GAMBIER, Ohio – In its final home game of the 2019 season, the Kenyon College Lords football team put up a fight against perennial powerhouse Wittenberg University. The visiting Tigers, however, survived their own mistakes and capitalized on Kenyon's to pull out a 43-27 conference win at McBride Field.

It appeared, at least in the first quarter, that Wittenberg would run away with the victory. The Tigers scored on their first three possessions and built a 20-0 lead just 12 minutes into the game. Quarterback Bobby Froehlich ran in touchdowns from seven yards and one yard out on Wittenberg's first and third possessions, respectively. Between those two scores, running back Troy Clay scored on a five-yard scamper.

Kenyon fought back early in the second quarter, completing a nine-play, 68-yard drive that ended with Thomas Merkle tossing a short pass to running back Jimmy Andrews. Andrews then wiggled his way through the Wittenberg defense and scored on the 19-yard play.

When Wittenberg got the ball back, the Lords defense pinned the Tigers back on their own 13-yard line. The Tigers then attempted to punt on fourth down, but fumbled the snap and Kenyon's Jason Kessler was there to recover on the nine-yard line.

The Lords then ran seven plays and got the ball down to the two-yard line, but stalled there. When Kenyon opted for the field goal, the tone of the game switched. Instead of closing within one score of the Tigers, the Lords' field goal was blocked by Troy Jones. Teammate Michael Fiesson scooped up the blocked kick and went the other way for a 92-yard touchdown, putting Wittenberg ahead 27-7.

To its credit, Kenyon kept battling. Before the half ended, Merkle found Andris Balodis in the right corner of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown that moved the score to 27-14.

Kenyon (3-6, 2-6 NCAC) failed to score in the third quarter and Wittenberg went on to expand its lead by another nine points. The Tigers earned a safety when Merkle was called for intentional grounding in the end zone. After that, the Lords kicked away to Wittenberg. LaShon Bright returned the kick 56 yards to the Kenyon 20-yard line. Two plays later, Troy Clay cashed in from four yards out, putting Wittenberg ahead 36-14.

The Lords bounced back in the fourth, but never threatened to catch the Tigers. Early in the quarter, Kenyon junior Michael Picone blocked a Tigers' punt and ran 27 yards the other way for a Kenyon touchdown. Four minutes later, Wittenberg's Jake Saus ran around the left side for a five-yard touchdown that capped the Tigers' scoring for the game.

Kenyon later put an end to all scoring when Merkle connected with receiver Andrew Schnarre on a 13-yard touchdown toss. Merkle finished the day 29-of-48 for 241 yards and three touchdowns. His yardage total put him over the 10,000-yard milestone and at 10,037 yards for his career.

Balodis caught eight of Merkle's passes for 78 yards. Schnarre had six catches for 75 yards and Andrews had five catches for 40 yards. On the ground, the Lords were held to a net of zero yards, which kept their total offensive output at 241 yards for the game.

Wittenberg (6-3, 6-2 NCAC) managed 296 total yards on 131 rushing yards and 165 passing yards. Froehlich did not play the whole game, but finished 10-of-15 for 127 yards in the air. Erik Anderson led the receiving corps with four catches for 57 yards and Jaheem Washington was Wittenberg's leading rusher with 74 yards on 12 carries.

The Lords will finish off the 2019 season next Saturday at Denison University.