 75-yard drive.
 
The Tigers came right back at Wabash, but McCahill underthrew his intended receiver, and sophomore corner Mike Holsclaw snagged it at the Wabash 14 and took it 26 yards to swing the momentum to the Little Giants.
 
DePauw, which boasted the NCAC's best-rushing defense, was gashed repeatedly by Wabash, which finished the game with 310 yards on the ground. After the Holsclaw interception, Thompson got busy – with his legs, not his arm – rushing for a 34-yard scamper that foreshadowed things to come. Sophomore running back Xavier Tyler capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give Wabash a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter.
 
DePauw appeared to tie the game when McCahill hit Gabe Quigley on a long pass, but Quigley was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct on the break-away catch and run. Undeterred, McCahill took a quarterback draw up the middle for a 15-yard TD run to tie the game at 14-all.
 
Most folks expected the defenses to shine – and they would, later – but early on, the offenses looked sharp. Neither team punted in the first half.
 
Thompson had Wabash rolling again – mixing designed running plays with short passes and a few scrambles. He ripped off runs of 7, 14, 9, and 17 yards on the next drive, but a Little Giant penalty forced Wabash to settle for a 39-yard field goal from Rucker, giving the home crowd a lot to cheer about and his team a 17-14 lead.
 
DePauw cranked up its running game on the ensuing drive and got a 17-yard touchdown run from Gus Baumgartner just before halftime to give the Tigers a 21-17 lead at the break.
 
The roaring crowd needed the break after a flurry of first-half scoring drives. Shockingly, Thompson was held to 40 yards passing in the first 30 minutes, but Wabash was running effectively against the Tiger defense. By game's end, Thompson would run for a game-high 135 yards, Tyler rushed for 76 yards, and Campbell finished with 69 on the ground.
 
The tempo slowed in the third quarter. After each team went three-and-out on their opening possessions of the second half – and kicked the first two punts of the game – Thompson ripped off a 32-yard run to get to the DePauw nine-yard-line. Two plays later, he scored from seven yards out, but a holding penalty nullified the score, and Wabash would settle for a 34-yard field goal by Rucker to claw within a point, 21-20.
 
Wabash finally retook the lead early in the fourth quarter, 27-21, when senior running back Donovan Snyder leaped over the goal line from a yard out to cap an 11-play, 86-yard drive.
 
There was no quit in the Tigers, who answered with a 63-yard drive on which Baumgartner had runs of 17 and 14 yards before plowing over from one yard out to tie the score at 27-all. Wabash blocked the extra point, and the crowd shook Little Giant Stadium with screams of excitement for a nail-biting finish.
 
Wabash seemed to retake the momentum midway through the final quarter, but another untimely penalty killed the drive. DePauw counter-punched with a drive that started at the Tigers' six-yard-line, but Wabash's defense stiffened at mid-field and forced DePauw to punt.
 
Thompson and the Little Giants got the ball at their own seven with 1:54 to play – and converted on a huge fourth down play with under a minute, but time ran out, and the teams went to overtime for the first time in 129 games.
 
Wabash's senior receivers – Cooper Sullivan, Derek Allen, and Penn Stoller – were held in check and combined for just eight catches for 81 yards and no scores.
 
Wabash was led defensively by sophomore safety Brock Robertson, who had 16 tackles, while sophomore linebackers Jack Pasch and Gavin Ruppert each had eight stops.
 
Rucker finished his sophomore season hitting 10-of-14 field goals (his 41-yarder was a career-long) and 51-of-53 extra points.
 
Thompson ends his illustrious career as the NCAC's all-time leader in passing yards and total offense.