Wooster Has Week Off to Regroup for Baird Brothers Trophy Game

Austin Holter

The College of Wooster football team is in an unfamiliar position heading into its bye week, as the Fighting Scots are carrying an 0-2 record for the first time since the 1995 season. Wooster has this week to regroup and prepare for its final non-conference game of the year, which will be Saturday, Sept. 22, at northeast Ohio rival Case Western Reserve University (0-2). That night (kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., at 2,400-seat Case Field), the Scots will be aiming to retain one of the more peculair trophies in college sports, the Baird Brothers Trophy (see below), for the 11th-straight season. Case has beaten two of Wooster’s fellow North Coast Athletic Conference schools, Oberlin College (37-15) and Denison University (45-6), in the first two weeks, and play another NCAC member, Kenyon College (1-1), this Saturday at 1 p.m.

Baird Brothers Trophy: One of the most unique trophies, as noted by Sports Illustrated in 1995, in college football rivalry games is presented to the winner of the Case-Wooster game. It is a golden fishing stringer that holds carved bass fish, named the Baird Brothers Trophy after its creators. Bill and Bob Baird were long-time economics professors at Wooster and Case, respectively, as well as ardent fishermen. The winning team adds a fish, which symbolizes some aspect of how that year’s game was played. The tradition began in 1984, and the trophy currently sports a flounder, a carp, a bluegill, a pike, a walleye, a rainbow trout, a catfish, a sturgeon, a sucker, a crappie, a muskie, a sheepshead, a gar, a largemouth bass, and a smallmouth bass.

Last Week: On Sept. 8, Austin Holter (Johnstown, Ohio / Johnstown-Monroe) threw three long touchdown passes and rushed for another, leading the Scots to a 28-7 halftime lead, but Waynesburg University turned the tables and then some in the second half, scoring five touchdowns and spoiling Wooster’s 2007 home opener with a 45-35 comeback victory.

The first half was all Scots. On their second drive, Holter threw a deep ball down the left sideline, which was tipped initially by a Waynesburg defender and then hauled in by Jordan Ferns (Canfield, Ohio / Canfield) for a 37-yard touchdown. The Yellow Jackets tied it right back up on a five-play, 79-yard drive only to see Holter find Ferns again on a deep pass three offensive plays later, connecting for a 51-yard touchdown, which completed the scoring in the first quarter.

On the second play of the second quarter, Wooster extended its lead to 21-7 when Holter made another big play, this time a 44-yard touchdown pass to Will Miska (Hillsborough, N.J. / Hillsborough) on 3rd-and-8. The Scots had another quick drive on their next possession, as they went 63 yards in five plays, with Holter running it in on a quarterback keeper from 13 yards out for a three-touchdown advantage. Waynesburg appeared to blow a couple of golden opportunities to get back in the game late in the first half, first fumbling on the Wooster 1-yard line and then after getting the ball back on a Scot turnover the Yellow Jackets threw an interception at the Wooster 11. Forcing the fumble was defensive tackle Aaron Patterson (Steubenville, Ohio / Steubenville) and recovering it was defensive back Jeff Geffert (Mentor, Ohio / Mentor), while linebacker Trey Simmerman (Clarksburg, W. Va. / Notre Dame) had the key interception.

Trailing by 21 at halftime, Waynesburg, with the assistance of two blocked punts, scored three times during the third quarter, to pull within 28-24. Another special teams’ miscue helped allow the Yellow Jackets take their first lead early in the fourth quarter, as a bad snap on a punt attempt resulted in a short field and another Waynesburg touchdown.

The Scots answered with their best drive of the second half, marching 59 yards over 12 plays, capped by a Dustin Sheppard (Johnstown, Ohio / Johnstown-Monroe) one-yard touchdown run to go back ahead (35-31). On the ensuing kickoff, Waynesburg appeared it may be returning it for a touchdown, but right after the returner crossed midfield, Scot kickoff specialist Kevin Friedman (Pepper Pike, Ohio / St. Peter Chanel) forced a fumble and recovered it himself with 7:34 to go.

Wooster attempted to work the clock down a little bit, but turned it over on downs when the Yellow Jackets stopped a 4th-and-inches play. The two teams then exchanged punts, and it appeared Waynesburg would have one more opportunity, getting the ball back around midfield with one timeout and 2:38 remaining. But, it only took them two plays to go the distance, as a screen pass to the tailback turned into a 52-yard touchdown, giving the Yellow Jackets a 38-35 lead. Wooster had one more chance, taking over on its 38-yard line with 1:50 left, however, penalties on two of the first three plays of that series pushed the Scots back and they eventually turned the ball over on downs.
Individually for the game, Holter ended up completing 16-of-28 passes for 255 yards and was also the Scots’ leading rusher, netting 21 yards. Ferns had a career-high 117 yards, becoming the first Wooster player to go over 100 receiving yards in 14 games. Linebacker Greg Schermbeck (Holly Springs, N.C. / Whitmer – Ohio) led the defense with 12 tackles.  

This and That: Over the last 34 non-conference games, the Scots are 28-6 overall (.824), including the two NCAA Div. III playoff games in 2004 ... The Waynesburg-Wooster game marked the Scots’ first loss in a home opener since 2001 as well as their first loss to a team out of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference after going 10-0 in such games from 1996-2006 ... Defensively, the Scots are leading the league in sacks (8), paced by senior strong safety Jalam Cutting (Akron, Ohio / Buchtel) with 2.5 ... Granted it is early in the season, but junior Kevin Friedman (Pepper Pike, Ohio / St. Peter Chanel) is on pace to set the school record for punting average, as he’s currently at 43.0 yards, ahead of Myndret Busack’s 42.2 way back in 1948 ... Junior running back Dustin Sheppard (Johnstown, Ohio / Johnstown-Monroe) is just 144 yards shy of becoming the 10th player in team history to reach the 2,000-yard milestone for career rushing.