The Wittenberg Tigers close out the 2004 regular season in need of a spark to carry into the offseason. Following a pair of heartbreaking, last-second conference losses at Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster the last two weeks, the Tigers' hopes for a North Coast Athletic Conference championship have been dashed.

However, pride and a second-place finish in the final conference standings are on the line when arch-rival Allegheny invades Edwards-Maurer Field on Saturday. The Tigers are 4-0 on their home turf in 2004, and if they can make it a perfect home season they will move to 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the NCAC, which could be good for a second-place tie if unbeaten Wooster defeats Ohio Wesleyan in their de facto NCAC championship game this weekend.

Lavon Wilborn

Offensively, the Tigers feature great balance with averages of 237.3 yards rushing and 240.3 yards passing per game in 2004, good for an average of 477.7 yards of total offense, which ranks second in the NCAC and 10th in NCAA Division III. Wittenberg also ranks 31st in rushing offense and fifth in scoring offense at 45.2 points per game nationally.

The starting quarterback is senior Ryan Holmes, who leads the NCAC in pass efficiency for a second straight year. Holmes is completing 59 percent of his passes and owns a touchdown to interception ratio of 22-7 and a rating of 148.90, which ranks 21st nationally. Sixteen players have caught at least one pass this season, with eight of them reaching double figures in total receptions. Junior wide receiver Jered Glover is Holmes' favorite target with 34 receptions, 454 yards and six touchdowns, but his absence due to injury was significant in the last two weeks. Junior tailback Tristan Murray is the team's featured running back, ranking third in the NCAC with 119 yards per game and a robust 5.9 yards per carry, including a 218-yard performance in an Oct. 23 win over Wabash. He is second in scoring at 12.7 points per game, a mark that puts him eighth in the nation.

Defensively, the Tigers, tops in the NCAC in total defense 10 of the last 12 years, are allowing an uncharacteristic 29.9 points per game, including 64 in overtime a week ago (the most points scored against Wittenberg since 1949). Sophomore safety Mitch Fonseca, with 27 tackles the last two weeks, leads the team with 57 total tackles, followed closely by freshman linebacker Wade Laughrey with 51. Fonseca and junior safety Adam Hewitt share the team lead with 24 solo tackles, and Hewitt is one of three players with a team-leading three interceptions - the others being freshman cornerback Alan Tracewell and junior cornerback Lavon Wilborn.

The Allegheny Gators are in rebuilding mode a year after a senior-laden team ran the table in the NCAC before losing on a last-second field goal in the first round of the NCAA Division III Tournament. Sophomore Jimmy Savage has had his ups and downs at quarterback for the Gators and sophomore tailback Mario Tarquinio has carried the freight with 996 yards and 12 touchdowns on 189 carries this season.

Allegheny ranks ninth in the NCAC in passing offense and total offense as the young group has struggled to find consistency. In winning four straight games to improve to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in the NCAC, the Gators have relied on a stout defensive unit that is holding opponents to 16.4 points per game (2nd in the NCAC) and 145.1 yards passing (1st in the NCAC). Allegheny ranks second in the conference in total defense at 282.9 yards per contest.

For the third straight year, Wittenberg's Student Athlete Advisory Committee is organizing a Toys For Tots collection during a home football game. Athletes from a variety of Wittenberg varsity teams will be collecting toys and monetary donations at posts near the entrances of Edwards-Maurer Field on Saturday.

Wittenberg is blessed with outstanding radio coverage again in 2004, as Marty Bannister heads things up for a 12th straight year. Bannister has been joined most games in the booth by former Tiger captain Tim Dellapina, who has filled in for Scott Leo due to schedule conflicts much of the season. Also on the broadcast team for home games is Wittenberg sophomore Sean Golden, who is providing on-field insights and postgame interviews during home games.

This year's broadcasts can be heard locally on WUSO 89.1-FM, the university's student-operated station. It can also be heard around the world on the Internet thanks to Wittenberg's partnership with Stretch Internet. Wittenberg fans do not have to pay to listen to broadcasts, and anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can log in and listen.

Feedback during and after games is encouraged using a new e-mail address: wittradio@yahoo.com. Whenever possible, e-mails will be read on the air during games by the announcers, and questions will be answered at that time.

Will Block

Junior tailback Will Block returned a kickoff 98 yards to set a school record and spark one of the biggest comebacks in school history in the overtime loss last Saturday at Wooster. The previous record was 94 yards set by Jered Glover a year ago against Thomas More. Block's touchdown was the first of three straight touchdowns Wittenberg scored in the fourth quarter to rally from a 58-37 deficit and force the extra period. He ranks 13th in the nation with an average of 27.6 yards per kickoff return.

One has to go back 12 years to find Wittenberg's last shutout loss. Baldwin-Wallace did the honors in the opening game of the 1992 season. Since the loss to B-W, Wittenberg has played 139 games without suffering a shutout. During that span, Wittenberg has recorded 28 shutouts of its own. In addition, the Tigers have been held below 10 points in a game on just one occasion since 1992 - against Mercyhurst in a 7-6 victory in 1993.

With losses the last two weeks against NCAC arch-rivals Ohio Wesleyan and Wooster, the Tigers have lost back-to-back games for the first time in an amazing 12 years. The last time that happened was in the first game of the 1992 season, when Baldwin-Wallace defeated the Tigers after Ohio Wesleyan had done the honors in the 1991 finale. In between, Wittenberg went 137 games without losing two straight games, a testament to consistency.

Three losses is the most in one season for Wittenberg under Head Coach Joe Fincham and the most for the program since 1991, when the Tigers went 5-5 overall and 5-3 in the NCAC. Still, with six wins overall and four wins in the NCAC already under its belt, Wittenberg is guaranteed of its 13th straight winning season and its 48th winning season in the last 50 years, dating back to a 4-5 record in 1954, the year before National College Football Hall of Famer Bill Edwards took over as head coach. Also, Wittenberg has never had a losing season in 16 years in the NCAC.

Jered Glover

Jered Glover's climb up the career receiving charts at Wittenberg was slowed the last two weeks when he missed the first game of his collegiate career and then played just briefly in the loss to Wooster after suffering an injury against Wabash on Oct. 23. The team's leading receiver each of the last two years, Glover has added 34 catches for 454 yards and six touchdowns in 2004, bringing his career totals to 130 catches, 1,814 yards and 19 touchdowns, good for fourth, fourth and fifth respectively on the all-time lists.

In all three categories, the next player Glover will leapfrog is former teammate Skip Ivery, who caught 138 passes for 2,114 yards and 24 touchdowns between 2000 and 2003. The school record for receptions is held by Michael Aljancic (147), Rod Miller leads in the receiving yards category with 2,288, and the legendary Bob Cherry is tops in receiving touchdowns with 27.

Also, after a record-setting game against Wooster last week, Ryan Holmes is making his mark on the Wittenberg record books as well. In 26 career games, Holmes has 261 completions in 446 attempts for 3,779 yards, in addition to 13 interceptions and 39 touchdowns. He stands sixth in career yardage and completions, seventh in attempts and third in touchdowns passing. In addition, Holmes is on pace to eclipse the Wittenberg regular season record for passing yards in a season, currently held by Charlie Green, who threw for 2,181 yards in 1963. Holmes has 1,849 yards through nine games.

Tristan Murray

Twice this season, a Tiger has earned NCAC Offensive Player of the Week. Following the come-from-behind win over Thomas More on Sept. 20, quarterback Ryan Holmes garnered the award for his career-best performance. Following the Homecoming win over Wabash on Oct. 23, tailback Tristan Murray garnered the honor after posting career-highs of 218 yards, 28 carries, four receptions and four touchdowns.

Ryan Holmes

Wittenberg came up on the short end of a 64-58 overtime decision at Wooster last weekend. Despite the loss, the young Tigers showed the kind of heart and spirit that will be necessary if Wittenberg is to return to its championship form in 2005. Coming off a stunning loss at Ohio Wesleyan the previous week and dealing with several key injuries, Wittenberg rallied from a 48-17 third-quarter deficit against the Scots and their all-everything senior tailback Tony Sutton. Feeding off a defense that finally came up with a couple of key stands as the game wound to a close, the Tiger offense scored 41 second-half points to force overtime.

But in overtime, the magic suddenly ended for the Tigers, who appeared to have all the momentum after scoring the game's final 21 points in regulation. Ryan Holmes was intercepted on the Tigers' first play from scrimmage, and Sutton a touchdown on the ensuing drive to end the game.

Individually, Holmes had the greatest day statistically ever for a Wittenberg quarterback as he threw for a school-record 439 yards, breaking a 41-year-old record previously held by National College Football Hall of Famer Charlie Green (411). He finished with 25 completions, just two short of the school record, in 44 attempts, and he threw three touchdown passes and ran for the game-tying score on fourth down with just 15 seconds left in the game. Tristan Murray added 107 yards rushing on 23 attempts and 105 yards receiving on five receptions. Junior wide receiver Braden Freeman had a career day, catching 10 passes for 177 yards. Sophomore safety Mitch Fonseca topped the Tigers defensively as he finished with 12 tackles, including a stop of Sutton for a loss on third down late in the game that helped set the stage for the final drive.

Tyler Harmon

The all-time series between Wittenberg and Allegheny stands at 8-7 in favor of the Tigers. Before last year's 27-21 Gator victory in Meadville, Pa., Wittenberg had won six straight games between the traditional NCAC powers. The two teams had never met prior to 1989, when the Tigers joined the conference. At Edwards-Maurer Field in Springfield, the Tigers hold a 5-2 advantage, including the last meeting there in 2002 when Wittenberg claimed a 49-3 victory behind Jason Stephan and his five touchdowns.

In last year's game, the Tigers lost a hard-fought game in the mud at Allegheny, 27-21. Wittenberg's points came courtesy of Jered Glover on a 65-yard pass play, fullback Tyler Harmon on a two-yard run and tailback Raymar Hampshire on a 25-yard scoring run. Each time Wittenberg scored, Allegheny answered almost immediately, and then the Gators came up with a turnover deep in their own territory in the closing minutes to seal the win. Wittenberg got 147 yards rushing on 26 carries from Hampshire and 99 yards on 21 carries from Harmon. Ryan Holmes finished with 11 completions on 21 attempts for 154 yards, and Glover topped the receiving corps with 97 yards on four receptions.

Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. In his ninth season at the helm, Fincham has a 87-14 overall record, including a mark of 56-7 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 81-10. His teams have claimed five conference titles, including four straight outright with undefeated records from 1998-2001. Fincham, who ranks second in winning percentage in NCAA Division III history among coaches with five or more seasons, has been named NCAC Coach of the Year four times.

Allegheny is led by Mark Matlack, who came into the 2004 season with a 12-9 record in two seasons, including a 7-4 mark and the NCAC Championship in 2003. Matlak, a 1978 Allegheny graduate, was an assistant coach at Allegheny for five years after earning four letters and three first-team All-Presidents' Athletic Conference honors as a fullback. He went on to coach at the University of New Hampshire for 13 years, helping the Wildcats to a record of 82-59-1 and three Yankee Conference championships.