“All the guys that came before me are special,” said Fincham, who has just 30 losses in 15 seasons. “Coach Maurer was still in the department when I got here as an assistant. Coach (Bill) Edwards had already passed. I never got the chance to meet him. And, no, I’m not in their stratosphere. I got the job really young, and I’ve been here a long time.”
Assistant coach Mark Ewald presented Fincham with the game ball after the victory as the team congratulated Fincham.
“It’s a point of pride for us to have him as Wittenberg’s winningest coach,” defensive lineman Adam Kattoua said. “The Davey Maurer guys might be a little salty, but I guess that comes with the territory.”
Run game
Wittenberg got off to a strong start on its first drive with Corey Weber going 26 yards for a score on fourth-and-1, but the running game was held to 3 yards per carry by the Gators. The Tigers were stopped on fourth-and-1 twice in the first half.
Zoeller also threw his first interception of the season in the first quarter. That turnover led to Allegheny’s first score.
“We did want to run, and we stuck to our guns,” Fincham said. “It’s easier to stick to your guns when you’ve got a good defense and a good kicking game.”
Weber made one of the key plays of the game on special teams, downing Trevor Cochran’s punt at the Allegheny 3-yard line with 2:38 to play in the game.
Tigers on TV
The game was broadcast by Fox Sports Pittsburgh and was also available on Fox Sports Central. That meant both teams had to deal with TV timeouts, a rarity in Division III.
It also added a little pressure, which was fine with the defense and cornerback Keenan Freeman.
“We came in here planning for this game to be all on us,” Freeman said. “We knew there were going to be bad times. There are always bad times. They put us on TV. We came here expecting to have to scrape one out, and we sure did.”
Standout stats
• Linebacker Zach Hurtt led the Tigers with 14 tackles.
• Linebacker Brad McKinley and defensive linemen Eddie Vallery, Josh Montgomery and Nick Wolfe all had sacks.
• A tipped pass by cornerback Karlos Marshall led to an interception by linebacker Ben Maxwell on Allegheny’s second drive. Maxwell also had a blocked punt that set up Wittenberg’s first score of the second half, a 20-yard field goal by Sean Williams.
• Josh McKee caught five passes for 116 yards. It was his third straight 100-yard game, and he now has eight touchdowns and 630 yards in four games.
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