In a 2-8 season filled with promise, the Oberlin College football team ended a 44-game losing streak, equaled their win total of the previous nine years, finished with multiple wins for the first time since 1989 and set records on both offense and defense. All told, an impressive season for the young team.
The Yeomen won two of their last five games, but the season ended in disappointment on Nov. 17 as they were shut out 21-0 by Earlham. The conference loss dropped them into a seventh-place tie with Denison for the season. Both teams finished 2-5 in the conference and 2-8 overall.
“I’d like to have seen a lot more [wins] this year,” senior punter Bob Montag said. “We were a lot more competitive this year than in all my other years combined.”
The offense struggled in three of the team’s last four games, scoring a total of 13 points against Wooster, Ohio Wesleyan and Earlham, but that didn’t stop the 2001 Yeomen from breaking the school record for total offense in a season with 3,395 yards. The previous record of 3,270 had been set by the 1974 Yeomen, the last Oberlin team with a winning record. The team more than tripled its total yardage from 2000 and scored more than four times as many points with 196.
The defense grew stronger as the season went on and played better than its season numbers indicate. In five of the team’s final six games the defense allowed 28 points or fewer, and nearly half (149) of the 315 points the defense allowed came in three games. The Yeomen set a record for fewest rushing yards allowed in a game by holding Denison to minus 20 in a 33-20 win.
“After every game we could feel we were getting better,” sophomore defensive lineman Jesus Juarez said.
The defense was led by a veteran core that included senior captain Sam Hobi, who has been named to both the First-Team All-NCAC Football Squad and First-Team Academic All-District IV Football Team. Hobi was the first Yeomen elected to the All-NCAC first-team since 1992.
Montag, along with junior Ricky Valenzuela and sophomore Quammie Semper were named to the All-NCAC second-team, and Juarez, first-year Scott Barker and senior Tim Salazar all received honorable mentions. Salazar was also named to the Academic All-District second-team.
Head coach Jeff Ramsey said he told the team at the beginning of the season that they could finish “anywhere from 8-2 to 2-8. We reached the bare minimum of my expectation.”
Regardless, this season has to be viewed as successful as the Yeomen not only ended a haunting losing streak but also proved that this team knows how to win. With the two wins, Ramsey’s Oberlin record is 2-28, better than any of his three immediate predecessors.
If nothing else, the season was successful in this year’s new recruits, especially on offense. First-years Ryan Squatrito and Jim Cooper both saw time at quarterback, first-year Travis Oman emerged as the leading running back, and the core receivers — junior transfer Valenzuela and first-years Barker and Zach Lewis — were all new students. First-year place kicker Steve Willever set a record with 20 extra points in a season, and Squatrito and Lewis connected for the longest touchdown pass in Oberlin history — 86 yards against Hiram.
“It was a very talented class,” Ramsey said of this year’s recruits. “It helped propel us to ending this damn losing streak.”
Valenzuela made a huge impression in his first year, setting new school records for receiving yards in a game with 239 against Wabash and in a season with 990. The Yeomen also set team records for passing yards and total offense in the Wabash game with 405 yards and 530 yards, respectively.
The team will graduate seven seniors: Hobi, Montag, Salazar, Gary Arbuckle, Chad Raver, Dave Smolev and Matt Usher. For Montag, Arbuckle, Raver and Smolev, the only four players to have been with the team for four years, the first victories were well-earned and a long time in coming. The team’s younger players were well aware of its significance for them.
“I’m sure it was a lot more fulfilling for the seniors,” Lewis said. “Even just losing that many games [eight, in the season], I hated it.”
“It was emotional. It was a relief. It was a combination of so many emotions,” Montag said. “That last taste is what you’re going to remember,” he said of the two victories this year.
“Next season started yesterday,” Ramsey said after the team’s final game. “The experience we gained this year will carry us to bigger and better things next year,” he added.
This young team has plenty of talent, and as it matures it should only get better. Expect more success next year.