GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College football team had some difficulty holding on to the ball Saturday at rain-soaked McBride Field. Four turnovers by the Lords paved the way for The College of Wooster Fighting Scots to roll to a 51-13 North Coast Athletic Conference victory.

The tone was set early, as Kenyon went for a deep pass on the second play of the game. The ball was intercepted by Wooster's Beau Greenwood, who returned it to the Fighting Scots' 34-yard line. The Wooster offense took over and marched 66 yards in 12 plays, capping the drive with a 16-yard scoring strike from quarterback Mateo Renteria to receiver Cole Hissong.

Kenyon got the ball back and fumbled it away on its next play from scrimmage. Wooster's Korey Simmons pounced on the loose ball at the Kenyon 28-yard line. The Lords defense managed to keep the Fighting Scots out of the end zone, but it did yield a 32-yard field goal to Lake Barrett, who pushed Wooster ahead 10-0.

Before the teams could get to the halftime break, Wooster scored four more times. Renteria, who finished the game 19-of-31 for 287 yards, threw a 50-yard touchdown toss to Hissong and followed up with an eight-yard scoring pass to Nick Strausbaugh. With 7:38 still left in the second quarter, Barrett booted a 20-yard field goal to put the Fighting Scots ahead 27-0.

The Lords offense couldn't get anything going until late in the second quarter. Starting at their own 29-yard line, Kenyon took the ball 74 yards in nine plays to erase any hopes Wooster had of a shutout. The big play in the drive was a 46-yard pitch and catch from quarterback Thomas Merkle to receiver Andris Balodis. That set the Lords up on the Wooster nine-yard line. Three plays later, Merkle found Justin Bosch in the far right corner of the end zone. The five-yard pass, along with the point-after attempt, made it 27-7.

When Kenyon had a chance to inch a little bit closer, it fumbled away a punt return. That led to one more Barrett field goal before the break, giving the Fighting Scots a 30-7 advantage.

Aside from its one long scoring drive, Kenyon struggled to crack the Wooster defense. For the game, the Lords made just eight first downs and had 149 yard of total offense. On the other side of the ball, Wooster amassed 29 first downs and 580 yards of total offense.

Despite its struggles, Kenyon did get a shot in the arm from defensive back Ryan Mott, who picked off a Renteria pass in the third quarter. Mott took the ball away from a Wooster receiver right at midfield. He eluded a couple of tackles and raced down the left sideline all the way to the end zone.

Wooster quickly deflated whatever momentum Kenyon received from Mott. On the Fighting Scots' next play from scrimmage, running back Troy Baughman broke free for a 75-yard scoring run.

The Fighting Scots later tacked on two, one-yard scoring runs in the fourth quarter.

Baughman ended the day with 141 rushing yards on 20 carries to lead a Wooster team that finished with a total of 260 rushing yards. Strausbaugh led all receivers with seven catches for 116 yards.

Kenyon's leading receiver was Balodis, who caught five balls for 79 yards. Merkle ended up 10-of-25 from 113 yards, while Sean Goodman led the ground game with 20 yards on four carries.

The loss dropped Kenyon to 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the NCAC. The Lords will head to Wabash College next Saturday for a 1 p.m. game with the Little Giants (5-2, 5-1 NCAC).

With the win, Wooster improved to 4-3 overall and 3-3 in the NCAC.