DANVILLE, Ky. - DePauw quarterback Ross Wiethoff threw three touchdown passes and rushed for another as DePauw won its fourth straight game by defeating host Centre 41-26. The Tigers improved to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference with the win. The Colonels dropped to 3-6 overall and 1-4 in the conference.

The Tigers set the tone for the contest on the game's first series as they took nearly half of the first quarter to drive 65 yards and take a 7-0 lead on Matt McMahon's 4-yard run with 7:40 left in the first. McMahon totaled 50 yards on the drive as the Tigers kept the ball on the ground for 13 of their 14 plays against a strong wind.

On the second play of DePauw's next series, a fumbled handoff on second down was recovered by Centre's Jeremy Ware at the DePauw 5. The DePauw defense put together a goal line stand and forced the Colonels into a 22-yard field goal by Chris Thompson.

DePauw opened the second quarter from its own 26 and, following a 4-yard run by McMahon, Wiethoff teamed with all-American Jamarcus Shephard who beat the defense for a 70-yard score to make it 14-3 with 13:25 left in the half. They made it 21-3 later in the second when, following a short Centre punt, Wiethoff connected with Shephard again for a 56-yard touchdown.

Centre reached paydirt on a 2-yard pass from Brian Behrendt to Adam Clark with just 37 seconds left in the first half to cut the DePauw lead to 21-0. The drive was kept alive by a successful fake punt on fourth-and-five from the Centre 40 and another fourth-down conversion in the DePauw red zone.

Andrew Huff intercepted a Behrendt pass early in the second half and returned it to the Centre 18. The Tigers looked poised to score again, but Jeremiah Marks fumbled near the goal line and Cetnre recovered at its own one. The Tigers did make it 28-10 after starting a drive on their own 31. Consecutive passes from Wiethoff to tight end Chase Jonason totaled 66 yards and set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Marks.

Wiethoff's 1-yard keeper early in the fourth pushed the lead to 34-10. Another defensive stand gave the Tigers the ball on the Centre 43 and eight straight runs by Marks pushed the ball to the Centre eight. Marks fumbled at the Centre four on second down and Chad Loveless recovered for the Colonels.

Behrendt completed an 11-yard pass to Zach Brooks on first down and then found David Crowley who streaked down the left sideline for an 85-yard touchdown with 5:29 remaining. Behrendt and Rhese McKenzie teamed for the two-point conversion that cut the margin to 34-18.

The Tigers recovered an onside kick and used the clock well in driving to the seven where Wiethoff tossed a 7-yard scoring pass to Jonason to make it 41-18 with 1:42 left. Behrendt's 17-yard pass to Crowley with 38 seconds remaining and a subsequent two-point play involving the two wrapped up the scoring.

"We did everything possible to give them a chance which you can't do against an offense like theirs," Bill Lynch said referring to the Tigers' four turnovers and a punt that was blocked. "Our defense played great except for a few plays.

The Tigers outgained Centre 448-421 and held a 208-31 advantage on the ground. McMahon rushed for a career-high 97 yards on 25 carries and Marks added 87 on 18 attempts. Wiethoff completed eight of 13 passes for a career-high 240 yards along with three touchdowns and an efficiency rating of 277.38. He also rushed for 24 yards. Shephard had four catches for 156 yards, while Jonason finished with three for 73 yards.

Behrendt completed 34 of 49 yards for 369 yards and three scores, while Crowley caught 11 passes for 218 yards and two touchdowns. Jeremy Britt rushed for 42 yards and caught seven passes for 28 yards.

Defensively, the Tigers held their fourth opponent under 100 rushing yards and were led by Eric Lewis finished with 10 tackles and Greg Sylvester had nine. Dustin Hertel finished with 2.5 tackles for 18 yards of losses including an 11-yard sack. Jarrod Zywien had 12 stops for the Colonels with Loveless adding six.

"I think this football team can be pretty good," Lynch said of his Tigers. "We have two more weeks to get better."

DePauw returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Rose-Hulman in the final home and SCAC game of the 2004 season.