CRAWFORDSVILLE — The Wabash College Little Giants scored the first touchdown Saturday afternoon, and in-game technical issues made play calling a challenge for the DePauw Tigers, but nothing was going to end their streak.
Equipped with the nation’s top rushing defense, the 15th-ranked Tigers (9-1, 7-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) scored 28 straight points to establish a 28-7 halftime lead on Frank Navarro Field at Little Giant Stadium en route to a 41-20 victory and their fourth straight Monon Bell Classic victory.
Sophomore quarterback Scott Ballentine completed 24 of 25 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns, while the DePauw defense recorded six sacks and held 24th-ranked Wabash (8-2, 6-2) to 32 rushing yards to continue their run of dominance during the 131st Monon Bell Classic meeting between the NCAC rivals.
“Monon Bell is special. It’s part of the reason they come to this school to play in this rivalry and to win four straight or even to win and beat a team as well as we did today is an unbelievable feat,” DePauw coach Brett Dietz said. “We’ve really worked hard for this. This is one of our big goals.”
Wabash leads the all-time series 65-59-9 and holds a slim 44-43-6 series lead over their NCAA Division III foes since the Monon Bell was introduced, but DePauw’s recent run marks the first four-peat since the Little Giants won seven straight from 2009-15.
DePauw’s four consecutive Monon Bell wins signify their longest stretch since winning five in a row from 1996-2000. The DePauw seniors are the first class to win the Monon Bell game all four years since Wabash in 2015.
“We never lost a bell in our four years. That’s the first time in about 25 years, so that was super important to us coming in,” DePauw senior wide receiver Robby Ballentine said. “To come out with a victory with this group of guys just means the world to me.”
Winning his fourth Monon Bell with his younger brother under center was a bonus with the two former Andrean High School standouts connecting for a 14-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The brothers have teamed for 83 completions, 1,172 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Robby Ballentine, a finalist for the National Football Foundation’s William V. Campbell Trophy, led the Tigers with seven receptions for 80 yards, building on his NCAC career record for touchdown receptions.
He clinched the NCAC career receptions record Saturday, increasing his total to 244, which toppled Kenyon’s Brian Hunca’s 241 from 2013-16. Ballentine also holds the NCAC single-season record with 20 TD catches set in 2024.
The Tigers tallied 469 yards in offense and converted 5 of 5 red-zone chances with a pair of rushing touchdowns from senior Caden Whitehead (13 carries, 55 yards) of Park Tudor School and junior Carson Johnson (10 carries, 50 yards) of Indianapolis Cathedral.
Senior Lleyton Lukowski (5 catches, 88 yards) of Carmel caught two TD passes measuring 9 and 21 yards, while junior tight end Palmer Samuels from Delta High School pulled in a 9-yard TD reception.
“We pride ourselves on being gritty, right? We took the first punch, and this team is very gritty, and we’re going to punch back,” Dietz said. “We’ve had a bend-but-not-break defense the whole year, so we’re going to step back up.”
DePauw faced an unexpected technical hurdle once the game began, as their coaching communications and sideline technology glitched, forcing them to improvise.
“We didn’t have headsets. We didn’t have in-game video. We had no technology today, and to get it done how we got it done today is remarkable,” Dietz said. “Of course, it has to happen in a game like this.”
The Tigers adjusted by utilizing text messaging, group chats and AirPods to communicate, but by the second half, offensive coordinator Mason Espinosa signaled plays from the sidelines.
“Today, they didn’t work. Why? I don’t know. It’s technology. It’s going to happen,” Dietz said. “Sometimes, you have to adjust. You’ve got to adapt.
“That’s just going to be part of our story, right? You have some adversity. Make it be part of your story. Don’t use it as an excuse. Don’t use it as a crutch. It’s going into the next chapter. All those stories are going to go down in Monon Bell history.”
The 16th-ranked NCAA Division-III DePauw defense’s six sacks matched the same total the Tigers reached in both 2022 and 2024. Sophomore Chris Green, one of three former Ben Davis Class 6A state champions from 2023, led the group with 2.5 sacks.
DePauw is allowing just 10.8 points per game.
“When we came here, we had that expectation of winning games and putting our best foot forward,” Green said. “I came here wanting to win four bells. I’ve already got two down, so I expect to keep it going.”
Senior Owen Rossell of Zionsville had 1.5 sacks and a team-high nine total tackles, while senior Joey Roland of Greenfield-Central snared an interception on Wabash’s second possession, which shifted the momentum.
“We got a bunch of dawgs on our team. Relentless pursuit and that gets the job done,” Rossell said. “We’ve really prided ourselves on battling adversity, and that was just one little step in our road, and we really took advantage of the opportunity.”
The win not only kept the Monon Bell in Greencastle for another year, but it also earned the Tigers one of 13 at-large bids into the NCAA Division III Championship. DePauw won the NCAC title last year outright at 8-0 but finished second this season with a 31-27 loss to John Carroll on Oct. 18.
But the Tigers are built to turn adversity into fortune.
“It’s going to make us better humans because we can recall a time when we went here, and it was the biggest game of our lives, and everything fell apart. Did we fall apart? They scored the first touchdown. Did we fall apart? No, we stuck together,” Dietz said. “We stayed gritty. We got the win.”
Monon Bell 2025 box score: Who won rivalry game between DePauw-Wabash football?
At Frank Navarro Field at Little Giant Stadium
DePauw (9-1, 7-1);7;21;6;7;–;41
Wabash (8-2, 6-2);7;0;7;6;–;20
W – Xavier Tyler 8 run (Brody Rucker kick), 5:30
D – Lleyton Lukowski 9 pass from Scott Ballentine (Matthew Berry kick), 3:30
D – Carson Johnson 24 run (Berry kick), 2:59
D – Palmer Samuels 9 pass from Ballentine (Berry kick), 4:28
D – Lukowski 21 pass from Ballentine (Berry kick), 5:03
D – Caden Whitehead 1 run (kick failed), 5:33
W – Rowan Durbin 11 pass from Brand Campbell (Rucker kick), 2:39
D – Robby Ballentine 14 pass from S. Ballentine (Berry kick), 1:15
W – Tyler 2 run (kick failed), 2:43
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: DePauw continues dominance of Wabash, clinches playoff berth: ‘We never lost a (Monon) Bell’
Reporting by Richard Torres / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
