GREENCASTLE, Ind. – The undefeated DePauw University Tigers got off to a fast start in Saturday's North Coast Athletic Conference football game with the visiting Kenyon College Lords. As it turned out, they needed every bit of a 17-0 first-quarter lead to defeat the Lords by a final score of 48-35.

Freshman quarterback Thomas Merkle led an air attack that has never been seen before at Kenyon. He completed 44-of-66 passes for 438 yards and four touchdowns. The 44 completions and 438 yards smashed Kenyon individual, single-game records previously set by Dan Shannon (35 completions against Hiram in 2010) and Chris Creighton (435 passing yards against Kalamazoo in 1989).

Hauling in nearly half of that yardage was senior receiver Brian Hunca, who caught 18 passes for 207 yards and one touchdown. His 18 receptions also established a Kenyon single-game record, one that was originally set by Andy Pillay (17 receptions against Denison in 2001), and his 207 yards were three shy of tying his personal, career-best of 210 yards, which he chalked up against Wooster last season.

Unfortunately for the Lords, those numbers didn't add up to victory. DePauw used a balanced offensive attack and capitalized on two Kenyon turnovers to claim the 13-point victory.

Tigers' senior quarterback Matt Hunt completed 18-of-30 passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. In all, DePauw had 471 yards of total offense evenly split between the passing and running games, while Kenyon had 492 yards of total offense with just 54 yards coming from the ground game.

DePauw (4-0, 3-0 NCAC) whipped up the first score of the game on a Marko Adams' 41-yard field. Kenyon then drove down to the DePauw 34-yard line before Merkle was picked off by Brooks Hepp. That turnover eventually led to a Hunt 37-yard touchdown run. Before the quarter could end, Ian Good snared a 27-yard touchdown pass from Hunt and the Tigers had a 17-0 lead.

Kenyon (3-2, 2-2 NCAC) first scored with 12:12 left in the second quarter. The Lords took possession at mid-field after Cody Keenan recovered a DePauw fumble. Five plays later, Nat Henry found pay dirt from two-yards out.

DePauw answered with another field goal, but Kenyon got a big play from Merkle and Jibri McLean, who hooked up on a 35-yard touchdown pass that sliced the Lords' deficit to six points.

As the Lords were gaining momentum, DePauw closed out the first half with a nine-play, 76-yard drive that ended in another Hunt touchdown pass, giving the Tigers a 27-14 lead at the break. That lead was not safe, however. Kenyon started the third quarter with a monster drive that covered 17 plays, 75 yards and chewed 6:36 off the clock. It ended with a Merkle-to-Hunca 14-yard scoring strike.

Still in the game, the Lords just couldn't get that defensive stop that they needed. DePauw posted another touchdown at the end of the third quarter and then came up with another interception that eventually led to one more score and a 41-21 lead. Good field position led to one, final, fourth-quarter score and DePauw sat comfortably on a 48-21 lead with 13:05 left to play.

To its credit, Kenyon did not throw in the towel. Merkle completed late touchdown passes of 16 and five yards to sophomore Ian Robertson to bring an end to all the scoring.

Robertson finished the game with a dozen catches for 93 yards, while McLean had 10 catches for 112 yards. On the ground, the best Kenyon could muster was 57 yards on 23 attempts from Henry.

Andy Hunt, a sophomore and Matt's younger brother, caught 16 balls for the Tigers and turned them into 159 yards and two scores.

Kenyon remains on the road next week as it heads to Delaware, Ohio to take on Ohio Wesleyan University (1-3, 1-2 NCAC) in a game that is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.