Jordan Pettaway scores four times, leads Football to 52-27 victory at Heidelberg in 14th annual Bendekovic Bowl

TIFFIN — Sophomore Jordan Pettaway (Oregon/Clay) ran seven times for 169 yards and touchdown runs of 70, 23 and 69 yards and caught a 32-yard touchdown pass to lead Ohio Northern to a convincing 52-27 victory Bendekovic Bowl victory at Heidelberg in the Ohio Athletic Conference portion of its 2024 season on a beautiful Saturday evening at Hoernemann Stadium.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (2-0 Overall, 1-0 OAC), Heidelberg (1-1 Overall, 0-1 OAC)
• Venue: Hoernemann Stadium - Tiffin, Ohio.
• The game was the 14th version of the Bendekovic Bowl.

The Game

• Ohio Northern scored 10 points in the first 5:13 of the game on a 16-yard TD pass from junior Sam Feldman (Springboro) to junior Kameron Cox (Enon/Greenon) and a 30-yard field goal by senior Jonmichael Elliott (Richmond, Va./Clover Hill).
• Pettaway scored on a 70-yard run to give ONU a 17-7 lead with 10:17 left in the half.
• Leading 17-14, Feldman hit sophomore Keegan Wilson (Lima/Shawnee) on a 3-yard scoring pass with just 14 seconds left in the half to give the Polar Bears a 24-14 lead at intermission.
• Northern grabbed a 31-14 lead when Feldman hit Pettaway on a 32-yard screen pass with 3:08 gone in the half.
• Pettaway broke four tackles to score on a 23-yard run to extend the lead to 38-20 lead with 9:55 left in the game.
• Pettaway iced the game with a 69-yard run right up the middle, his third scoring play of 69 or more yards this season, to go up 45-20 with 7:26 left in the contest.
• Junior Connor Sanders (Alger/Upper Scioto Valley) had a 41-yard scoop and score after a strip sack by fifth-year senior Connor Rowe (Mantua/Crestwood) with 7:05 left in the game to make it 52-20.
• Defensively, senior All-American Dalton Tjong (Cumming, Ga./West Forsyth) had a game-high 14 tackles.
• Junior Louie Blasiole (Mantua/Crestwood) ran 25 times for 100 yards. 
• The Polar Bears out-gained the Student Princes in total offense 433-308.

Notables

• Andy Fries is in his first season as head coach at ONU with a 2-0 record.
• The game was the 14th version of the Bendekovic Bowl, which which honors the late Ronnie and Jason Bendekovic, who served as assistants at ONU and Heidelberg, respectively. HU owns a 11-3 record in the series.
• ONU leads the series between the two schools by a 48-40-5 margin. HU leads the series 24-20-3 in Tiffin and holds a 6-4 advantage in night games in the series.
• Today's game was the second of 10 in the 130th season of football at Ohio Northern. Ohio Northern is now 560-521-36 all-time, a winning percentage of .517.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action Sept. 28 at 1:30 pm against Wilmington at Dial-Roberson Stadium as part of ONU's Homecoming festivities.