Box Score Greencastle, Ind. - Junior quarterback Matt Labus threw five touchdown passes and rushed for another to lead DePauw to a 55-28 win at Hiram in the North Coast Athletic Conference opener for both. The Tigers moved to 2-0 overall, while the Terriers are now 1-1.
Labus put the Tigers on the board on the game's first series with a 20-yard run and then completed a 9-yard scoring pass with Jake Hagan to make it 14-0 with 3:48 left in the opening stanza.
Following a long kickoff return, Hiram needed just three plays to reach paydirt with Torin Mayhew hauling in a 48-yard pass from Randy Tucker.
The Tigers expanded the lead to 34-7 at the half as they scored three times in the final 6:05. Ramon Lopez ran it in from 23 yards before Labus tossed scoring passes of 48 and 16 yards to Ryan Grizzard and Hagan, respectively.
Labus then teamed with Andy Hunt for scores of 30 and 80 yards to push the lead to 48-7 with 4:23 remaining in the third.
Hiram's Isaiah Jones scored on a 5-yard run and DJ Franklin caught a five-yard TD pass from Tucker before DePauw's final score came on an 18-yard pass from Cam Haynes to Logan Greene. Franklin caught a 7-yard pass from Tucker with 1:42 remaining to wrap up the scoring.
DePauw outgained Hiram, 576-392, and held a 31-21 edge in first downs. The Tigers totaled 163 yards on the ground and 413 through the air and limited the Terriers to just 26 rushing yards in 33 attempts including five sacks.
Labus completed 20 of 30 passes for 377 yards and five touchdowns with one interception and rushed for 51 yards on seven carries. The 428 total yards was the second-best DePauw single-game performance behind Jason Lee's 462 yards against Hope on this date in 2000. Hunt caught six of those for 173 yards, while Hagan had five for 40 yards and Nolan Ayres with four for 61 yards.
Tucker completed 25-of-39 passes for Hiram for 366 yards and three scores with Franklin catching five for 53 yards followed by Mayhew with four for 124 yards and CJ Maner with four for 85 yards.
Hunter Sego, Matt Crupi and Brody Gude each had seven tackles with Gude pacing the squad with 2.5 sacks. Sirahn Fields led Hiram with 10 tackles and Eduardo Gonzalez added nine.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday, September 23, when they open the home season with a 1 p.m. NCAC contest with Wooster.
