WOOSTER, Ohio – Big plays, coupled with a relentless running game, elevated The College of Wooster football team to a 41-16 North Coast Athletic Conference victory over the Kenyon College Lords on Saturday afternoon at John P. Papp Stadium.

Wooster (3-5, 3-4 NCAC) averaged 7.1 yards per run while piling up 300 rushing yards against a Lords team that was only able to generate 75 rushing yards and an average of 2.7 per carry. The disparity was made that much more evident with Wooster touchdown runs of 80 and 52 yards.

Kenyon (3-5, 2-5 NCAC) did get off to a good start, taking the opening drive 67 yards and getting a Szabi Simo 21-yard field goal to show for it. Wooster, however, responded with a quick touchdown and went on to score five times in seven first-half possessions.

The Fighting Scots' opening drive spanned ten plays, covered 75 yards and ended with quarterback Gary Muntean's 14-yard touchdown toss to Nick Cummings. Kenyon senior Jack Hanratty intercepted Muntean on the Fighting Scots' next possession, but the Lords could not capitalize. When Kenyon punted the ball back to Wooster, Cummings returned it 89 yards for a touchdown and a 14-3 Wooster lead after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Wooster got an 80-yard touchdown run from Antonio Bailey, a four-yard touchdown run from Brandon Adams and a 28-yard touchdown pass from Muntean to Tyson Vogel. That barrage, crammed into a 12-minute frame, pushed Wooster ahead 34-3.

Kenyon stopped the bleeding with its final possession of the first half. Freshman quarterback Thomas Merkle made key connections with sophomore Ian Robertson and then finished off the drive with a 15-yard scoring strike to senior Jibri McLean.

Throughout the game, Kenyon moved the ball through the air. Merkle ended up completing 33 of his 55 passes attempts for 353 yards. He had the one touchdown and he also threw one interception. Robertson caught 12 of those passes for a career-high 155 yards. Ian Bell snared seven passes for 62 yards, Brian Hunca caught five balls for 77 yards and McLean finished with four catches for 37 yards.

Muntean, the conference's leader with an average of 302.9 passing yards per game, only threw the ball nine times in the second half and finished the game 16-of-26 for 197 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Fighting Scots' ground game took care of business. Bailey finished with 114 rushing yards on 12 carries. Adams, who also had a 52-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, finished with 87 yards on 13 carries.

Trailing by 31, the Lords registered their final score of the game on sophomore Rob Meagher's one-yard plunge that capped off an eight-play, 67-yard Kenyon drive with 3:36 left on the third-quarter clock.  Meagher finished the game with 61 rushing yards on 13 carries. Bell added 18 rushing yards on three carries.

Overall, Kenyon did rack up 28 first downs and churned up 428 yards of offense, but the Lords could not finish drives, including two late in the game that ended on downs inside of the Wooster ten-yard line.

The road ahead doesn't get any easier for Kenyon. It heads to Wittenberg University (7-1, 6-1 NCAC) for a 1 p.m. contest next Saturday.