Wabash College senior quarterback Liam Thompson ran for a career-best 201 yards and broke the North Coast Athletic Conference record for career total offense yards in the Little Giants' 45-35 home win over the College of Wooster Saturday afternoon.
Thompson entered the game second on the NCAC career total offense list with 10,745, trailing all-time leader Mason Espinosa from Ohio Wesleyan with 10,839 career yards. Thompson broke the record with a 90-yard touchdown pass to Derek Allen, Jr. on the second offensive drive of the game for Wabash (4-1, 3-0 NCAC) to give the Little Giants a 14-0 lead. Thompson connected with Penn Stoller on a seven-yard scoring strike on the first possession to end an 11-play, 79-yard drive.
Thompson threw two more touchdown passes and ran for a 59-yard score in the first half to second the Little Giants to the locker room with a 35-7 halftime lead. Wooster (2-3, 1-2 NCAC) dominated the third quarter. The Fighting Scots scored on a one-yard run by quarterback Chanden Lee and got a 33-yard touchdown pass from Lee to Tate Journell to trim the Little Giants' lead to seven points at 35-28 entering the fourth quarter.
Wabash marched 61 yards in ten plays before getting a 28-yard field goal from Brody Rucker to extend its lead back to ten points at 38-28. Thompson added another big run of 35 yards for the Little Giants' final touchdown with 4:15 left in the game for a 45-28 lead.
Wooster added one final big play with a 77-yard touchdown pass from Lee to Journell with 24 seconds left in the game for the duo's second score of the game to produce the final ten-point margin for Wabash.
Thompson finished the game with 490 yards of total offense by throwing for 289 yards and four scores to go with his 201 rushing yards and two running touchdowns. He completed 21-of-29 passes with one interception that set up the Scots' first touchdown of the game on a Lee ten-yard run in the second period. Thompson's 11,235 career yards of total offense trail the Wabash record of 12,054 yards set by Jake Knott from 1999-2002. Wabash joined the NCAC in 2000 in football, giving Knott only three seasons as a league member. Thompson's 490-yard effort ranks third in Wabash single-game history behind his own 491 yards in 2022 against Hampden-Sydney and the school-record 499-yard performance by Dustin Huff in 2007 against Franklin College.
Wabash ran for 356 yards as a team, the most rushing yards by the Little Giants in a game since a 391-yard performance against Wooster two years ago at home. Donovan Snyder topped 100 yards on the ground with 118 yards on 18 carries. Derek Allen, Jr., who caught a second touchdown with a 16-yard reception in the second quarter to put Wabash in front 28-0, led the Little Giant receivers with career-highs of 11 catches for 185 yards. Connor Thompson caught four passes for 64 yards in his first game of the season after missing the four previous contests due to an injury. He hauled in a 21-yard pass from his brother, Liam, for a touchdown in the first quarter to give Wabash the early 21-0 lead.
Wabash outgained Wooster in total yards 645 to 391. Lee completed 15-of-32 passes for 262 yards and three scores and ran for 23 yards and two more touchdowns. The Scots finished with 92 rushing yards.
Gavin Ruppert led the Wabash defense with a season-best 13 tackles. Steven Thomas and Jerry McBee recorded sacks for the Little Giants. Thomas made two tackles for losses of four yards.
Wabash travels to Denison next Saturday for a 1 p.m. NCAC contest.
Game Notes
» Wabash had two players reach the end zone multiple times, as Derek Allen Jr. scored two touchdowns and Liam Thompson added another two.
» Liam Thompson and Donovan Snyder all rushed for over 100 yards for the Little Giants.
» Wabash outgained Wooster 645-391, including a 356-92 advantage on the ground.
» The Little Giants scored first with 8:43 remaining in the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the game on their way to victory.
» Wabash had their highest scoring quarter in the first period when they put up 21 points.
» Wabash converted 8 of 12 third downs while Wooster was successful on 2 of 13.
» The Little Giants had two players with more than eight tackles in the ballgame led by Ruppert, who had 13.
» Wabash scored three first-quarter touchdowns.
» Wabash scored on a 90 yard strike from to .
» Wabash won the time of possession battle 33:26 to 26:34.
» Wabash got off to a great start in the contest, putting 28 unanswered points on the board before Wooster could respond.
» Liam Thompson completed 72.4% of his passes on the day, going 21-for-29 while averaging 10 yards per attempt.
» Chanden Lee led the Fighting Scots passing attack, completing 15 of his 31 attempts for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
» Brazos Gadler was Wooster's leading receiver with 111 yards.
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