#4 Capital 26, Otterbein 0
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Capital University, ranked No. 4 in the nation, is off to the best start in school history at 7-0 with a 26-0 shutout of cross-town rival Otterbein College in an Ohio Athletic Conference football victory Saturday in Columbus.
Capital (7-0, 6-0 OAC) got a career-best 134 yards rushing from senior runningback Jeremy Mulkey (Dublin/Dublin Coffman) as the Crusaders ran for a season-high 223 rushing yards. Junior placekicker Matt Spitz (Xenia/Xenia) had a school-record 14 kicking points and matched a school-record with four made field goals.
Otterbein (3-4 overall, 2-4 OAC) managed just 119 yards of offense with four turnovers, three interceptions and a fumble as the Capital defense knocked out Otterbein quarterback Paul Stelzer and top wide receiver Josh Bope on the game’s opening series.
The Cardinals fumble came on the opening kickoff handing the Crusaders the ball at the Otterbein 10-yard line. Capital failed to punch it in the endzone and Spitz’s first field goal attempt was blocked. Spitz then converted a 36-yard field goal with 6:29 left the frame and the score stayed 3-0 at the end of quarter.
Capital’s third trip to the red zone happened again early in the second quarter but a Spitz field goal attempt bounced off the left upright to leave the score at 3-0. Two more red zone trips in the quarter resulted in two more Spitz field goals, from 37 and 22 yards, to extend the lead to 9-0. Capital finally found the endzone with 11 seconds left in the half as quarterback Rocky Pentello (Columbus/Westerville South) hit Derick Alexander (Grove City/Grove City) on a five-yard touchdown pass to make it 16-0 at the half.
Spitz then kicked his fourth field goal of the game to move the store to 19-0 as the only scoring in the third quarter with a 37-yard conversion at the 7:21 mark.
Senior Charlie Smith (Westerville/Big Walnut) ran in a touchdown from 17 yards out in the fourth quarter for the 26-0 final.
Pentello finished 16-of-28 for 228 yards passing, while Alexander had a game-high eight receptions for 107 yards. Seniors linebacker Sam Abdullah (Worthington/Thomas Worthington) and defensive tackle Marty O’Malley (North Olmsted/North Olmsted) each had a team-high seven tackles.
Runningback Tyrone Morgan had 88 yards rushing on 24 carries to lead the Cardinal offense, while linebacker Justin Rose had a game-best 14 stops.
Capital travels to No. 1 Mount Union College next week at 1:30 p.m. in Alliance. A year ago the Crusaders fell 34-31 in Alliance in the NCAA Playoff National Quarterfinals.