BEREA, Ohio - Baldwin Wallace University, ranked No. 25 in the most recent D3football.com Top 25 Poll, raced out to a 21-0 lead after one quarter of play in a 41-7 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) victory over the Wilmington College football team at George Finnie Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Fightin' Quaker defense forced a turnover of the game as Brandon Weaver stripped the ball from Jon Murray Jr. and Jarod Lee fell on it. The Wilmington offense couldn't move the chains, however, and the Yellow Jackets' offenses scored on three of its next four possessions to take a 21-0 lead. The visitors' offense couldn't get going, but the defense came up with a stop as Tre'Quez Parks and Tavion Bryant, Beechcroft High School alumni, combined to sack Keagan Armitage.
The Yellow Jackets' defense continued to impress on the ensuing possession, sacking WC quarterback Derek Larimer on consecutive players. Still up the three touchdowns midway through the second quarter, the hosts all but put the game away with an eight-play, 85-yard drive to go up 28-0.
Baldwin Wallace scored the first 10 points of the second half with a touchdown in the third quarter and a field goal to open the fourth. Tim Triplett, who relieved Larimer at quarterback, rebounded from an interception to lead a seven-play, 43-yard touchdown drive that culminated with a 14-yard pass from Triplett to Itika Wynn Jr. That would be Wilmington's only score of the game as BW added a field goal for the game's final points.
The Yellow Jackets outgained the Quakers 517-229 overall including by a 359-83 margin on the ground. BW was also much more successful moving the chains, converting 5-of-11 third down conversions compared to an 0-of-10 for Wilmington.
Murray Jr. rushed 31 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns for BW while Armitage completed 7-of-11 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Larimer went 13-of-19 for Wilmington with Ameer Jackson and Wynn Jr. both hauling in five passes. Dallas Rawlings was the Quakers' leading rusher, thanks in part for a 57-yard run.
Defensively, Parks finished with a team-high 20 tackles, marking the fourth-highest total in a single game in program history. Lee chipped in a dozen tackles while Bryant had eight including being a part of two sacks. For BW, Nick Pankow had 10 tackles and two sacks while Sekou Imani had six tackles, four of which were sacks. The Yellow Jackets had eight sacks as a team.
Wilmington heads back to Northeast Ohio for a game at John Carroll University next Saturday.
