Football opens 2021 season with dominating all-around performance in 34-10 victory over Denison
By Tim Glon
ADA — The Ohio Northern football team turned in a dominating performance in its 2021 season-opener with a 34-10 victory over Denison on a rainy Saturday evening at Dial-Roberson Stadium.
The Polar Bears (1-0 overall) scored 21 unanswered points in the second quarter to build a 28-7 lead and controlled the second half to post the win.
Senior All-American Brock Martin (Attica/Seneca East) ran 28 times for 118 yards and a score and senior Brody Hahn (Louisville) completed 16-of-24 passes for 143 yards and two scored and ran 11 times for 96 yards and a third TD to lead the ONU offense.
The Big Red (0-1) got 101 yards passing and 29 yards rushing from Drew Dawkins.
Northern took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in nine plays and took a 7-0 lead on a 16-yard run by Hahn with 4:22 gone.
DU tied the game when Dawkins hit D.J. Johnson on a 39-yard touchdown pass with 3:18 left in the opening quarter.
ONU took control of the game with three consecutive touchdown drives in the second period.
Martin swept in from a yard out to cap a 9-play, 81-yard drive to make it 14-7 with 13:35 left in the half.
Hahn hit senior Chase Rose (Kenton/Upper Scioto Valley) on a 22-yard TD pass and Northern led 21-7 with 3:47 left in the quarter.
Hahn hit Rose again just 2:32 later, this time on a 13-yard scoring strike and it was 28-7 with 1:15 left before intermission.
A 37-yard field goal just before the half got DU within 28-10 at intermission.
Northern got a pair of field goals from senior Dom DiFalco (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) late in the third quarter to build its lead to 34-10.
Denison fumbled the ball away deep in ONU territory on its next possession and the Polar Bears took over at their own 27 with 11:38 left in the game.
It was all Martin from there, as the Polar Bears iced the game with an impressive 17-play, 60-yard drive that consumed 11 minutes and 27 seconds and ate all but 11 seconds off of the clock.
The senior carried the ball 10 consecutive times to start the drive and 14 times overall in the 17-play possession, gaining 50 yards in the process.
Sophomore Trevon Salter (Atlanta, Ga./Grayson) had a career-high 10 tackles to lead the ONU defense, that limited Denison to just 75 yards of total offense in the second half.
ONU out-gained DU 355-219 in total offense for the game and held the ball for 34:07 of the game.
The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday when they kick-off the Ohio Athletic Conference portion of their schedule with a 7 pm contest at Muskingum.
