BOX SCORE
WESTERVILLE, Ohio - An 11-point fourth quarter lead was not enough for #14 Capital who lost at #10 Otterbein, 35-34 in a key Ohio Athletic Conference football matchup on Saturday.
The Crusaders (5-2, 4-2 OAC) fall to third place in the OAC standings with their second loss in three weeks by a combined eight points. The Cardinals (7-0, 6-0 OAC) remain in a first-place tie with #1 Mount Union in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
CU tallied 25 first downs to OC’s 18 and ran 81 offensive plays to build a 34:51 to 25:09 lead in time of possession during a game that featured no turnovers.
Capital tallied 427 yards of total offense including 93 yards rushing by Dominic D'Andrea (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley HS) who finished with three touchdowns on the day. D'Andrea had a career day with scoring runs of 4, 6 and 1 yards.
Senior Marty Assmann (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley HS) was 20-for-35 through the air for 280 yards while throwing two touchdowns and no interceptions in his first career start against Otterbein. Both of his touchdown passes came in a first quarter that saw 26 combined points and 320 yards of total offense.
Armando Ancona (Johnstown, Ohio/Johnstown-Monroe HS) led the Crusaders with 80 yards receiving and five catches including a touchdown with 2:32 left in the first quarter. Evan Blake (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm HS) followed with four receptions while Matt White (Mason, Ohio/Mason HS) had 72 yards through the air on three catches of his own. Ryan Gunnarson (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland HS) added a touchdown and three catches for 57 yards.
Defensively, Capital was led by Troy Spiker (Ravenna, Ohio/Rootstown HS) who had eight tackles including three solo stops and Drew Stimmel (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes HS) who had eight tackles of his own along with one pass breakup.
Capital started with the ball but went three-and-out on its first possession of the game. Otterbein answered quickly as Colton Coy rattled off a 45-yard touchdown run on the Cardinals’ first offensive play from scrimmage for 7-0 OC lead.
CU came back with an eight-play, 69-yard drive that ended with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Assmann to Gunnarson on 4th-and-3. The PAT was blocked making the score 7-6 in favor of the home team with 10:43 still remaining in the opening quarter.
Otterbein would also score on its next possession when Eric Yates finished a five-play, 61-yard drive with a 31-yard scamper. Capital’s Bryan Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain HS) would block that PAT attempt to keep the Cardinals up by just seven at 13-6 with 8:12 left in the first quarter.
A busy opening stanza would not end before Capital would have a chance to even the scoreboard. The Crusaders put together one of their most impressive drives of the day moving the ball 72 yards in 13 plays including three third-down conversions. Assmann would then hit Ancona for a 13-yard touchdown pass followed by a Garrett Bennington (Cambridge, Ohio/John Glenn HS) PAT kick with 2:32 for a deadlocked score of 13-13.
Both sides would continue their offense into the second quarter as Otterbein had a seven-play, 74-yard drive followed by an 11-play, 80-yard drive from Capital that each ended in touchdowns. OC’s Austin Schlosser scored on a one-yard TD run followed by a four-yard TD run by D’Andrea for CU to knot the score at 20-20 at the 9:42 mark of the second quarter.
The Cardinals would be forced to settle for a 36-yard field goal by David Brewer on its next drive which opened the door for the Crusaders to take their first lead of the game. Capital took over on its own 34-yard line and used a 24-yard pass to Ancona to covert a key third down and a two-yard run by D’Andrea to move the chains on a fourth down play to keep the drive alive. D’Andrea would then score from six yards out for a 27-23 Crusader lead just 1:06 before halftime.
The defenses from each side would step up in the third quarter as neither side would put any points on the scoreboard. However for the third week in a row, Capital would put together a second half drive that resulted in a touchdown – this time beginning with 4:15 left in the third quarter. CU made three third down plays to retain possession and closed out a 14-play, 80-yard drive with D’Andrea’s third TD of the afternoon for a 34-23 lead with 13:30 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Otterbein would cut into the 11-point Capital lead just over four and a half minutes later when Schlosser scored from one-yard out, but could not convert on a two-point play as the score moved to 34-29, CU with 8:52 left.
Capital got the ball back on its own 28-yard line and the Crusader offense moved the ball with two first downs and picked up eight yards on a 3rd-and-9 from midfield on a completion to Michael Zag (Columbus, Ohio/Bishop Hartley HS). CU elected to punt the ball away and Tom Gantner (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Bishop Hartley HS) lofted a kick into the rain that was downed at the three-yard line with 3:47 remaining.
Schlosser and Otterbein put together an 11-play, 97-yard touchdown drive that ended with the sophomore finding Dan Gendron on a 34-yard TD pass on 4th-and-10 with 38 seconds left. However, Capital had life as it once again thwarted an Otterbein two-point play to keep the score at 35-34.
OC tried to hit a low line drive on its kickoff. Instead the kick went off the helmet of CU’s Spiker who fell on the ball just 47 yards away from a potential score. However four straight incomplete passes ended the Crusaders hope for a comeback in a one-point defeat.
The Crusaders will make their final road trip of the season next Saturday as they head east to face OAC rival Muskingum in a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.