Football: #1 Mount Union (3-0 Overall, 2-0 OAC) at Ohio Northern (1-2 Overall, 1-1 OAC)

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016, 1:30 pm, Dial-Roberson Stadium, Ada, Ohio

| Game Notes (.pdf) | 

Saturday's Contest: Saturday's game is the home opener for Ohio Northern and snaps a streak of five consecutive road games for the Polar Bears.

ONU Head Coach Dean Paul: Paul in his 13th season at ONU with an 85-42 record. He is 124-54 in 17 seasons overall and is 1-11 against MtU.

MtU Head Coach Vince Kehres: Kehres is in his fourth season at MtU with a 46-2 record. He is 3-0 against ONU.

Last Year's Meeting: Ohio Northern fell 51-7 at No. 2 Mt Union in Alliance. RB Justin Magazine carried the ball 14 times for 30 yards and a touchdown and QB Will Freed was 21-of-38 passing for 171 yards to lead the ONU offense. Defensively, S Dan Eller tied a career-high with 12 tackles to lead the Polar Bears. Magazine plowed over from 1-yard out with 14 seconds left in the contest to account for Ohio Northern's score. The Purple Raiders had three players eclipse the 100-yard mark rushing, led by Logan Nemeth with 22 carries for 142 yards and two touchdowns. MtU out-gained ONU 547-184 in total offense.

ONU Last Week: Ohio Northern football got a tremendous defensive effort and held on a 16-10 victory at Otterbein. Senior DT Scott Rapps (Bay Village Bay) was in the OU backfield all day, finishing with a team-high nine tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and two huge fumble recoveries for ONU. His first fumble recovery was in the end zone for a touchdown after senior LB Trent Stout (Fremont/Ross) and junior DE Jason Hundley (Saint Cloud, Fla./Harmony) sacked OU quarterback Logan Stepp and forced a fumble to make it 10-0 with 3:00 left in the first period. His second fumble recovery was just as big, as he sacked Stepp and recovered the fumble with just 1:34 left to ice the game for the Polar Bears. Sophomore  QB Will Freed (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos) completed 21-of-32 passes for 193 yards and freshman RB Christiaan Williams (Sidney/Anna) ran 24 times for 107 yards to lead the Ohio Northern offense. Sophomore K Joe French (Elgin, Ill./Saint Edward Central Catholic) tied a school record with FGs of 22, 34 and 21 yards. Northern out-gained Otterbein 280-205 in total offense and held the ball for 33:17 in the contest.

ONU Leaders: The ONU running game is led by freshman RB Christiaan Williams (67 att, 405 yards, 1 TD) and freshman RB David Haseleu (6 att, 47 yards). Sophomore QB Will Freed has completed 59 of 110 passes for 644 yards and 2 TDs. Sophomore WR Chad Rex (16 rec., 119 yards, 1 TD), senior WR Reed Allen (12 rec, 139 yards) and freshman RB Christiaan Williams (12 rec., 186 yards) lead the ONU receivers. Junior LB Zach Schmerge, senior S Dan Eller and senior DT Scott Rapps lead the defense with 26, 26 and 23 tackles, respectively. Rapps leads the team with 3.0 sacks and 8.5 Tackles For Loss.

MtU Last Week: RB Bradley Mitchell ran for a career high 259 yards on 32 carries as No. 1 Mt Union won at Baldwin Wallace 49-7. He led an offense that gained 505 yards as QB Luke Poorman threw for 2 TDs to WR Tim Kennedy and WR Braeden Friss. The defense also had an impressive day after BW took a 7-0 lead on an 82-yard drive in the first quarter; the Raiders held BW to 106 yards the rest of the day with 6 sacks and 2 INTs. Mt Union nabbed its 106th straight regular season win and 111th straight road win.

MtU Leaders: The MtU running game is led this season by RB Bradley Mitchell (58 att., 525 yards, 6 TDs) and RB Jawanza Evans-Morris (34 att, 204 yards, 1 TD). QB D'Angelo Fulford is 21 of 34 passing for 292 yards and 4 TDs and QB Luke Poorman is 20-of-30 passing for 265 yards and 3 TDs. WR Jordan Hargrove (12 rec., 201 yards, 1 TD) and WR Tim Kennedy (11 rec., 131 yards, 1 TD) lead the MtU receivers. LB Charlie Dear and DE Brian Groves lead the MtU defense with 14 and 13 tackles, respectively. DL Mike Vidal leads MtU with 2.5 sacks.

ONU Statistical Leaders

All-Time Series: MtU leads the series between the two schools by a 40-14-1 margin. MtU won last year's battle in Alliance 51-7. MtU leads the series in Ada by a 22-8 margin.