At 5-2, DePauw already has its most wins in a season since 2010. DePauw athletics photo

Bill Lynch has been down this road before. Ten years ago, he spent one season as the head coach at DePauw. He went 8-2, winning Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors as well.

A decade later, Lynch, with more than 30 years of collegiate coaching experience, is back. And just like 2004, the Tigers are winning, sitting at 5-2 overall and 4-2 in the North Coast Athletic Conference.

He returned last year after spending two years as the associate athletic director of development at Butler.

“I really enjoy being a coach, and until I got back to into it, I never realized how much I missed it,” Lynch said. “It’s great being back at DePauw because I’m familiar with it. I have great kids on the team and I have gotten tremendous support from the administration.”

The Tigers haven’t had a winning season since 2010 when they finished 9-2. They were 4-5 in 2011 and went 2-8 in 2012. But things started to turn around a year ago as DePauw finished 4-6.

Lynch, who has also been the head coach at Butler, Ball State and Indiana during his career, is thrilled with the progress his team has made.

“They are playing with so much more confidence,” Lynch said. “The players believe good things are going to happen in a game rather than thinking something bad is going to happen.”

Junior running back Amen Galley, the leading rusher for the Tigers with 461 yards and three touchdowns, is savoring every moment of the success.

“We knew we had the talent to be a good team,” Galley said. “Everyone has bought in and we have been put in a position to be successful. We worked hard in the offseason to improve, and that hard work is paying off.”

Part of the Tigers’ success is linked to the effectiveness of the ground attack. Galley is one of four players who has rushed for more than 100 yards. Quarterback Matt Hunt has picked up 219 yards and scored one rushing touchdown while Jack Gruber has racked up 191 yards and five scores. Jason Kirchoff has tallied 189 yards and two touchdowns.

The Tigers are averaging 193 yards per game on the ground and 380 yards per game overall. In their 59-7 win over Allegheny last week they rolled up 565 yards, including 412 on the ground, the most rushing yards since tallying 507 against Rose-Hulman in 2004. It was the second time in the last three games that the Tigers have put up 500 or more yards in a game.

“Running the football is a big part of our offense,” Galley said. “We have a great offensive line that opens up holes. We all understand our roles and what we have to do to be successful.”

But the Tigers aren’t one-dimensional. Hunt has thrown for 1,122 yards and eight touchdowns. Jake Hagan is the leading receiver with 18 catches for 210 yards and a touchdown. Jay D. Robinson has come up with 16 catches for 185 yards and three touchdowns.

Defensively, the Tigers are allowing 323 yards per game, with Will Longthorne paving the way with 56 tackles. Adam Folta has come up with 39 tackles while Thomas Gray has tallied 37.

“We are running the ball much better than we did last year, and I think a big part of that is that our offensive line is a year older,” Lynch said. “We have also improved on defense because this is their second year in the scheme.”

Galley, who loves having the chance to make plays after rushing for only 476 yards in his first two seasons combined, said that despite the success, the Tigers can’t afford to let up.

“We’ve had a great season so far, but we have to stay hungry every week,” Galley said. “We want to play the best that we can be and that means we have to continue to push ourselves every day to get better.”

Wooster is up next, followed by a game against Hiram. But the Monon Bell rivalry game at the end of the year against national power Wabash is also on the players’ minds.

“It’s exciting to play in that game because it’s such a big deal,” Galley said. “I look forward to it every year. It’s a game we want to win.”

Lynch led DePauw to a 14-7 win over Wabash in 2004, But the Tigers have only won the game twice since. Wabash has won the last five, all by double digits.

“It’s a truly unique rivalry because of the tradition. It’s like a bowl game or playoff game,” Lynch said. “We want to make it competitive again. We’re working on that by continuing to get better as a team.”

Defensive Cardinals

Otterbein used a stellar second-half defensive effort to defeat Baldwin Wallace 20-9 on Saturday in an Ohio Athletic Conference game.

The Cardinals, sitting in third in the OAC and winners of their last three games, allowed only 294 yards, including just 116 in the second half.

Otterbein, which is 5-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference, is allowing 366.6 yards per game. Austin Jones has led the way. He has racked up a season-best 73 tackles and has recovered three fumbles while forcing one. Preston Pearson isn’t too far behind. He has tallied 69 tackles, picked off a pass and forced a fumble.

Jones, a sophomore, has picked up where he left off last year when he led the OAC in solo tackles (56) and earned honorable mention All-OAC honors. He finished with 103 tackles overall.

Pearson, a senior, has made significant strides since last season when he tallied only 27 tackles. The win over the Yellow Jackets marked the second time Otterbein has held a team to less than 10 points.

Losing ground

Ryan Armstrong makes it difficult for opposing offenses to gain ground, and he was at it again on Saturday. The Olivet senior defensive lineman made 12 tackles, including 7.5 for a loss to help the Comets beat Kalamazoo 30-14 in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play.

The 7.5 tackles for a loss set a single-game school record and tied him for the fifth-most TFL’s in a game in NCAA Division III history. The total is also the most by an player in a game this season at any level of NCAA football.

Armstrong has helped the Comets fashion a 4-3 overall record and a 2-2 mark in the league. He has 46 tackles and his 16 TFL’s ranks first in the conference.

Armstrong has been making an impact since he arrived on campus. As a freshman, he racked up 40 tackles, including 9.5 for a loss. A year later, he tallied 29 tackles, 8.5 of which were for a loss. Last season, Armstrong came up with 9.5 TFL’s among his 30 tackles.

Big improvement

For the first time since 1995, Hiram has won at least four games in a season. The Terriers picked up their latest win on Saturday with a 35-28 North Coast Athletic Conference victory over Ohio Wesleyan.

Hiram is 4-3 overall and 3-3 in the conference.

Robert Partridge shined as he completed 22 of his 35 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Terriers roll up 503 yards and notch their second consecutive win.

Partridge has been instrumental to the Terriers’ success, throwing for 1,898 yards and 13 touchdowns. The senior quarterback has also rushed for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

Partridge began his career at Miami of Ohio and later played at Notre Dame (Ohio), where he saw time at quarterback before being moved to wide receiver and punter. He played in two games for the Terriers last season, throwing for 398 yards and two scores.

Record day for Saints

Thomas More rolled to its third consecutive win, crushing Grove City 64-7 in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game.

Goose Cohorn set the record for receiving touchdowns in a career, catching the 19th of his career in the opening quarter. Cohorn finished his day with three catches for 57 yards.

Jensen Gebhardt tied the record for most touchdown passes in a career when he threw his 50th to Cohorn. The mark ties him with offensive coordinator Trevor Stillman. Gephardt went 12-of-16 for 235 yards while Dominique Hayden tied a school record as well, rushing for five touchdowns.

Hayden finished with 21 carries for 174 yards as he helped the Saints improve to 6-2 overall and to 5-1 in the PAC. The Saints are tied for second in the league with Waynesburg.

Thomas More has scored 40 or more six times.  Hayden has been a key factor, rushing for 1,109 yards and 20 scores. Gephardt has thrown for 1,778 yards and 14 touchdowns while Cohorn has been the top receiver, making 39 catches for 714 yards and eight touchdowns.

Poll points

Third-ranked Mount Union pushed its regular season win streak to 90 games with a 74-7 win over Wilmington. The Purple Raiders scored 28 points in six minutes. Edward Ruhnke nailed five field goals, tying an OAC mark...No. 7 John Carroll cruised to a 71-7 win over Capital, with Aramis Greenwood returning a kick 100 yards for a score, the longest since 1973. Kresimir Ivkovic also had a big day, tying the all-time record for most field goals with 35. He nailed field goals of 17 and 34 yards...10th-ranked Wabash scored on its first six drives en route to a 70-10 win over Oberlin. Cody Buresh helped lead the defensive effort, tallying two of the Little Giants’ five sacks. He is one sack away from tying the career record...Seven players scored touchdowns as No. 14 Wittenberg rolled to a 49-7 win over Kenyon. The Tigers stretched their win streak to six as Zack Jenkins completed 10 of his 18 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns...For the fourth time in seven games, No. 17 Washington & Jefferson ran at least 90 plays as it topped Case Western Reserve 34-24. Jared Pratt racked up 16 tackles as the Presidents held a team to under 300 yards for third straight week, allowing 266.