#5 Capital 19, Baldwin-Wallace 7
>>BOX SCORE
(BEREA, Ohio)—Capital University’s football team posted its first 9-1 regular season in school history and locked up second place in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 19-7 win at Baldwin-Wallace College Saturday in Berea.
Capital, ranked No. 5 in the nation, now waits for word from the NCAA if it will claim one of seven national at-large spots to the 32-team NCAA Division III Playoffs. The bracket will be announced Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPNEWS. Baldwin-Wallace ends the season at 7-3 (6-3 OAC).
Baldwin-Wallace scored first as they took the opening possession 74 yards on six plays with runningback Brandon Hedges running in from 11 yards out for a 7-0 lead.
Capital then turned to senior quarterback Rocky Pentello (Columbus/Westerville South), who tossed three first half touchdown passes as the Crusaders scored 19 unanswered points to lead 19-7 at the break. Two of Pentello’s touchdown passes, of five and 22 yards, went to senior Mike Niedzwiecki (Norwalk/Norwalk-St. Paul); the third went to senior tight end Dylan Kelly (Hilliard/Hilliard Darby).
Pentello finished 21-of-31 passing for 205 yards and Niedzwiecki led all receivers with a career-high nine catches for 108 yards and the two TD. In addition, senior running back Charlie Smith ran for a game-high 114 yards in 32 attempts and caught five passes for 47 more yards. Twin brothers Kyle and Thom Hausler (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) each had a team-high seven tackles and led a defense that held B-W 0-for-13 on third down and forced three turnovers.
Offensively for B-W, junior quarterback Mickey Mental completed 18-of-33 passes for 153 yards with a TD and an interception. Senior WR Tom Murphy and junior flanker Vinny Latessa each caught five passes to top the team. Hedges led the B-W ground game with 62 yards in 16 attempts and ends his career as B-W's second all-time leading rusher with 2,503 yards. Sophomore linebacker Paul Burger led all tacklers with 13, including one for a loss and a fumble recovery.