Ohio Northern wraps up 129th season of Football with 38-14 victory at Wilmington

WILMINGTON —  Ohio Northern wrapped up its 2023 season with a 38-14 victory at Wilmington in an Ohio Athletic Conference football game on Saturday at Williams Stadium.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (4-6, 4-5 OAC), Wilmington (3-7, 2-7 OAC)
• Venue: Williams Stadium - Wilmington, Ohio

The Game

• Ohio Northern's defense turned in another outstanding effort, limiting the high-flying Quaker offense to only 239 yards in the contest, nearly 200 yards under its season average.
• Sophomore Louis Blasiole (Mantua/Crestwood) tied a career-best 135 yards rushing with a touchdown on 25 carries.
• Junior Brennon Norris (Steubenville/Indian Creek) completed 15-of-24 yards passing for 250 yards and three touchdowns.
• Senior Evan Tekancic (Dublin/Hilliard Davidson) caught five passes for a career-high 101 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown reception.
• Northern scored on its opening possession, driving 78 yards in five plays to go up 7-0 on a 23-yard run by Blasiole with just 3:09 gone in the contest.
• Freshman Jordan Pettaway (Oregon/Clay) scored from 6 yards out and it was 17-0 with 13:22 left in the half.
• Junior Jonmichael Elliott (Richmond, Va./Clover Hill) made it 10-0 with a 37-yard field goal at the 4:17 mark of the opening quarter.
• Norris then hit senior Hunter Kesler (Oakwood/Paulding) on a 4-yard touchdown pass to put Northern up 24-7 at halftime.
• Tekancic's 64-yard reception from Norris extended the lead to 31-14 with 3:47 left in the third quarter.
• The Polar Bears put the game away when Norris hit senior L.J. Payton (Wheelersburg) on a 30-yard scoring play with 7:37 left in the game, making it 38-14.
• Junior Dalton Tjong (Cumming, Ga./West Forsyth) had 15 tackles for the ONU defense.
• Ohio Northern out-gained Wilmington in total offense 468-239.

Notables

• Dean Paul wrapped up his 20th season as head coach of the Polar Bears with a 122-77 career record at ONU.
• Today's game ended the 129th season of football at Ohio Northern. ONU is now 558-521-36 all-time, a winning percentage of .516.
• Senior Josh Bever (Ashland) now has 37 career sacks in 44 career games. He ranks second all-time in ONU history. All-American and 10-year NFL veteran Jason Trusnik holds the school record with 43.0 sacks from 2002-06.
• Bever set a school record with his 44th consecutive start on Saturday. Brock Martin, Austin Eick and Dom DiFalco each started a school-record 43 games from 2018-22 for the Polar Bears.
• Bever is also second in ONU history with 55.5 TFL in his career.

Up Next

• Season Complete.