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WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The season finale between Otterbein and Wilmington went right down to the wire yet again Saturday night at a cold Memorial Stadium, with the Quakers getting a late defensive stand to outlast the Cardinals by a final score of 37-33.

The contest got weird quick, as the visitors led 17-6 midway through the first quarter after multiple big plays. Wilmington successfully went for two after scoring its first touchdown, returned a blocked extra point for another two, and then hit a long pass to put Otterbein in an early hole.

The Cardinals battled back as quarterback Bryce Hall began playing backyard pitch-and-catch with senior tight end Jeb Jones and, more notably, freshman wideout Marcellus Vanderkodde. The youngster had TD catches of 51 and 39 yards before halftime where he alertly came back to the ball and beat defenders.

Wilmington took a 20-19 lead into the break, and then regained momentum after ballooning its margin to 34-19 in the third quarter. Otterbein didn't go away as Hall connected with Tay Currelly-Johnson on a 4th-and-11 bomb that went into the books as a 35-yard aerial score.

The Cards nearly rallied out of a two-possession hole in the closing minutes. Vanderkodde grabbed his third score with 3:44 on the clock, and Hall found Robert Jordan near the pylon for a two-point conversion. That left the score 37-33.

Wilmington's Ben Hobbs worked hard to move the chains on a critical 3rd-and-1 carry, but the Quakers found trouble shortly thereafter. Otterbein linebacker Justin Bartlett put them behind the chains with a huge sack and then, despite the Cardinals being out of timeouts, the Quakers elected to throw on third down with roughly 90 seconds left. Hobbs corralled a two-yard pass near the sideline and was pushed out of bounds by Greg Nolder.

After a shanked punt of just nine yards, Otterbein took over at its own 40 with plenty of time (1:21) to make a final push. Hall quickly hit passes to Vanderkodde and Jones, getting down to the Wilmington 32-yard line and keeping the comeback alive. Unfortunately, three-straight incompletions allowed the Quakers to somehow narrowly escape.

The game featured a combined 942 yards of total offense between the teams. Hall threw for 417 and five touchdowns in his final college game, settling just 11 shy of his own Otterbein single-game passing record. Vanderkodde (8 for 182) and Jones (7 for 180) delivered career nights as well.

Hobbs ran 26 times for 124 yards on the visiting side, and Wilmington also received 11 catches for 124 yards from standout Itika Wynn Jr. The Quakers held 36:30 time of possession.
Nolder led all players with 12 tackles and ends his season with 86 total stops, just one shy of leading the entire conference. Caleb Rice added 10 of his own for the unit.

Sophomore Adyn Snyder averaged 41 yards across six punts, including a long of 51 and two settling inside the 20.

Prior to kickoff, Otterbein recognized senior members of the football program, cheerleading squad and marching band.