Wabash 23, DePauw 0
This was my second visit to Wabash College, one of two schools that I went to more than once during my tour of small Indiana colleges and universities that fielded football teams in the 2010s. And it was the third time I'd photographed Wabash in a game in a two-season stretch.
The first visit was a home game in 2011 vs. Wittenberg, a game in which Wabash prevailed to secure the North Coast Atlantic Conference championship the first weekend of November. The Little Giants would earn a berth in the postseason NCAA Division III tournament as a result.
The second time was the following week at Greencastle, where the Little Giants soundly defeated arch rival DePauw University in the 118th Monon Bell Classic (which was documented in a previous chapter of this series).
One would think DePauw would be pining for revenge in this game, the 119th Classic, in 2012. At game time, Wabash knew it would not win the NCAC this season nor go to the postseason as it did the previous year despite finishing with a respectable 8-2 win-loss record.
Respectable, yes. But both of its losses were to conference foes, Allegheny (by three points in overtime) and a mediocre Oberlin team, and both losses came on Wabash's home turf. Ironically, the league championship was shared by schools Wabash had beaten during the season — Ohio Wesleyan and Wittenberg.
As much as those factors dampened the Little Giants’ enthusiasm in 2012, one crowning achievement went a long way toward easing their pain: the outcome of this game.
On Nov. 10, 2012, at Byron P. Hollett Little Giants Stadium, the home school won its fourth consecutive Monon Bell Classic, defeating new NCAC member DePauw, 23-0. Indeed, it was important to senior players on the team at the all-male Wabash College to be able to say they graduated never having lost to their arch rivals in the Monon Bell Classic.
The last group of Wabash seniors to boast that achievement was the Class of 1970, and the last from either school to do so was the DePauw Class of 2000. The Tigers' win that year, in fact, was the school's fifth in a row and tied its longest win streak in the series.
In 2012, DePauw had moved to the NCAC from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Tigers had played in the SCAC since 1997 and won numerous championships, most notably in women’s basketball.
In fact, the DePauw women cagers had become a Division III power. They claimed seven President’s Trophy championships, including six in a row 2005-06 to 2010-11, and won a national championship in 2007. The Tigers’ football teams were SCAC co-champions four times, and the men’s basketball teams were league champs twice and reached the NCAA Division III Final Four twice as well, finishing national runners-up in 1990 and third place in 1984.
But an overwhelming majority of schools in the SCAC were located in the South, West and Southwest, so to curtail travel expenses, DePauw elected to move to the NCAC in 2012, where it rejoined its Monon Bell Classic rival Wabash. The women’s basketball team would win another national title in 2013.
But an overwhelming majority of schools in the SCAC were located in the South, West and Southwest, so to curtail travel expenses, DePauw elected to move to the NCAC in 2012, where it rejoined its Monon Bell Classic rival Wabash. The women’s basketball team would win another national title in 2013.
The DePauw football program, the 17th most winningest in Division III history, won consecutive NCAC championships in 2021, ’22 and ’23.
After 2012, Wabash won one more league title outright – 2015 – and share it in 2018 and 2019 with Denison and Wittenberg, respectively. In fact, Wittenberg dominated the NCAC throughout the 2010s. It beat Wabash in 2013, ’14, ’16, ’17 and ’19 and won or shared league crowns in 2012, ’13, ’14, ’16, ’17, ’18 and ’19.
As for the annual Monon Bell Classic … Wabash won it again in 2013, ’14, ’15, ’17, ’18 and ’21 (no game was played in COVID year 2020). DePauw won the games in 2016, ’19, ’22 and ’23.
As of spring 2024, Wabash leads the series between the two schools, 63–57–9.
But let’s get back to the 2012 Monon Bell Classic game, which might best be remembered as the yellow-flag game. The first half appeared to drag on endlessly, as penalty flags were tossed on what seemed like almost every other play. Wabash alone was penalized 14 times in the first half and a season-high 18 times for 133 yards for the entire game. The majority of those were false-start infractions.
There was no scoring until the second quarter, when Wabash hit pay dirt on a 13-yard pass from senior quarterback Chase Belton to Sean Hildebrand (Ian MacDougall's extra point kick banged the left upright before falling in the wrong direction). MacDougall was successful later in the quarter on a 37-yard field goal attempt.
There was no scoring until the second quarter, when Wabash hit pay dirt on a 13-yard pass from senior quarterback Chase Belton to Sean Hildebrand (Ian MacDougall's extra point kick banged the left upright before falling in the wrong direction). MacDougall was successful later in the quarter on a 37-yard field goal attempt.
Rushing touchdowns of 9 yards by the Little Giants’ Tyler Holmes in the third quarter and 5 yards by Troy Meyers in the fourth -- both with successful point-after kicks -- completed the scoring. Holmes’ 175 rushing yards on 33 carries put him over the 1,000 mark for the season, the first time Wabash had had a 1,000-yard rusher in a season since 2003. The Little Giants amassed 432 totals yards, 320 of them on the ground; the Tigers totaled only 142.
In addition to the yellow flags, the 2012 game was marked by one other anomaly: the atmosphere. Like at DePauw the previous year, temporary bleachers were added to the field to accommodate anticipated extra attendance for this rivalry game.
The 2011 game at DePauw, for example, was nearly packed, and Wabash loyalists made up a good portion of that turnout. But at kickoff at the 2012 game, DePauw fans in the stands were eerily sparse, and the south end zone was pretty much empty.
The main visitor sideline grandstand filled up eventually -- it was as if DePauw fans, perhaps not exactly enthused about their 2-7 team’s chances in the game, decided to spend more time tailgating, even if it meant missing the first and second quarters. The south end zone stands did get some people, but it was still more empty than filled at halftime. Wabash fans, on the other hand, filled the main sideline grandstand and the north end zone stands almost to the brim.
DePauw fans in the front row of the south end zone were quite vociferous, but some of the things coming out of their mouths wasn’t pleasant, to put it mildly, whether directed at opponents or the officiating crew. Apparently, these fans had enjoyed plenty of liquid tailgating.
It probably explains why Little Giants running back Holmes, after hitting the turf to score his third-quarter touchdown, got up, turned to face those fans squarely and put an index finger to his helmet mouth guard -- as if to suggest that an end to the trash talk might work better to help rally the Tigers.
Also, at the 2011 game at Greencastle, Wabash had made a point to ensure the traditional non-stop bell-ringing from the time the bell arrived at Blackstock Stadium. Indeed, I could hear it ring at 11:30 a.m. -- an hour and a half before kickoff -- as I approached the field, and I don't remember it ever stopping until the Little Giants went to lift and carry it to midfield to complete the victory celebration at the end of the game.
But in 2012, in-game bell-ringing apparently was not as organized as in 2011; in fact, it was sporadic, and there were several lulls. I hope what I saw (heard?) in 2012 was just an anomaly; I thought the non-stop bell-ringing in 2011 was a nice touch to the game's importance.
DePauw finished its season with a record of 2-8, including 1-6 in its first year in the NCAC. Wabash finished 5-2 in the league.
To view a full gallery of 2012 Monon Bell Classic game photos, follow the link in this sentence.
Above and below: Yellow flags, co-stars of the 2012 Monon Bell Classic, on separate plays in the game's first quarter.
Above: A second-quarter pass from Belton to Houston Hodges in the red zone was close, but no cigar. The ball was slightly overthrown, and I doubt Hodges would have been able to keep a foot in bounds even he'd been able to make the catch. 
The crowd at last year's Monon Bell Classic, held at the DePauw campus, was entertained at halftime by the DePauw University Poms dance team. This year, the Wabash cheerleaders presented two exercises. The first was the wheelbarrow demonstration shown above. After that, Sphinx Club members built a human pyramid (below), while one of their own recorded the effort.
Above and next two below: One highlight for the DePauw offense came on this third-quarter pass from quarterback Drew Seaman (15) to wide receiver Nikko Sansone (4), who held onto the ball despite the acrobatics in front of Wabash defensive back Austin Hodges (2).
Above: The familiar yellow interloper on a fourth-quarter play.
Above and below: A fourth-quarter Belton to Jon Laird pass that I included because it came right at me along the Little Giants' sideline. It was one of two receptions for Laird on the day.
Above: As the clock in the background ticked down the final seconds, Wabash players along the sidelines begin the celebration.
Above: The post-game transport of the prize bell from behind the Wabash bench to midfield, as seen from a different angle from that at the top of this post. Players not involved in the carry took turns reaching out to touch the bell.
Above and next two below: After the game, players took turns ringing the bell before turning it over again to the fans.
Next up: Chapter 18, Tailgating at all the schools on the tour
Previously in Game Day Revisited:
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