WOOSTER, Ohio - Junior Gary Muntean made program history through the air, but it was The College of Wooster's ground game that provided the majority of the points, and the defense that made a couple of big plays in the final minutes, as the football team topped Allegheny College 49-40 in the team's North Coast Athletic Conference opener on Saturday evening at John P. Papp Stadium.
Six of Wooster's (1-1, 1-0 NCAC) seven touchdowns came on the ground, but Nick Cummings made a highlight-reel grab from 14 yards out on a throw from Muntean on the touchdown through the air with 4:36 remaining in the game.
From there, Wooster's defense took charge. First, junior Ben Kumpf strip-sacked Allegheny (0-2, 0-1 NCAC) quarterback Logan Lee on a 3rd-and-8 play with senior Kevin Komara falling on the loose ball. Then, on the next drive, junior Aaron Roberson drove the Gators backwards with an 11-yard sack, on a play that began at the Scots' 20-yardline, before freshman Jordan Patterson sealed the game two plays later with an interception in the end zone.
Wooster's offense clicked from the get-go once the action, which was delayed twice due to severe weather in the Wooster area, got underway. The Scots' marched 70 yards down the field on the game's opening drive with sophomore Antonio Bailey knifing in from six yards out to cap the 7-play drive.
Allegheny found success on its first drive at well, but settled for a Ben Ziolkowski 28-yard field goal, and in fact led 10-7 with 4:07 left in the first quarter when Lee connected with Alex Victor on a 12-yard touchdown strike.
Wooster took the lead back for good on the ensuing possession with freshman Brandon Adams scoring from four yards out, making it a 14-10 game in favor of Wooster with 1:27 left in the first period. Adams, who went for 41 yards on 12 carries, made the most of his work on the night, and later added 2- and 24-yard touchdown runs.
Allegheny did not go quietly, and pulled within one when Ziolkowski chipped in a 24-yard field goal to make the score 28-27, and later came up unsuccessful on a two-point conversion trailing 42-40 with 10:39 remaining in the game.
Wooster's other scores came via a 1-yard run by Muntean in the second quarter, and a 15-yard run by Bailey in the third quarter.
Speaking of Muntean, the junior signal caller finished with 419 yards passing and backed that up with 42 on the ground. Muntean's passing total marked his fifth 300-yard game, and established a new Wooster program record for that category, while the 461 yards of total offense trail only the 482 he piled up at Hiram College last year.
Muntean's 29 completions were spread out to eight different receivers with Cummings leading the way with 96 stripes on four receptions and the touchdown. Backing Cummings' output up were Bailey, who had five receptions for 78 yards out of the backfield, and senior Nate Huwar who hauled in seven receptions for 52 yards.
Defensively, two of Wooster's linebackers combined for 20 tackles in sophomore Marcus Bowers and freshman KC Okoronkwo, who had 10 stops each. Wooster recorded four sacks on the night, 2.5 of which came at the hands of Roberson.
Notable, the six rushing touchdowns marked the most by Wooster since the Scots had eight against Hiram on Oct. 30, 2010.
Wooster remains at home to take on DePauw University (1-0, 0-0 NCAC) in a 2 p.m. contest next Saturday. The game is also part of Black & Gold Weekend at the College.