Box Score
September 6 – Greg Mangan became Oberlin's all-time leader in passing touchdowns and yardage, but it wasn't enough as the Oberlin College Yeomen dropped their season opener to the No. 12 Washington & Jefferson Presidents 49-35 in front of 4,233 fans on Saturday afternoon at Savage Stadium.
“This was a great football game today,” head coach
Jeff Ramsey said. “We played our tails off and left everything out on the field. We just came up a little short, but we have a lot to build on and gained a lot of confidence about the way we performed today.”
Mangan finished the day 19-of-30 for 248 yards to go along with three touchdowns. The San Francisco, California, native now has 38 career touchdowns and 5,381 yards passing to sit atop the OC record book in each of those categories.
Making his return to the gridiron after taking last season off, senior
Mike Loll served as Mangan's top pass catcher, snagging five balls for 76 yards – including a 25-yard touchdown.
#R.V. Carroll# carried the pigskin 23 times for 91 yards and added 44 through the air.
First-year
Drew Mixter and sophomore
Austin Richards led the way defensively with 13 tackles apiece, while
Ron Rupard added 10 of his own.
The Yeomen jumped on the Presidents early as Carroll capped off an 11-play, 80-yard drive with a 13-yard TD catch from Mangan. The touchdown toss tied Mangan with former Oberlin great Kev O'Connor for the most touchdown passes in school history.
After two scores by W&J to end the first quarter, the Yeomen rallied back to grab a 21-14 edge with 3:17 left in the first half, with scores coming from Loll and
Wayne Mundekis.
However, the Presidents wouldn't go away quietly as Curt Jones added one of his four scores on a 1-yard TD plunge just before the break to knot things up at 21.
Through the first 10 minutes of the third quarter both teams' offenses were stagnant, but Loll provided the spark the Yeomen were looking for with a blocked punt that was scooped up by
Peter Morris for a 32-yard touchdown return.
Back-to-back TD runs by Jones to end the third and start fourth put W&J on top 35-28, but on the ensuing possession, Mangan went up top – connecting with sophomore
Ryan Harvey for a 51-yard score. Mangan displayed great poise on the play as he hung in the pocket till the very last second and took a big hit from a Presidents' defender just after releasing the ball.
However, it took W&J just 2:38 to drive 51 yards before Bobby Swallow's 1-yard QB sneak put the Presidents on top for good with 10 minutes left to play.
Oberlin did manage to secure three possessions down the stretch, but the Presidents' defense locked down and never let the Yeomen start a serve threat.
The Yeomen take next week off before hosting Case Western Reserve on September 20 as part of the athletics homecoming weekend.
