Brady Toliver's 43-yard interception return set up the Tigers' second score.

Josh Johnson led the Tigers with 15 tackles including four for loss. Kurt Hare completed 24 of 45 passes for 244 yards. Sophomore receiver Joe Schoen caught seven passes for 114 yards.

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Late rally not enough as Tigers fall to Titans, 28-20

GREENCASTLE, IND. — The Tigers fell behind 13-0 in the first quarter and trailed 21-7 in the third and their late game rally came up short in a 28-20 loss to visiting Illinois Wesleyan. DePauw slipped to 0-2 with the loss, while the Titans are 1-0 after their season opener.

Illinois Wesleyan scored on three of its first four possessions in jumping out to a 21-7 lead in the second quarter. They opened with a 13-play, 50-yard drive on their first possession. The Tigers appeared to be driving on their next series as quarterback Kurt Hare connected with tight end Tyler Kelley for a 30-yard gain to the Illinois Wesleyan 45, but Kelley fumbled and the Titans recovered.

Three plays later, Titans' quarterback Brian Shemansky teamed with Zac Williams for a 48-yard scoring pass for the second of four touchdown plays between the two.

Again the Tigers reached midfield, but Hare was picked off by Brad Andrekus who returned the pick to the Tigers' 32. DePauw stopped the Titans and took over on their own 25. Nine plays later Ryan Tohill rushed in from six yards and Matthew Griggs added the point-after to make it 13-7 with 11:23 left in the half.

Wesleyan came right back with a 13-play drive covering 65 yards and capped off with a nine-yard pass from Shemansky to Williams. Along the way, the Titans converted on one third down and another fourth down situation.

With Illinois Wesleyan driving in the third quarter, DePauw senior defensive lineman Brady Toliver picked off his first collegiate pass at the Tigers' 37 and returned it to the Illinois Wesleyan 20. Hare connected with Kelley for an 18-yard pass play on first down and Tohill had a pair of one-yard runs with the final going for the score to cut the margin to 21-14.

The Titans couldn't take advantage of a Tiger mistake as Glenn Pollard picked off a Hare pass and returned it 59 yards to the Tigers 14. The DePauw defense stop the Titans on downs and kicker Shawn Buhr missed a 29-yard field goal.

Midway through the fourth, the Tigers started on their own 24 and Hare completed four of five passes to drive the Old Gold to the Illinois Wesleyan 39. Four straight incomplete passes, however, gave the ball back to Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans wasted little time in putting together a six-play, 61-yard drive in a 1:56 span capped off by Shemansky's four-yard pass to Williams to make it 28-14.

Joe Schoen returned the ensuing kickoff 29 yards to the DePauw 43 and Hare again got hot with four completions in five attempts including a 24-yard scoring play with Kelley. The point-after was blocked and the Tigers trailed just 28-21 with only 2:38 left.

Freshman kicker Yuji Wada then attempted an onside kick that DePauw had appeared to recover, but the ball eventually ended up in the Titans' possession.

The DePauw defense stopped Wesleyan on three plays and got the ball back on their own 29 with 1:22 left, but a fumble on a reverse gave the ball back to the visitors and they were able to run out the clock.

Hare finished with 244 passing yards on 24 of 45 passing and Schoen finished with seven catches for 114 yards. Shemansky completed 28 of 46 passes for 306 yards with 15 of those completions going to Williams and 10 to Shawn Emerson. Williams' 15 catches equaled an Illinois Wesleyan single-game record.

Defensively, Josh Johnson was in on 15 tackles including four for losses, while Joe Rogowski had 11 tackles. Alson Jacquet was in on 1.5 sacks for 17 yards in losses. Andrekus had 10 tackles in addition to an interception.

The Tigers travel to Hope College next Saturday for the first of four straight road games. Hope lost in season opener to Augustana in double overtime, 34-33.