Tiffin, Ohio - The Wayne State University football team (4-1 overall, 3-1 GLIAC) moved into a second-place tie in the GLIAC standings with a 38-8 victory at Tiffin University (0-5 overall, 0-4 GLIAC) Saturday afternoon.
The Warrior offense started strong going 76 yards in nine plays following the opening kickoff with freshman quarterback Mickey Mohner (Painesville, Ohio/Harvey) tossing a 19-yard scoring strike on third-and-16 to sophomore Troy Burrell (Port Huron, Mich.). The big play was a 37-yard reception by Aaron Higginbottom (Flint, Mich./Beecher) from Mockner.
WSU increased its lead on its next possession. The Warriors took over the Tiffin 36 following Stan Thornton's (Cincinnati, Ohio/Withrow) interception and 46 yard return. Thornton's 12th career interception moved him into a tie-for-8th all-time at WSU, while also placing him second in career interception return yards with 252.
Six carries by senior running back Joique Bell (Benton Harbor, Mich.) netted 41 yards and his 73rd career touchdown. Anthony Morasso's (Detroit, Mich./Harper Woods Notre Dame) second PAT of the contest made it 14-0 visitors with 4:57 left in the first quarter.
After an exchange of punts, the Dragons went 45 yards in five plays with Brett Koepp rushing 24 yards for a touchdown on a third-and-two. Holder David Singleton bobbled a high snap and rushed in the end zone for a two-point conversion just 1:18 into the second period.
Wayne State answered with a 12-play, 60-yard drive with Bell scoring his second touchdown of the game. On the touchdown run, Bell became WSU's all-time leader in career rushing attempts with 997 passing Hall of Famer Joe Gough (1991-94).
Tiffin went 48 yards on the ensuing drive, but Kenny Watson (Dayton, Ohio/Chaminade-Julienne) blocked a 34-yard field goal attempt and Thornton went 73 yards for his fifth career touchdown. It was the first blocked field goal return for a TD by a Wayne State player since Earl Carruthers went 42 yards on Sept. 27, 2003, vs. Ferris State.
On the first possession of the second half, Tiffin drove into WSU territory but Dragon wide receiver Greg Raspberry fumbled after a hard hit by sophomore Kenny Loney (Novi, Mich./Walled Lake Western) with sophomore Jeremy Jones (Rockford, Mich.) recovering at the WSU 34.
On the 10th play of Wayne State's first drive of the third quarter, Morasso made a 36-yard field goal increasing the Warrior lead to 31-8.
Back-to-back three-and-outs were followed by a 10 play TU drive, but Nate Scully's pass on fourth down was incomplete. Two Bell runs preceded a 65-yard touchdown pass from Mohner to Burrell. Burrell set career-highs with two touchdown catches and 84 receiving yards in the contest.
Freshman defensive tackle Greg Hasse (Northville, Mich.) recovered a fumble on Tiffin's next possession, but the Warrior offense went three-and-out. Following a Tiffin punt, senior Bruno Shkreli (Livonia, Mich./Clarenceville) had five carries for 16 yards after gaining 24 yards on two attempts in the third quarter.
After Tiffin's punt on its last drive of the game, Wayne State was able to run out the final 6:19 of the clock as sophomore Josh Renel (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Adams) had seven carries for 38 yards and Branko Hamilton (Troy, Mich.) added a seven-yard carry.
For the game, WSU rushed for 255 yards compared to 107 for Tiffin. Bell led all rushers with 175 yards on 35 carries. Mohner completed 7-of-14 for 153 yards, while Scully was 19-of-30 for 136 yards.
Notes:
The 2009 Warriors are just the second team since 1980 to start the year 4-1 (2008 was the other squad).
Saturday's game was WSU's first at Tiffin since Nov. 7, 1987.
Wayne State has won its last four road games.
WSU was +3 in turnovers in the game improving its season total to +7.
Place-kicker Anthony Morasso had a career-high eight points with 5-of-5 on PAT and a 36-yard field goal.
Bell became WSU's all-time leader in career rushing attempts. His career total is at 1,009. He also moved into second place on the WSU total offensive plays chart with 1,023. Hall of Fame quarterback Ed Skowneski (1972-75) has the school mark with 1,036.
Stan Thornton moved into fifth place on the WSU all-time kickoff return yards list at 889. He past Dick Byas (1971-73), who had 877.
Bell moved into 17th place on the all-time NCAA Division II rushing yards list with 5,534 yards.
Bell is 12th in all-time NCAA Division II scoring with 444 points, which ranks tied-for-23rd of all NCAA Divisions (I, I-AA, II and III) with Appalachian State's Kevin Richardson (2004-07). He needs eight points to tie Texas' Ricky Williams (1995-98) for 22nd place all-time.
Bell is 26th in NCAA Division II all-time all-purpose yards list with 6,624.
