Tiger Football Collects Win No. 800 Against Howard Payne

SPRINGFIELD, OH - Wittenberg Football reached a significant milestone, capturing the 800th victory in the rich history of the program with a 36-29 win over visiting Howard Payne University.

In the first meeting between the two teams, the Tigers expanded on a 9-0 halftime lead to take a seemingly secure 29-7 advantage into final 15 minutes. However, the Yellow Jackets responded with a 22-7 blitz in the fourth quarter before the Tigers registered a sack near midfield in the closing seconds that finally ended the game.

Wittenberg, which hadn't played a game in three weeks due to a cancellation caused by security threats to the campus, evened its record at 1-1. Howard Payne fell to 1-3 on the season.

While the win was the Tigers' first of the 2024 season, it was the 800th in the history of the program. Wittenberg is just the second NCAA Division III program to reach that mark. At the outset of the 2024 campaign, Mount Union led with 854 all-time wins, followed by Wittenberg with 799, and Washington & Jefferson with 781.

The two halves couldn't have played out much more different. The defenses dominated the first 30 minutes, especially Wittenberg's, which pitched a shutout. The Tiger offense was limited as well, managing a field goal by Lucas Swierk (Morrow, OH / Little Miami) in the first quarter after the defense forced a turnover deep in Howard Payne territory and finally breaking into the end zone with just 40 seconds left before halftime on a 35-yard pass from Max Milton (Carmel, IN / Heritage Christian) to Eric Rasheed (Fletcher, NC / Hendersonville).

After the Tigers extended the lead to 16-0 on their first possession of the third quarter on a 58-yard pass from Milton to Rasheed, Howard Payne responded with its best drive of the game to score a touchdown. After another Yellow Jacket turnover, Christian Manville (Westerville, OH / New Albany) capped a short drive with a nine-yard touchdown run, and the Tigers appeared to put the game out of reach with their first defensive score of the season, a scoop and score by defensive end Eli Renick (Sarasota, FL / Riverview).

After Howard Payne answered with a touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter, Milton tossed a six-yard scoring strike to Earl Pope (Miami, FL / Carol City) with 9:27 remaining to make the score 36-15. From there, Howard Payne scored twice to make the final moments tense, but the game ended with linebacker Tyre Smith (Sarasota, FL / Riverview) wrapping up HPU quarterback Zy Gravitt for the aforementioned sack.

Milton piled up 303 yardds on 19-of-32 passing in the game. Rasheed led the receiving corps with four catches for 112 yards, followed by Pope with seven catches for 83 yards, and Kahleel Trent (Springboro, OH / Springboro) with five receptions for 79 yards. Manville topped the rushing attack with 29 carries for 116 yards.

Smith was extremely active defensively, finishing with 10 tackles, including 2.5 for loss (13 yards). Cameron Snurr (Springboro, OH / Springboro) added seven tackles and Luke Jackson (DeGraff, OH / Indian Lake) finished with six stops. Also of note was the play of Renick with 2.5 tackles for loss (10 yards) and three quarterback hurries, and Dalton Allen () with two tackles for loss (12 yards) and three quarterback hurries.

Next up for the Tigers is a Homecoming date with Denison at 2 p.m. Saturday, October 5, at Edwards-Maurer Field.