“The pace of the game certainly affected our defense,” Wittenberg coach Joe Fincham said. “It was only magnified by the fact that our offense couldn’t stay on the field. Obviously, the heat of the day didn’t help our cause either. When things got rolling early in the game for Huntingdon, it got really hard on us.
“I felt our kids, especially defensively, pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and continued to play, but 104 snaps, that’s rough on anybody.”
Injuries: Starting linebacker Evan Killilea missed Saturday’s game and will miss at least the next two games after having his appendix removed Oct. 3. Instead of moving another linebacker into the lineup Saturday, the Tigers started a fifth defensive back, Heath Eby, a sophomore from Cloverleaf High School in Lodi, Ohio.
“He’s done nothing but good things this year,” Fincham said. “He worked really hard to improve himself in the offseason. He’s shown to be very dependable.”
Odds and ends: Kicker Sean Williams’ school-record streak of 50 straight made extra points ended with a miss against Huntingdon.
• Linebacker Zach Hurtt had a career-high 19 tackles Saturday.
• Wittenberg (5-1) fell from 14th to 28th in the D3Football.com poll and from 11th to 24th in the American Football Coaches Association poll.
• Of Wittenberg’s first six opponents, Huntingdon is the only one that currently has a winning record. Two of the final four teams on the schedule have winning records: Wabash (5-0) and Carnegie Mellon (4-2).
Wittenberg and Wabash are the only teams in the North Coast Athletic Conference above .500. Denison and Allegheny are 3-3.
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