News

BEREA — The weather was warm but Wilmington College’s offense never thawed out as the Quakers lost, 28-14, at Baldwin-Wallace Saturday afternoon.

The loss drops Wilmington to 1-7 in Ohio Athletic Conference action, 1-8 overall. Baldwin-Wallace improves to 3-5 in the conference, 3-6 for the season.

Wilmington’s defense spent most of the day on the field and kept things close. The Quakers managed just four yards on six offensive plays in the opening quarter, but trailed just 7-0 after 15 minutes, thanks to a pair of fourth-down stops from the WC defensive unit.

Wilmington tied the game with a 10-play, 61-yard drive that was capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass from Billy Blackburn (New Vienna/East Clinton) to Darren Howard (New Vienna/East Clinton). The TD reception was Howard’s fourth of the season.

The Yellow Jackets, though, expanded the lead to 21-7 at the break with scoring runs from quarterback Anthony Gardner and tailback John McGraw.

The lead grew to 28-7 when Gardner hit Aaron Hurd with a 5-yard pass late in the third quarter.

The Quakers tightened the score in the closing minutes with a 68-yard drive that ended with Blackburn finding Luke Green (Wilmington) for a 4-yard touchdown strike. The touchdown was the first in Green’s Wilmington College career.

Baldwin-Wallace, in avenging a 27-21 loss at Wilmington in 2008, won the statistical battle, including time of possession. The Jackets had the ball more than 36 of the game’s 60 minutes.

Wilmington’s defensive effort produced a record-tying performance from junior linebacker Bryce Martin. The OAC’s leading tackler, Martin (Wilmington) finished the game with 21 tackles to tie the single-game team record set by Lance Barker in the Quakers’ 27-24 win over Bluffton during the 1988 season.

The game also marked Blackburn’s ascent on the WC all-time passing list. The senior quarterback moved past 2009 WC Hall of Famer Eric Noble into third place on the team’s career touchdown passes chart with 63.

The Quakers will close the season Nov. 14 when Ohio Northern visits Williams Stadium.