Football rolls up 529 yards, 52 points in hard-fought victory over Capital

By Tim Glon

ADA — Senior Justin Magazine rushed 19 times for 152 yards and two TDs and the Ohio Northern defense withstood a 500-yard rushing effort by Capital in a 52-31 ONU victory Saturday afternoon at Dial-Roberson Stadium.

The Polar Bears improve to 4-2 overall and are 3-2 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Crusaders fall to 2-4, 2-3.

The Ohio Northern offense was just as impressive, averaging more than 10 yards per play, gaining 529 yards on only 52 plays.

CU finished the day with 530 yards of total offense on 91 offensive plays as the two teams combined for 1,059 yards of total offense.

Sophomore Zach Schmerge had a career-high 18 tackles, junior Dan Eller had a career-high 16 tackles and senior Justin Tello had a career-high 12 tackles to lead the ONU defense.

Senior Devon Price caught six passes for 151 yards and a score, ran three times for 74 yards and a score and finished the day with 228 all-purpose yards for Ohio Northern.

The Polar Bears scored 21 straight points in the game's final 15 minutes to break a close game wide open.

With the score tied at 31-all, Price took a sweep 52 yards to the house on the final play of the third period to put ONU ahead 38-31.

On its ensuing possession, Capital drove 40 yards in 13 plays, taking 9:23 off the clock, but ONU sophomore A.J. Simpson blocked a 42-yard field goal attempt to keep the lead at 38-31.

It took the Ohio Northern offense just four five plays to increase its lead.

Senior backup quarterback Connor Devine threw a 13-yard pass to Price and Magazine rushed four times for the remaining 67 yards on the drive.

Magazine scored on a 14-yard run with 5:35 left in the game and it was 45-31 ONU.

Senior Mike Cunningham sacked CU quarterback Nick Iske on a 4th-and-9 on CU's next possession, giving ONU the ball on the Crusader 29-yard line.

Four plays later, sophomore backup quarterback Ricardo Johnson scored on a nifty 1-yard TD run to extend the lead to 52-31 and put the game away.

"Sometimes you just have to gut out a win," ONU head coach Dean Paul said. "We were very concerned about Capital's offense. They are a very dangerous team. But we found a way to get a win. We made plays in critical positions both on offense and defense. We made stops when we needed to. When our starting quarterback went out and could not return, two other guys stepped up and made plays."

Iske led CU with 131 yards rushing on 20 attempts. Isaiah Lyle ran 10 times for 95 times and a TD and Jake Breakey ran 13 times for 90 yards and 2 TDs as well. In all, six different Crusaders had 10 or more rushing attempts in the game.

Northern scored first when Magazine plowed over from 1-yard out with 7:06 left in the first period, but CU tied at 7-7 when Wally Brewer scored on a 15-yard run with 5:36 left.

Breakey put CU on top 14-7with a 4-yard run just 1:07 into the second period.

Freshman Will Freed, who completed 9-of-19 passes for 225 yards and 2 TDs before leaving the game in the third quarter with an injury, then hit Price on a 61-yard TD pass to tie the game at 14-all.

On ONU's next possession, Freed scored on a 13-yard run and it was 21-14 Ohio Northern with 9:42 left in the half.

Breakey ran in from 3 yards out with 5:12 left in the second quarter to tie the game at 21-21.

Senior Matt Chaney gave the Polar Bears a 24-21 lead at intermission when he drilled a 46-yard field goal on the last play of the half.

The second half started quickly with two touchdowns in the first five plays.

Lyle scored on a 51-yard run on the second play of the period to give CU a 28-24 lead just 31 seconds after halftime.,

But ONU quickly answered as Freed hit junior Logan Ray on a 31-yard TD pass just three plays later to put Northern up 31-28 with 13:36 left in the third period.

The Polar Bear defense also stepped up, limiting Capital to three points and just 116 yards rushing the rest of the game.

Capital did tie the game at 31-all on a 23-yard field goal with 5:07 left in the third period, but needed nine plays to drive 23 yards to get into field goal range.

The Polar Bears will be on the road next week with a 1:30 pm contest at Muskingum in New Concord.