Gambier, Ohio - The Oberlin College football team closed out the 2023 season, falling 38-10 at Kenyon College on Saturday afternoon.
The Owls defense held the Yeomen to 166 total yards and had sophomore quarterback
Drew Nye under duress all afternoon long as he was sacked seven times while finishing 19-of-40 for 155 yards to go along with one interception and one touchdown.
Freshman
Jamykle Benison ended with 40 yards receiving on three catches, while
Evan Smith-Rooks snagged four passes for 39 yards.
The Owls scored on three of their first four possessions, which included the game-opening 61-yard drive that took just 2:55 off the clock. Oberlin would respond with a promising jaunt of its own, but would stall out in the red zone and ultimately had to settle for a 27-yard
Wes Penta field goal that capped off a 12-play, 59-yard march.
After forcing a missed field goal on the Owls second opportunity with the ball, it appeared as if the Yeomen defense stood tall once again by stuffing a QB sneak attempt where the ball came out but the officials ruled differently and Benjamin Jordan ran it in from four yards out on the next play to make it a 14-3 Kenyon advantage.
Later trailing 21-3, Oberlin was looking to double-up with points at the end of the first half and was then in line to receive the second-half kickoff. The first half of that plan worked to perfection as Nye drove the Yeomen down the field and connected with
Greg Lane for a 21-yard scoring strike to finish off an 8-play, 73-yard drive that cut the halftime deficit down to 21-10.
Oberlin started deep in its own territory in the third quarter and disaster struck as a jailbreak blitz led to Nye under-throwing a ball on the far sideline that was intercepted and returned 30 yards for a touchdown by Kendall Weaver.
Kenyon would go on to score 10 more points in the second half as the Oberlin offense continued to sputter, leaving no doubt in the eventual outcome.
Hunter Green led the defense with 15 tackles, while
Luca Friedman added 10 stops in the loss.
Oberlin concludes the season at 1-9 overall and 0-8 in the NCAC. Kenyon ends its 2023 campaign at 2-8 and 2-6 in the NCAC.
