Tigers win fourth straight; top Centre 30-23

DANVILLE, KY. - After opening the season with four losses by a total of 18 points, the Tigers made it all the way back to .500 with their fourth straight win as they defeated host Centre College, 30-23, in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest. DePauw improved to 4-4 overall and 3-2 in the SCAC, while Centre fell to 4-4 and 2-3.

Ben Murray's 25-yard field goal and Jason Lee's 1-yard run gave the Tigers a 10-0 first quarter lead before Centre quarterback Drew Mildren teamed with Ely Santos on a 34-yard scoring play to cut the gap to 10-6 at halftime.

After the defense opened the second half by pinning the Colonels deep in their own territory, the Tiger offense wasted little time in covering 32 yards in seven plays with A.J. Smart rushing in from two yards out for the score to make it 17-6 with 11:48 left in the third.

Later in the quarter, after Shawn Odle's interception at the Centre 13, Lee rushed in for another score from the 1-yard line to give DePauw a 24-6 advantage with 5:47 remaining in the third.

After a pair of DePauw sacks moved the hosts back to their own 29, Mildren teamed with Joe Guthrie for a 71-yard score. The point-after kick failed and DePauw's lead was cut to 24-12 with only 1:03 left in the third.

DePauw made it 30-12 in the fourth on two field goals from Murray of 36 and 33 yards, respectively.

Centre closed to within 10 after driving 70 yards in eight plays and in 2:05 with Mildren connecting on a 3-yard pass to Jeremy Gomez. Mildren tossed the two-point conversion pass to Guthrie to cut the Tigers' lead to 30-20 with 3:47 remaining.

The hosts got the ball again with 2:32 left and drove to the DePauw 21, but had to settle for a 37-yard field goal from Nick Zilich with 28 seconds left to make it 30-23. After recovering the second Centre onside kick in the last four minutes, DePauw was able to run out the clock.

The Tigers' balanced offensive attack included 168 rushing yards and 174 passing, while the defense put together another solid showing by allowing just 11 rushing yards and 299 total. Over the last three games, the DePauw defense has allowed only 30 yards in 78 attempts.

Matt King led the Tigers with 85 rushing yards, while Smart added 54. Joe Schoen hauled in six passes for 74 yards and Neville Grant had five for 59 yards. Lee finished with 13 of 30 passing for 174 yards.

Mildren completed 21 of 36 for 288 yards and three touchdowns, but was intercepted three times. Guthrie caught six passes for 125 yards, while Gomez also hauled in six for 60 yards.

Jason Geringer and Mike Laszynski led the defense with six tackles each. In all, the Tigers sacked Centre six times with Brian Close pacing DePauw with 3.5. Eric Heyman and Carter Conley each had nine tackles for the Colonels.

DePauw closes out the SCAC portion of the schedule on Saturday at home against Rose-Hulman. 

TIGER NOTES: DePauw has now won 21 of 23 games over the second half of the last five seasons and all 12 following the midseason break of each of the last three seasons ... The DePauw defense has limited its last three opponents to a combined 30 rushing yards in 78 attempts and recorded  ... Joe Schoen moved into fourth place on the DePauw all-time receptions list with 131 and also ranks seventh with 1,690 career receiving yards. His 58 catches this season is the fourth highest single season total in school history and his 729 receiving yards is the eighth most ... Jason Lee's 1,918 passing yards this year ranks fifth in school history for a season ... The Tigers played the game without backup receiver Dan Ryan who was out due to injury. Ryan leads the team with 66 points and has tied the single-season touchdown reception record with 11.