DOVER, Del. – Wesley College's 4th-ranked football team scored the first 28 points of the game and rolled to a 56-21 victory over Louisiana College on Saturday afternoon at Scott D. Miller Stadium. With the Homecoming victory, the Wolverines improve to 5-0 on the season while the Wildcats fall to 2-3.
Joe Callahan threw for 362 yards and five touchdowns and also ran for a score while Jamar Baynard caught six passes for a team-high 122 yards along with 62 rushing yards. Baynard also had one touchdown both through the air and on the ground.
Beau James caught a two-yard touchdown pass from Callahan for his first career score with 5:21 left in the first half on Wesley's opening drive that went 13 plays for 80 yards and ate up nearly six minutes. A ten-yard sweep to Steve Koudossou, who grabbed six passes for 83 yards, started the possession and a 15-yard carry by Baynard got the Wolverines inside the redzone. Following a quick pass to Koudossou, James was left wide open in the flat for the score.
With his first catch earlier in the drive, Koudossou set a school-record for catching a pass in 32-straight games to break Joe Naselli's old mark. A senior from Waldorf, Md., Koudossou also became the first Wolverine with 3,000 career receiving yards. Callahan also went over 5,000 career passing yards and moved in the top five at Wesley in career touchdown passes during the drive and later in the game moved in the top five in career passing yards.
Sosthene Kapepula, who led the Wolverines with ten tackles and tied Bryan Robinson for seventh-most at Wesley, came up big with a tackle for loss on a screen pass to force a Louisiana punt and Wesley started at its own 20-yardline. Short passes to Kyle George (5 rec., 93 yards) and Bryce Shade gave the Wolverines a first down before Callahan escaped pressure and took off for a career-long 51 yard run. On the very next play, Baynard busted through the line and scored from four yards out.
A brilliant effort by the defensive line, including defensive tackles Brenton Barnes, Payton Rose and Dan Laguerre forced a LC three-and-out on the next possession and Sean Hopkins sparked the offense with a 28-yard punt return. A personal foul by the Wildcats gave Wesley an extra 15 yards and on the next play from scrimmage, Shade made a great catch despite the coverage for a 27-yard touchdown.
The point after by sophomore Eric Speidel, who made his collegiate football debut after starting at third base for the baseball team last year, was successful and Wesley led 21-0 after three quarters of play.
Neither team could get much going early in the second quarter but with just over five minutes left in the half, Aamir Petrose sacked Easton Melancon to force a fumble which was recovered by Laguerre. Three plays later, Callahan hit George down the middle of the field and the six-foot-four, 250 pound tight end broke several tackles en route to a 50-yard touchdown.
The 28 point lead was short lived as Ladarius Gardner caught a 77-yard touchdown pass from Melancon on Louisiana's second play of the drive, but Callahan led the Navy & White on a quick 11 play, 80 yard drive before calling his own number for a two-yard touchdown run with 12 ticks left in the second quarter. Key on the drive was a 33-yard pass to Koudossou, gains of 13 and 12 yards to Baynard from Callahan, a 15-yard pass to Tory Robinson and a pass interference call.
With a 35-7 advantage at the half, Wesley scored on its first possession in the third quarter with a screen pass to Baynard which went 68 yards for a touchdown. Speidel once again made the PAT and then made a touchdown-saving tackle on the ensuing kickoff.
Louisiana College later scored on that drive, cutting the deficit to 42-14 but a touchdown pass to Xavier Allen followed by a 41-yard TD run by Brandon Wright early in the fourth sealed the victory for Wesley. On the long touchdown run, which was the 20th of his career, Wright also passed Shane McSweeny for ninth on the school's all-time rushing list.
The 561 yards of total offense was a season-high for the Wolverines but the defense came up just as big with three takeaways and allowing just 28 rushing yards on 28 attempts. Two of those takeaways were by senior Leon Jones who now moved into sixth at Wesley with 12 career interceptions, tying him with Mike Simpson who was inducted into the Wesley Athletic Hall of Fame along with 12 others the night before.
Jordan Wescott was credited with nine tackles including a tackle for loss while Rose finished with seven, including 1.5 for loss. Rose and Petrose made it even more difficult for Melancon as both broke up a team-high three passes at the line of scrimmage. Luke Maginnis matched Rose with 1.5 tackles for loss.
Melancon passes for a season-high 389 yards and three touchdowns but also needed career-highs in completions (33) and attempts (59) to do so.
Finishing up their Division III schedule with the win, the Wolverines will now go on the road for three-straight games, starting with Concordia-Selma (Ala.) on Saturday, October 11. Kickoff is slated for a 1 pm Eastern Time.