DePauw Drops Season Opener to St. Olaf
September 8, 2012
Greencastle, Ind. - Visiting St. Olaf took advantage of a late third quarter DePauw turnover and scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to claim a 31-10 victory over the Tigers at Blackstock Stadium. St. Olaf improved to 2-0, while DePauw dropped to 0-1 after its 125th season opener.
The Oles capitalized on a DePauw fumble on the game's first series and quarterback Dan Dobson rushed in from the 1 with 9:31 left in the first for the 7-0 advantage.
DePauw picked up a pair of first downs on its next possession, but was forced to punt. St. Olaf's Joel Reinhardt fumbled the return and DePauw's Kortney Cartwright recovered at the Oles' 2-yard line. Following a delay of game penalty, Tigers quarterback Justin Murray teamed with Jackson Kirtley for a 7-yard score which knotted the contest at 7-7 with 5:41 left in the opening stanza.
St. Olaf took a 10-7 lead in the opening minute of the second quarter on Lucas Wainman's 26-yard field goal which capped an eight-play, 59-yard drive.
Later in the half, DePauw drove to the St. Olaf 27, but couldn't convert and Eric Malm wasn't able to connect on a 40-yard field goal attempt. The half ended with the Oles leading 10-7.
Michael Thai extended the margin to 17-7 early in the third on a 1-yard run which ended a 68-yard drive. DePauw responded as Malm booted a 20-yard field goal after the Tigers were unable to punch it in with a 1st-and-goal at the 3.
DePauw forced the Oles to punt on the next possession and gained excellent field position after Taylor Wagner scampered for a 26-yard punt return to the St. Olaf 41. A false start penalty before the first down play backed the Tigers up and they couldn't convert a 3rd-and-2. On fourth down Murray was picked off by Nick Nazarian at the Oles 27.
St. Olaf converted a pair of key third down plays and drove to the DePauw 5 where Thai scored with 11:23 left in the fourth. Wainman's PAT pushed the St. Olaf lead to 24-10.
Two series later, DePauw notched a first down on 4th-and-4 from their own 31 when Murray teamed with Wagner for a 7-yard gain. However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play pushed the ball back to the DePauw 23 and the Tigers couldn't recover and later punted.
Thai's third touchdown came on the first play of St. Olaf's final drive as he covered 82 yards for the score.
St. Olaf held a 399-245 advantage in total offense yards and committed just one turnover to DePauw's four.
Murray, the first DePauw freshman to start the opening game at quarterback since Mike Loftus in 1978, completed 18 of 35 passes for 170 yards with seven going to Wagner for 72 yards and five to Kirtley for 32. Amen Galley, also making his first collegiate start, totaled 32 rushing yards in 11 tries.
Dobson completed 21 of 35 passes for 212 yards. Joel Reinhardt caught five for 45 yards and Jake Schmiesing totaled four receptions for 31 yards. Thai finished with 114 rushing yards on 24 carries and Dobson had 73 in 11 tries.
Jake Konovsky and J.D. Robinson each had eight tackles for DePauw with Konovsky leading with 1.5 sacks and 3.0 tackles for loss. Phil Ganser finished with four pass breakups.
Erick Marigi led the Oles with 10 tackles with Chad Wagner and Lordson Jonassaint each totaling two hurries.
DePauw returns to action on Saturday, September 15, in its first-ever North Coast Athletic Conference game at Wittenberg. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. in Springfield, Ohio.
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