Football grinds out 31-10 victory over Muskingum in first-ever night game at Dial-Roberson Stadium

By Tim Glon

ADA -- Junior Justin Magazine ran for 136 yards and two touchdowns and the Ohio Northern defense did the rest in a 31-10 victory over Muskingum at Dial-Roberson Stadium on Saturday night.

The Polar Bears improve to 4-3 overall and are 3-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Muskies fall to 1-6, 1-5.

The game was played under the lights for the first time in Dial-Roberson Stadium history and was the first night game on campus in ONU history.

"This was a great atmosphere," ONU head coach Dean Paul said. "Give Muskingum credit, they really came to play. Our defense played well all night and we ground out a couple of long touchdown drives and were able to put the game away."

ONU marched 55 yards in nine plays on the opening drive of the second half and took the lead for good at 17-10 on a 1-yard run by Magazine with 10:50 left in the third period.

Northern put the game away with a 14-play, 71-yard scoring drive that took 7:42 off the clock. Senior Patrick Angle hit junior Zach Zody on a 5-yard scoring play with 8:25 left in the game to put the Polar Bears up 24-10.

An interception by junior Melvin Williams set up a 12-yard run by Magazine at it was 31-10 with 3:17 remaining.

Angle finished the game 15-of-22 passing for 179 yards and two scores.

ONU had 398 yards of total offense and limited the Muskies to only 151 yards of total offense, including just 39 yards in the second half.

The Polar Bear defense held MU quarterback Cody Williams to 6-of-30 passing for just 56 yards. Muskingum was only 1-of-12 passing for five yards in the second half.

Northern took a 3-0 lead on a 29-yard field goal by junior Andrew DiMario after a 15-play, 72-yard drive on its opening possession of the game.

Muskingum went up 7-3 on a 24-yard pass from Williams to Cody Jones with 52 seconds left in the first period.

Angle hit junior Chad Bridges on a 64-yard TD pass with 2:57 left in the half to give ONU a 10-7 lead.

But the Muskies tied the game at 10-all at intermission with a 34-yard field goal 23 seconds before the half.

"The touchdown drive to open the second half was huge," Paul said. "They we ground out another long drive and finished with a touchdown to put us up two scores. A big defensive play set up a third TD and we were able to put the game away."

Defensively, sophomore Dan Eller led ONU with a team-high seven tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.

Muskingum's Chaney Fulton had a game-high 16 tackles and a sack.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday with a 1 pm contest at Marietta.