Football team gets close, Wooster still slips away

For 17:07 on Saturday, the Oberlin football game was a genuine thriller. The Yeomen had rallied from a 14 point deficit to close to within a touchdown of the Wooster Fighting Scots; punctuating the rally with an extraordinary two-point conversion pass that went from quarterback senior James Parker to junior Felix Brooks-Church via sophomore Jason Ross and junior Anthony Johnson.

Indeed, the entire first half in this game was amazing. Both teams had marched up and down the field with ease, and had combined for over 700 yards of total offense in the half alone.

Still this game got away from the Yeomen. Wooster's offense proved to be unstoppable and the Yeomen were unable to keep up, losing 77-28. "I was very impressed," said Head Coach Pete Peterson. "They're a good team, they have nice receivers and a nice quarterback."

Unfortunately for Peterson and Oberlin, those players excelled against the Yeomen. The Scots passed for a school-record 486 yards and six touchdowns, scoring on long plays with some frequency. When all had been said and done, the Scots rolled up 754 yards of offense, and scored on all twelve of their possessions.

But the Yeomen offense was splendid in its own right. Quarterback James Parker broke his own school record (set earlier this year at Kenyon) for yards passing in a game with 316, and the team broke a school record for yards passing with 340. Against a Wooster defense that entered the game ranked second in the NCAC in total defense, this effort was admirable.

Between Wooster lightning strikes, the Oberlin offense was a thing to watch itself. The first Oberlin touchdown drive took 2 plays to go 60 yards, and the second was marked by four passes between Parker and Brooks-Church totaling 62 yards.

Defensive end sophomore Rick Kocher and Safety senior Gerald Blankson even got into the action, with Kocher scoring the first touchdown of his career and throwing a clutch 24-yard pass on fourth down, and Blankson catching a 28-yard touchdown pass that included some nifty running.

But all of the excitement surrounding Oberlin's offense was tempered by the defensive struggles. Blankson said, "I like playing both ways, but I prefer to focus on one thing. Our defense hasn't played as well."

Oberlin football does not make excuses, but this is the thinnest defense that has taken the field for Oberlin since the 1994 team that played both ways. The defense lost six players who significantly contributed last season and when they are hit by injuries, as the linebackers were on Saturday, they are fairly helpless.

Still Peterson knows what he wants to see from his squad: "We executed a little better. There is always room for improvement. We've told them they need to play hard. They've got to play their very best."

This Saturday the Yeomen head to Richmond, Indiana, to take on the Earlham Quakers. Earlham, 1-7, has the worst offense in the conference, but ranks in the middle of the pack defensively. Last year, they took the wind out of a motivated Oberlin team and won 45-0. Both of these teams look at this game as an opportunity for a win.

Oberlin knows this is a chance for their defense to step up, but they also know that Earlham views this as a potential success. Parker cautioned, though, against worrying about Oberlin's chances. "We'll be fine," he says. "We're looking forward to it."

The Yeomen will be without running backs senior Brian Salter and junior Eli Miles, so the passing game is going to have to pick up where they left off against the Scots.

"Maybe they are a better team," Gerald Blankson said. "But we know we can beat them."