By: Director of Athletic Communications & Public Relations Kevin Ruple
BEREA, Ohio -- The Baldwin Wallace University football program will celebrate the return of its 1988 Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Team this Saturday, November 3 when the Yellow Jackets host OAC-rival Ohio Northern University on the Tressel Family Field AstroTurf at The George Finnie Stadium at 1:30 p.m. It also is Seniors' & Parents' Day.
The pregame tailgate festivities begin at 10:30 a.m. with Yellow Jacket second-year Head Coach Jim Hilvert addressing the alumni, family and friends in attendance in the fieldhouse of the Lou Higgins Recreation Center. At 11:30 a.m. Assistant Coach Alex Ferfolia will take the group on a tour of the Packard Athletic Center. The group will then meet back at the Higgins Center for lunch at 12 noon. The game starts at 1:30 p.m., and at the end the first quarter, the 1988 team will be recognized for its accomplishments.
The 1988 team compiled an 8-2 record and tied with longtime and traditional rival Wittenberg University for the OAC title with an 8-1 OAC mark. After opening its season with a 21-10 loss at Division II Ashland University, BW reeled off eight straight victories, including a 20-12 home win versus Div. II St. Joseph's (Ind.) and a 31-21 victory against OAC arch-rival Mount Union in Berea.
The Yellow Jacket offense scored 261 points, including 244 during its 8-game winning streak. Quarterback Erik Young, running backs Danny Andrews, Doug Schreck and Donnie Boynar and fullback Rich Roskoph formed a strong running game. The quintet combined for 1,843 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns. Wideouts Jeff Lindsay and Dan Reinhart and tight end Kevin Yohman joined Andrews as the top receivers. Young and backup Scott Shafer passed for 1,606 yards and completed 58.6 percent of their passes. The line was led by Tom Garfield, Randy Cumley and Kirk Davis.
When BW need to utilize its punting and kicking game, it had two of the best in Division III in All-American placekicker Wade Massad and All-American and CoSIDA Academic All-American punter Shawn Gorman. Massad connected on all 31 PAT kicks and made 10 of 18 field goals that season, including a school-record 48-yard boot at Heidelberg. Gorman averaged 39.3 yards per punt with 20 landing inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
The defense allowed 170 points that season, but just 128 during the 8-game winning streak. It only allowed opponents 154 yards of total offense per game and forced 28 total turnovers, including 18 interceptions, and sack opposing QB's 36 times. All-American end Doug Haubert and tackle Jeff Saplak led the charge up front and linebackers Mike O'Connor, Matt Kubinski, J.R. Eyler, Phil Medvetz, Labeeb Beggiani and Marcus Macalla represented six of BW's top seven tacklers. The secondary also was formidable and was led by Kevin Kelly (his son plays safety on BW's current team), Tom Pipoly, John Wiedemann and Mike Laubacher.
