ALLIANCE, Ohio – A big play offense by the homestanding Purple Raiders was too much for the Crusaders to overcome as #1 Mount Union defeated #4 Capital, 49-7 in an Ohio Athletic Conference football clash on Saturday.
The loss was the first of the season for Capital, which fell to 4-1 overall and 3-1 in OAC action while Mount Union remained perfect on the season at 5-0, 4-0 OAC.
Four of the seven scoring plays on the day by the Purple Raiders came from 19 yards or longer. Overall, MUC tallied 614 yards of total offense to 199 for CU. Mount Union finished with 279 yards on the ground and 335 in the air while Capital threw for 130 yards.
Junior Marty Assmann (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley HS) completed 13-of-31 passes for 130 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also rushed for 28 yards on 11 carries on the afternoon.
Sophomore Matt White (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) made three catches for 31 yards while senior Ty Parks (Minster, Ohio/Minster HS), junior Evan Blake (Kingston, Ohio/Logan Elm HS) and sophomore Kevin Wehby (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) made two catches each. Wehby also had five kick returns for 104 yards.
The Purple Raider duo of Greg Micheli and Cecil Shorts combined for over 200 yards of total offense through the air on the day. Micheli completed 22-of-29 passes for 335 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Shorts made nine catches for 207 yards and three scores. Nate Kmic followed with 21 rushes for 174 yards and three touchdowns of his own to move into third place all-time in rushing in NCAA Division III.
The Crusader defense countered with busy days by the duo of sophomore Sam Jacobs (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson HS) and senior Pete Ankrom (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield North HS). Jacobs had 13 tackles while Ankrom made 10 stops including five solos. The duo was followed by nine tackles each from Brad Pickens (New London, Ohio/Collins Western Reserve HS) and Drew Stimmel (Delaware, Ohio/Delaware Hayes HS).
Capital took its opening possession into Mount Union territory before Assmann was sacked on a 3rd and 1 play to end the drive and after a punt the Purple Raiders took over on their own 32 yard line. After the CU defense stuffed Kmic on the first play, Micheli threw a swing pass to the right side and Short took the ball down the sideline 69 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 MUC lead at the 11:08 mark of the first quarter.
After a three-and-out for the CU offense, MUC took over at their own 40 yard line and put together a five-play, 40-yard drive over the next 2:40 that ended with a seven-yard touchdown run over the right side by Kmic for Purple Raider touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 7:32 left in the opening quarter.
Mount Union regained possession once again and converted on a 3rd-and-3 from its own 42 yard line with an 18 yard strike to Judd Lutz that kept the drive alive. The Purple Raiders took advantage one play later as Micheli connected with Shorts on a 40-yard strike over the middle for a 21-0 MUC lead with 3:35 left in the first quarter.
After another long drive by Capital resulted in a punt at midfield, Mount Union responded with a nine-play, 80-yard drive over the following 4:21 that ended with a 19-yard pass to Shorts to build a 28-0 advantage.
The Crusaders then worked their way down to the Mount Union 29-yard line behind strong running by Dominic D’Andrea and a 24-yard diving catch over the middle from Assmann to Matt White to setup a 37-yard field goal attempt by Garrett Bennington that fell just short.
Capital and Mount Union were nearly even in time of possession over the first half of play as CU held the ball for 14:28 to MUC’s 15:32. The difference was the big play offense of the Purple Raiders as Mount Union tallied 320 yards of offense over 33 plays while Capital was held to 110 yards on 34 plays.
Assmann finished the first half 7-of-18 passing for 72 yards and was sacked twice while rushing six times for 24 yards. Matt White made three catches for 31 yards in the air while Parks rushed four times for 17 yards.
The Crusader defense was led by Jacobs who made seven tackles including three solo in the first 30 minutes of action. Stimmel followed with five stops while Pickens and Ankrom had four each.
Capital came out with a focused effort to begin the second half as the Purple Raiders were forced to punt on their opening possession to give the ball to the Crusaders at midfield. From there, CU utilized its receivers to move the ball down the field quickly. After Ryan Gunnarson rushed for six yards to open the drive, Assmann connected with Evan Blake on an 18 yard pass for a Crusader first down. Assmann then ran the ball for 10 yards on a draw play to set up a third down and short from the 16 yard line. From there Assmann went to the line quickly and threw a screen pass to the left side to Gunnarson who beat one defender and went in for a touchdown to make it a 28-7 deficit with 10:07 remaining in the third quarter.
The momentum was short lived for Capital as Mount Union rode the legs of Kmic on a nine-play, 92 yard drive over the next 4:31 for another touchdown and a 35-7 lead with 5:27 left in the quarter.
MUC would follow with two more touchdowns in the final quarter of play as Kmic rumbled 28 yards for a score and Scott Panchik rushed five yards for a touchdown of his own as MUC defeated CU, 49-7.
#4 Capital will remain on the road to face John Carroll next Saturday at 7 p.m. ET.