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(TIFFIN, Ohio)--Rocky Pentello (Columbus/Westerville South) completed 18-of-22 passes for 301 yards and matched a career-high with four touchdown passes to lead No. 5 Capital University to a 65-7 Ohio Athletic Conference football win at Heidelberg College in Tiffin.
Capital, now 3-0 overall (2-0 OAC) has won a conference-best nine OAC games in a row, while Heidelberg loses its 29th consecutive game and falls to 0-3 (0-2 OAC).
It was Pentello's 12th 300-yard passing performance of his career and the senior All-American moves up in the OAC record book. His four touchdowns today give him 85 which moved him past the 83 of Mount Union's Gary Smeck (1997-00) for fourth all-time while his now 1,245 attempts puts him third place ahead of the 1,224 of Otterbein's Matt D'Orazio (1996-99).
Junior wide receiver Derrick Alexander (Grove City/Grove City) had a career-high eight catches for 144 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Mike Niedzwiecki (Norwalk/Norwalk St. Paul) caught a pair of touchdown passes and recovered a fumble in the end zone for another score, while fellow senior Dylan Kelly (Hilliard/Hilliard Darby) had a pair of catches for a career-best 90 yards.
After allowing 44 yards to Heidelberg in the first quarter the Capital defense surrendered just 42 more yards for the rest of the game as the Crusaders outgained The Student Princes, 532-86. Junior linebacker Eric Andriacco (Cincinnati/Elder) had six tackles and a sack to lead the defense. The Crusaders had four sacks and forced a pair of fumbles.
On Capital's second offense play of the game, Pentello hooked up with tight end Dylan Kelly on a 76-yard pass play, the third longest pass play in school history, to get it to the Heidelberg four-yard line. Two plays later Niedzwiecki recovered a fumble in the end zone to get Capital on the board, 7-0. The Berg was went three-and-out on its next possession and punted to senior Thom Hausler (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) who retuned it 53 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-0 just five minutes into the game. After another Heidelberg punt, the Crusaders needed only two plays and 35 seconds to cover 65 yards as Pentello hit Alexander for a 49-yard scoring strike. In only six offensive plays and nine minutes, Capital led 21-0.
Pentello tossed two more touchdowns, an eight-yarder to Alexander and a 12-yarder to Niedzwiecki, sending the score to 35-0. Heidelberg's lone score came late in the first half as they recovered a Capital fumble on the Crusader 29-yard line then drove to the goal line where quarterback Bryan Prorok sneaked it over the goal line on fourth and goal to make it 35-7 at the break.
On the first possession of the second half, senior runningback Jeremy Mulkey (Dublin/Dublin Coffman)capped an 11-play, 64 yard, drive with a five yard touchdown run sending the score to 42-7 with 10 minutes left in the quarter. Heidelberg fumbled the ensuing kickoff and one-play later Pentello tossed his fourth scoring pass of the day eight yards to Niedzwiecki.
The remainder of the scoring included a 19-yard field goal from junior Matt Spitz (Xenia/Xenia), a seven-yard touchdown pass from freshman Marty Assman (Columbus/Bishop Hartley) to Matt Cesaratto (Seven Hills/Normandy) and a 22-yard touchdown run from freshman Ty Parks (Minster/Minster) for the 65-7 final.
Capital returns home next week to host Marietta College at 1:30 p.m. in Bernlohr Stadium.