GAMBIER, Ohio – The College of Wooster football team utilized excellent field position and an explosive offense to skate to a 44-14 halftime lead Saturday at McBride Field. The host Kenyon College Lords charged back in the second half, but their rally fell short and the Fighting Scots walked away with a 51-41 North Coast Athletic Conference win.

The game featured 558 yards of offense from Wooster and 479 yards of offense from Kenyon. The difference was in the ground game. Wooster, led by junior Antonio Bailey, rang up 174 rushing yards on 52 carries, while the Lords, who were forced to play catch-up most of the game, ran the ball just 26 times for 93 yards.

The Lords offense once again was led by the combo of sophomore quarterback Thomas Merkle and junior receiver Ian Robertson. Merkle completed a season-high 41 passes on a career-high 62 attempts. He piled up 386 yards through the air, while throwing five touchdowns and just one interception. Robertson was on the receiving end of 14 of those completions, which he converted into 163 yards and three scores.

Brandon Byrd, a senior receiver, added 11 catches for a 72 yards and a touchdown, while Daniel Russell hauled in six balls for 64 yards and another score. Byrd, surprisingly, led the Lords in rushing with 46 yards on three carries. Freshman Seamus McCurren ran for 44 yards on 11 carries and back-up quarterback Sam Appel scampered for 11 yards, including the Lords' lone rushing touchdown.

While those numbers were certainly impressive, Wooster's trio of Bailey, Gary Muntean and Nick Strausbaugh stole the spotlight. Bailey ran for 165 yards and three touchdowns. Muntean completed 21-of-29 passes for 384 yards and Strausbaugh caught eight passes for 212 yards and four touchdowns.

The Fighting Scots (6-2, 5-2 NCAC) took advantage of great field position to score on seven consecutive possessions in the first half. After going three-and-out during its first possession, Wooster started its next three drives in Kenyon territory. That outstanding field position resulted in two Bailey touchdown runs and a 41-yard field goal from Trevor Bowden.

In between those Wooster drives, Kenyon squeaked in Appel's touchdown run and headed into the second quarter trailing 17-7.

Over the next 15 minutes, Muntean and Strausbaugh took over the game. The two connected on TD tosses of 64, 31, 29 and 21 yards to blow the game wide open. Kenyon's only response was a 30-yard scoring strike from Merkle to Robertson.

The team's then traded a touchdown in the third quarter and moved toward the fourth with Wooster in front, 51-21.

The Lords defense rebounded and held the Fighting Scots scoreless over the game's final 20 minutes. That allowed Merkle the chance to orchestrate three scoring drives that put a scare in the Scots. The Lords' rally, however, hit a couple of snags, as Wooster picked off one Merkle pass and later thwarted two Kenyon on-side kick attempts.

Kenyon (0-8, 0-7 NCAC) will play its final home game next week against DePauw University. That game has been moved to an 11 a.m. start. The season finale will follow on the road at Denison University.