BOX SCORE |
VIDEO ARCHIVE
COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 21 Capital treated its homecoming crowd to a game that was in the balance until the final minute before coming up short against #1 Mount Union, 28-21 in an OAC football contest in front of a sold-out crowd 3,201 at Bernlohr Stadium.
“It was a competitive ballgame. How hard we played, and how we had so many big plays by different guys, made it a fun afternoon,” Capital Head Coach Jim Bickel said. “When you look at turning points in the game, the last drive (Mount Union) had at the end of the first have really gave them momentum. And late in the game, they did a great job on both sides of the ball on making the key plays to win the game.”
The Crusaders (4-1, 3-1 OAC) were handed their first loss of the season despite holding a 23-21 lead in first downs and recording 129 yards on the ground against the top rushing defense in the nation (27.75 ypg).
“Coach Bickel talked this week about not being surprised if we are ahead in the game,” senior Evan Blake said. “We knew that if we established the run and if the receivers did a great job of blocking that we would be successful. Marty also did a great job of being patient and distributing the ball. As far as our game plan, other than a few blunders at the end, I think we executed it.”
The CU defense also had its best performance of the season as it held the Purple Raiders to 80 yards rushing and its lowest point total on the season.
“Mount Union is always going to run the ball, and that was a big part of our preparation this week, senior linebacker Matt Heagen (New Concord, Ohio/John Glenn HS) said. “We came out, played fast and downhill, and we did a good job against their running game.”
Senior Marty Assmann (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley HS) threw for 249 yards with 17 completions on 31 attempts for two touchdowns. The quarterback also rushed for 13 yards and one score.
Junior Ryan Gunnarson (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) and senior Evan Blake (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm HS) each made five catches for the Crusaders. Gunnarson had 85 yards receiving to go along with three kickoff returns for 48 yards and one rush for seven yards. Blake had 61 yards receiving and one rush for 28 yards.
Senior Matt White (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) had three catches for 59 yards and one touchdown while the duo of Dominic D’Andrea (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Bishop Hartley HS) and Matt Merritt (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill HS) combined for 76 yards rushing on 36 carries.
Junior linebacker Sam Jacobs (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Watterson HS) led all players with 15 tackles. He had 13 solo stops to go along with one tackle for a loss, a forced fumble and one pass breakup.
Seniors Ronnie Smith (Westerville, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales HS) and Brad Pickens (New London, Ohio/Western Reserve HS) tallied seven tackles each for the Crusaders. Smith had six solo tackles and three pass breakups while Pickens added four solo stops and one tackle for a loss.
Mount Union took the ball first on offense and marched it down the field 67 yards on 10 plays but MTU placekicker Jay Carpenter had an uncharacteristic miss from 26 yards to keep the game scoreless. Capital gave the ball right back on a three-and-out possession to Mount Union, which engineered a seven play, 59 yard drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Kurt Rocco to Cecil Shorts III for a 7-0 Purple Raider lead at the 6:47 mark of the first quarter.
Capital would get its offense going in the next few possessions and finally took over at its own 30-yard line with 13:34 left in the second quarter. D’Andrea made eight rushes for 18 yards while Assmann threw for 39 yards and rushed for six yards including a one-yard sneak to even the game at 7-7 with 8:09 left before halftime.
The Crusaders put together another scoring drive before the half as it took over with 3:57 remaining in the second half and went 86 yards on seven plays. Evan Blake had a 28 yard rush on the drive that ended with a fumble which bounced out of bounds just before MTU could recover to keep possession for CU. Capital took advantage with a 13 yard pass completion to Blake and a 32 yard touchdown pass to White for 14-7 CU lead with 54 seconds left before the half.
Mount Union would not go down lightly as it moved the ball on a five-play, 54-yard drive that was keyed by two big pass completions to setup a one-yard touchdown run by Scott Panchik for a 14-14 tie heading into the locker room.
After both sides traded a pair of possessions to start the second half, Capital’s Zidan Abdullah (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington HS) made first turnover of the day, an interception at the Crusader three-yard line. CU then went on its most impressive scoring drive of the 2009 season. The Crusaders made three third down conversions and one fourth down conversion on a 15-play, 97-yard drive that encompassed 7:59. Merritt kept the drive alive with a 19 yard rush on 3rd-and-7. Then Assmann hit Ancona for a 10-yard gain on 3rd-and-4 followed by a 20-yard pass to White on 3rd-and-3 to begin the fourth quarter. Finally, White made another big catch on 4th-and-6 to setup a 23-yard touchdown pass to D’Andrea two plays later for a 21-14 lead with 11:51 remaining.
Mount Union knotted the score at 21-all with a 36 yard TD pass from Rocco to Kyle Miller with 8:17 left on the clock. The Crusaders got the ball back and were looking to put together another great drive when a fumble at midfield gave possession to the Raiders with 5:24 left. MTU five plays later on a five-yard run by Panchik for what would be the game-winning score.
Capital had one more chance with 3:06 left and moved the ball to the Mount Union 38-yard line before stalling in a 28-21 loss.
Capital remains at home next Saturday to play host to OAC rival John Carroll for ‘Take a Kid to a Game Day’. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and fans can follow the action with FREE Live Stats, Video and Audio at www.CapitalCrusaders.net beginning with the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Medicine Pregame Show at 1:00 p.m.