Final Stats

October 18 – Junior Wayne Mundekis plunged into the end zone from 1-yard with just 13 seconds to go, lifting the Oberlin College football team to a thrilling 31-28 come-from-behind victory over Kenyon College on Saturday afternoon.

The Yeomen trailed by 11, 28-17, with just 10 minutes left to play when senior quarterback Greg Mangan orchestrated a 9-play, 69-yard scoring drive that ended in a 1-yard TD toss to tight end Danny Enright. A successful two-point conversion to Mike Loll cut the Kenyon edge to three, 28-25, with just under five minutes to play.

The Lords, looking to run out the clock, gained one first down on the ensuing drive – but the Yeomen defense would not let them again another. After a pick up of three on first down and a six-yard rush on second down, the Yeomen defense was staring at a 3rd-and-1 situation and rose to the occasion as Cody Weiwandt and Adam Wigren busted through the line to tackle Mike Hermanson for a loss of one. With the Yeomen now out of timeouts, the Kenyon coaching staff elected to try and convert the 4th-and-2 from the Oberlin 48-yard line, but Thomas Parker's rush went for no gain as Ron Rupard blew up the play in the Lords' backfield.

The leadership of and veteran poise of Mangan shined through on the game-winning scoring drive – completing 5-of-6 passes – including three to Loll that covered 14, 6 and 22 yards to setup the game-ending heroics.

“This was a great win for our team,” head coach Jeff Ramsey said. “It really shows the true heart that these guys on team have as they never gave up and battled through the adversity all day long to come away with this win.”

After falling behind 7-0, the Yeomen (2-4, 2-1 NCAC) responded with a 12-play, 80-yard drive that was capped off by a 14-yard TD catch by #J.J. Hepp# with 1:20 left in the opening quarter as they drive took 6:40 off of the clock.

Another Lords score made it 14-7, but in relief of Mangan, freshman quarterback Bryan Thompson led Oberlin down the field with his arm and his legs as he hooked up with Ryan Harvey from 17-yards out to tie the game. On the drive that went seven plays for 60 yards, Thompson rushed for 49 yards on five carries and finished with a team-high 69 yards on eight carries for the game.

Kenyon (1-6, 0-4 NCAC) started the second half with its third TD, but sophomore place kicker Zach Richard answered with his first field goal of the season, which came from 35 yards out to make it 21-17 game with 7:45 left in the third.

Mangan finished the day 27-of-36 for 251 yards and two scores without an interception. Loll had a career game, hauling in 11 catches for 128 yards. Rupard also had a career-best effort with 14 tackles, with none bigger than his stop on the 4th-and-2 play that setup the game-winning drive.

Oberlin looks to carry this momentum into next week as it returns home to host NCAC foe Earlham on Saturday after at 1 p.m.