Greencastle, Ind. - For the second time in three weeks, DePauw's defense recorded a shutout and the offense was efficient as the Tigers blanked visiting Oberlin, 72-0, on Old Gold Day. DePauw, ranked 14th in the latest coaches' poll and 18th by D3football.com, improved to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference, while the Yeomen dropped to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
Carson Johnson returned the opening kickoff 58 yards to the Oberlin 36 and that set up
Seth Mencer's 3-yard touchdown run on the Tigers' fourth play of the game. After a DePauw defensive three-and-out the Tigers drove 73 yards in seven plays capped by
Nathan McCahill's 21-yard pass to
Robby Ballentine which made it 14-0 with 7:42 left in the quarter.Â
The Yeomen picked up a couple first downs on their next series, but DePauw linebacker
Jake Comer picked off Cameron Burke at the DePauw 46 and returned it for a score. The Tigers made it 28-0 after stopping Oberlin on downs and using a 4-play, 45-yard series capped by McCahill's 22-yard scoring pass to
Gabe Quigley.
On its first possession of the second period, DePauw pushed the lead to 35-0 as Johnson scored on a 3-yard run. McCahill finished his day with touchdown passes on the next two possessions including a 38-yard connection with Mencer and a 2-yard toss to Quigley.
Ben Gomez nailed a 31-yard field goal on DePauw's first possession of the second half before
Jake VanBooven ran it in from 40 yards on the Tigers' next series of the half.Â
Logan Shoffner's 6-yard run and
Brock Stewart's 95-yard interception return for a touchdown wrapped up the scoring.
VanBooven led DePauw with 68 of its 179 rushing yards, while Mencer totaled 44. McCahill completed 14-of-16 passes for 247 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Quigley and Ballentine each caught four for 82 and 48 yards, respectively.Â
Burke led Oberlin with 49 rushing yards, while Colten Danel finished with 44. Burke completed 6-of-16 for 76 yards and Ben Suler was 5-of-15 for 29 yards. Rafael Green-Arnone, Connor Steele and Evan Smith-Rooks each caught three.
Carson Dibble,
Ryland Irvin and
Nehemiah Dau each had four tackles for DePauw, while Hunter Green had eight stops for Oberlin.
The Tigers travel to Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday, Oct. 5, for a 2 p.m. game.
NOTES
- The win was DePauw's 18th straight regular season victory and its 10th consecutive home win.Â
- The Tigers have won 14 straight NCAC contests
- Nathan McCahill moved into sixth place in program history with 4,936 career passing yards and third with 57 passing touchdowns
- Robby Ballentine's touchdown catch was his 22nd which ranks seventh in program history and he's now caught at least one TD in his last nine games
- The last time DePauw had two pick-sixes in a game was in the 2022 Monon Bell game when Jake Comer and Brevon Gude each had one
- Both of Jake Comer's career interceptions were returned for 54-yard scores
- Brock Stewart's 95-yard interception return for a score matched the school record held by Robby Schuler who also returned an interception 95 yards on 10/27/2012
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