DELAWARE — The Otterbein football team opened its 2024 season with a 26-7 loss at Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday evening. Freshman Cass Cole had an impressive debut with 122 receiving yards, and the Cardinal defense recorded a pair of interceptions to highlight Otterbein's play on the night.

The Basics

• Records: Otterbein (0-1 overall), Ohio Wesleyan (1-0 overall)
• Venue: Selby Stadium - Delaware, Ohio

Otterbein Stat Leaders

• Freshman Cass Cole led the Otterbein offense with six receptions for 122 yards in his collegiate debut. Junior Zane Duning added three receptions for 48 yards.
• Sophomore Matt Griffin led the Otterbein rushing attack with seven carries for 28 yards and a touchdown.
• Redshirt senior transfer quarterback Hayden Lehman completed 13 of 29 passes for 191 yards in his Otterbein debut.
• Senior Justin Bartlett recorded a team-high 10 total tackles to go with nine each from sophomore Izaac Swope and junior Thomas Cherry.
• Redshirt senior Randy Cochran Jr. and junior Tyreek Gunnell recorded one interception each for the Cardinal defense.

Game Summary

• The Battling Bishops scored on their opening drive, capping it with an 8-yard touchdown run from Nathan Severs.
• After a 41-yard OWU punt that went out of bounds at the Otterbein 1-yard line, the Bishops recorded a safety on the Cardinals' ensuing offensive play for a 9-0 lead with 10:33 left in the second quarter.
• Otterbein ended the Bishops' next drive prematurely courtesy of an interception by Gunnell.
• OWU later capped an eight-play, 73-yard drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Kaden Buza to Josh Hurst for a 16-0 lead with 3:39 left in the second quarter.
• Later in the period, the Otterbein defense stepped up once again to end a promising OWU drive that saw the Bishops advance to the Cardinal 14-yard line, as Cochran Jr. intercepted Buza with 44 seconds left. A scuffle ensued following the return, leading to multiple ejections.
• The Cardinal defense came up with a big stop on OWU's first drive of the second half, forcing an incomplete pass on 4th and 4 from the Otterbein 19-yard line. However, the Bishops later added to their lead on a 2-yard touchdown run from Devon Haley to go up 23-0 with 2:19 left in the third quarter.
• Otterbein put together a seven-play, 56-yard scoring drive early in the fourth quarter highlighted by a 40-yard pass from Lehmann to Cole. Three plays later, Griffin found the end zone on a 9-yard touchdown run that made the score 23-7 following the PAT with 12:35 left in the game.
• The Bishops answered with a 10-play, 53-yard drive that ended with a 26-yard field goal for a 26-7 lead with 8:14 remaining to cap the scoring.
• The Bishops finished with a 313-255 edge in total yards.

Notables

• Saturday's game marked the debut of interim head coach Jake Schaefer.
• Gunnell's interception was the third of his career. Cochran Jr., a transfer from Akron, now has three interceptions in his Otterbein career.
• Griffin's rushing touchdown was the fifth of his career.
• Bartlett's career totals include 184 tackles, 35.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks. He ranks fifth all-time at Otterbein in tackles for loss and is 5.5 sacks shy of moving into fifth all-time in that category.

Quote

• Head coach Jake Schaefer: "This was the first game of the season, so there were some mistakes early on on both sides of the football. Offensively, we got a couple drives going in the first half that were cut short by either a critical penalty or a drop by a receiver. And at quarterback, we have to limit turnovers. That was a big point of emphasis going into the season, and we didn't do that tonight. But defensively, I thought we did a good job playing a sound football game. We just have to limit how much time the defense is out on the field. We forced a couple big turnovers but had a couple penalties on the defensive side that hurt some drives. If we can just start playing a little more complementary football that's a game we think we can win. But we're excited to head into OAC play and excited to see a good freshman debut from Cassidy Cole, who had some big catches. He's a big explosive playmaker. So we have a lot of things to build around and stay positive about as a team."