The College of Wooster football team led twice in the first half, and had three early impressive defensive stops on its own half of the field, before Washington & Jefferson College turned the tide with six touchdowns over a 13:24 span during its 58-20 win on Saturday afternoon in the teams' season-opener at Cameron Stadium in Washington, Pa.
Wooster (0-1) marched right down the field on the season's opening possession, stringing together a 12-play, 67-yard drive, before settling for a 35-yard field goal by junior Trevor Bowden to take an early 3-0 lead. On the drive, junior quarterback Gary Muntean completed four passes for 10 or more yards, including a big 20-yarder to sophomore wide receiver Christian Pinnock to move the chains on a 3rd-and-15 play, positioning the Fighting Scots a few stripes short of midfield.
Just over midway through the first quarter, Washington & Jefferson (1-0) pushed inside Wooster's 20-yard line, but the Scots' defense thwarted the drive led by the efforts of sophomore Marcus Bowers. The Scots' linebacker was in on the tackle in three of the next four plays, highlighted by dragging down Presidents' quarterback Pete Coughlin for a loss of one on a 4th-and-3 play from the Wooster 11-yard line.
On its next drive, Washington & Jefferson needed just one play to get on the scoreboard with a Coughlin-to-Jesse Zubik connection going for 45 yards, and giving the Presidents the 7-3 edge.
Wooster quickly regained the lead in the second quarter, capping a 6-play, 77-yard drive with an 8-yard Muntean-to-Pinnock strike, a play that was set up by a 10-yard hookup between Muntean and senior tight end Nate Huwar that moved the ball inside the Presidents' 10-yard line.
Next, Luke Merhaut sparked Washington & Jefferson with a 53-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, setting up the Presidents in Scots' territory, but a fourth-down pass attempt fell through the hands of the receiver, marking the third time Washington & Jefferson turned the ball over on downs in the first half.
However, the Presidents started clicking on offense from there first, taking the lead on a 10-yard Coughlin-to-Jake Cullen pass with 4:42 left in the first half, then punching in a 2-yard run with :41 remaining to take an 8-point halftime lead, before coming out and putting the game out of reach with a 30-point third quarter.
Wooster tacked on its final score of the day on a 17-yard completion from Muntean to sophomore Alex Woods with 13:38 left in the game.
Muntean led the way offensively for Wooster going 23-for-43 on the afternoon for 311 yards and two scores. Notable, the 311-yard outing marked the junior's fourth straight game over 300 yards passing dating back to last year.
Statistically, Wooster spread the ball around offensive with five receivers recording at least three catches and four of them - Connor Allan, Russell Boston, Christian Santos, and Woods - recorded at least 50 yards receiving each.
Defensively, Kea'Shaun Phillips and D'Andre Brown had memorable debuts for the Scots as the first-years were credited with 12 and eight tackles respectively.
Coughlin led the way for W&J completing 27-of-37 throws for 332 yards and four touchdowns, while Zubik hauled in nine receptions for 124 stripes and a touchdown.
Next, Wooster opens the home and North Coast Athletic Conference portion of its schedule with a 7 p.m. prime-time contest against Allegheny College (0-0) on Saturday, Sept. 10.