CRAWFORDSVILLE, Ind. (September 24, 2022) – A wild second half featuring four touchdowns from each team and three touchdown drives in the final three minutes of the game ended with a nail-biting 45-42 victory for the Denison University football team at Wabash College on Saturday afternoon inside Little Giant Stadium. Denison remained undefeated on the season at 4-0 and improved to 2-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
For the Big Red, it was their first win over Wabash since 2018, and was only their second win ever in Crawfordsville (first since 1969). For Wabash, which fell to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the NCAC, the loss snapped a string of 25 consecutive Homecoming wins for the Little Giants dating back to 1995.
It was a gigantic day for Trey Fabrocini, who entered the game on Saturday ranking second in NCAA Division III in rushing touchdowns with seven in addition to leading the conference and ranking 15th nationally with 340 rushing yards through three games.
Denison scored first with a six-yard rushing touchdown by Fabrocini with 3:23 to go in the first quarter, finishing off a 13-play, 57-yard drive, and then Fabrocini capped off a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a seven-yard score to make it 14-7 with 7:45 left in the second quarter.
Just before halftime, a big 42-yard field goal by Daniel Cunningham sent the Big Red into the locker room up 17-14, but then the Little Giants came out in the second half with some big plays through the air before using a pair of long touchdown runs on back-to-back possessions to take a 28-17 lead with 5:53 left in the third quarter.
On the first Denison possession after going behind by double digits, a big pickup on third-and-six from quarterback Drew Dawkins to Josh Aiello kept the drive going, and then a bullet pass from Dawkins to Aiello for 26 yards set the Big Red up at first-and-goal from the seven-yard line. Three straight runs got the ball into the endzone to cap the 10-play, 68-yard drive with Fabrocini’s 10th rushing touchdown of the season to make the score 28-24.
Unfortunately, a 35-yard touchdown pass on Wabash’s next possession again made it a two-score game early in the fourth quarter. A squib kick by the Little Giants gave the Big Red good field position on their next drive, and Denison did not waste its opportunity as they charged down the field for 63 yards in nine plays and saw Fabrocini rush into the endzone untouched from three yards out to make it 35-31.
On third-and-10 on the next possession for Wabash, a huge sack by Michael Ballenger got the Big Red the ball back with seven minutes to go. A clutch pickup on third-and-six from Dawkins to Mack Marston kept the drive going, but then the worst case scenario happened as a fumble gave the ball back to the Little Giants.
Fortunately for Denison, a three-and-out forced by the Big Red defense gave them another chance, but a great punt by Wabash forced Denison to have to go 97 yards in three minutes.
On the next play, a 32-yard pickup from Dawkins to Marston got the Big Red away from their own endzone, and then one play later, Dawkins scrambled and found a wide open Marston, who got a block and sprinted untouched down the sideline for 65 yards to the house. After the quick two-play, 97-yard drive that took only 43 seconds off the clock, Cunningham added the extra point to make it a three-point lead at 38-35 for the Big Red.
With 2:08 remaining, Wabash began its drive to either tie the game or go for the lead. The Little Giants moved the ball into Denison territory, and then a 32-yard run by quarterback Liam Thompsen on fourth-and-12 set Wabash up at the Denison seven-yard line, leading to the go-ahead touchdown with 45 seconds left.
After going 97 yards in two plays on its last possession, Denison started at its own 24-yard line with 40 seconds and three timeouts left.
Denison’s big play specialist, Billy Guzzo, who averages nearly 30 yards per catch so far this season, got loose down the sideline, and a perfect pass by Dawkins to Guzzo got the Big Red to within the Wabash 25-yard line with 16 seconds to go.
After an incompletion in the endzone looking for Aiello, Dawkins wasn’t fazed and found Guzzo on the next play for the 18-yard game-winning touchdown.
In Denison’s last two possessions of the game, the Big Red went a combined 173 yards in 77 seconds, including 76 yards in five plays and 34 seconds to win it on the final drive.
The Big Red entered the contest averaging 515.7 yards of offense a game to lead the conference and rank 17th in the nation, and they surpassed that number with 552 total yards and 251 yards on the ground on Saturday.
Dawkins, who entered the game second in the NCAC behind only Thompson in passing touchdowns, had nerves of steel down the stretch and refused to back down en route to finishing with 301 passing yards and two touchdowns while also adding 58 yards on the ground.
Speaking of yards on the ground, Fabrocini, who became the fourth player in Denison history (Eric Ivary, Canaan Gebele, Alex Minton) and the first since 2017 to rush for four touchdowns in one game, finished with 32 carries for a career-high 171 yards. Fabrocini has now topped the 100-yard mark in all four games this season, and has scored at least three touchdowns in three of them.
Marston led the Big Red receiving corps with four catches for 109 yards, his second 100-yard performance of the season so far.
The Denison defense was paced by Nathan Hallenbeck with 10 tackles while Jonathan Bearden added nine, Jeff Moore was all over the field with eight, and Roshaune Downie led the Big Red with six solo tackles.
One of the biggest differences on the day between the two teams was the three interceptions in the first half for the Big Red defense on Thompson. Jack Nimesheim had the first pick of the day on Wabash’s very first drive of the game, and then Anthony Rooney, who also finished with three pass breakups on the game, had the pick on the Little Giants’ second drive. Then in the final three minutes of the first half, Jaylin Epps intercepted Thompson on third-and-four from the Denison 36-yard line.
In the end, it was a battle between two great quarterbacks, Dawkins and Thompsen, that was ultimately decided by who had the ball last.
Next up will be another important matchup for Denison as they welcome No. 22 nationally-ranked DePauw University into Deeds Field-Piper Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, October 1, during Big Red Weekend.