Season Review: #19 Football continues to build momentum with 9-3 record, NCAA Playoff win in 2015

By Tim Glon

ADA — The Ohio Northern football program continued to build momentum in 2015, posting a 9-3 overall record, reaching the second round of the NCAA III Playoffs and finishing second in the Ohio Athletic Conference with a 7-2 league mark under 12th-year head coach Dean Paul.

Four the fourth consecutive season the Polar Bears improved on their record from the year before and made their fourth playoff appearance in program history.

Northern finished the season ranked No. 19 in the final D3football.com poll.

Being mentioned on a national stage is commonplace for the ONU football program.

Northern has finished ranked in the top 35 for the 7th time in the last 12 years, has appeared in the Top 25 during the regular season for the 9th time in last 12 years and has received votes in the national polls for the 10th time in last 12 years.

Twelve Ohio Northern players received All-Conference accolades, led by All-American and three-time All-OAC honoree Devon Price.

Price was named Second Team All-America and was the OAC Offensive Receiver of the Year in 2015. He was a Second Team pick in 2014 and 2013 as a receiver and was a First Team selection in 2013 as a kick returner.

He also represented Ohio Northern in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl on ESPN as the only Division III player in the Division I all-star game.

Price led the OAC with 89 receptions and 1,217 yards receiving to go with six touchdowns.

The senior ended his career as ONU's all-time career leader with 244 receptions and 3,201 receiving yards. He is also the school record holder at Ohio Northern with 76 kickoff returns for 1,868 yards and is second with 5,539 all-purpose yards.

Senior running back Justin Magazine, senior offensive tackle Rody Seballos, junior receiver/kick returner Reed Allen and sophomore linebacker Zach Schmerge were also named First Team All-Conference.

Magazine was also named the OAC Offensive Back of the Year after rushing for 1,558 yards and a school-record 25 rushing touchdowns.

He also set ONU single-season records with 28 total touchdowns and 168 points.

Seballos was a four-year starter at tackle and made is now a two-time All-Conference honoree after earning Second team All-OAC honors in 2014.

He started 33 consecutive games at tackle and played in 35 games overall during his career.

Allen led the Polar Bears with 1,764 all-purpose yards and also made his first appearance on the All-OAC squad.

He caught 30 passes for 599 yards and five touchdowns, returned 30 kickoffs for 632 yards and a touchdown and had 16 punt returns for 121 yards.

Schmerge had a breakout year in his first season as a starter, finishing second in the OAC with 112 tackles.

Senior corner Darnell Bloom, senior center Ethan Joseph, junior punter Kyle Bergman, junior tight end Logan Ray and junior safety Dan Eller were Second Team All-OAC honorees.

Bloom is now a two-time All-OAC honoree and tied for team-high honors with three interceptions and eight PBUs to go with his 17 tackles.

Joseph was a three-year starter at center and is making his first appearance on the All-OAC squad.

He started 32 consecutive games and played in 34 games in his career.

Bergman is now a two-time Second Team All-OAC punter.

He had a 38.1-yard average for 48 punts this season with 14 punts downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line.

Eller made his first appearance on the All-Conference squad and is a two-year starter at safety.

He started all 12 games and was second on the team with 91 tackles.

Ray is a first-year starter at tight end. He caught 13 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns last season, including a 73-yard touchdown catch in ONU's season-opening win over Utica (N.Y.)

Junior defensive linemen Mike Cunningham and Scott Rapps were named Honorable Mention All-Conference.

Cunningham was a three-year starter at defensive tackle, having started 26 games over the past three seasons.

Last year, he had 42 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 12 starts.

Rapps had 69 tackles and 4.5 sacks in his first season as a starter at both end and tackle.

In all, 18 Polar Bears received either All-Conference or Academic All-Conference honors.    

Seballos, senior long snapper/quarterback Connor Devine, senior kicker Matt Chaney, sophomore defensive backs Cyler Caldwell and Landry Hostetler and sophomore offensive linemen Carter Kemper and Sam Shook were named Academic All-OAC.

Senior corner back Will Bodden played in the Dream Bowl all-star game in Virginia Beach, Va.

Six different players were named the OAC Player of the Week a total of seven times during the season, led by Magazine's back-to-back Offensive POW honors Nov. 7 and 14.

The Polar Bears posted their 19th upper division finish in the OAC in the last 20 years.

Northern rallied from double-digit, second half deficits in its first four games, facing one of the most difficult early-season schedules in the country.

In the season opener against Utica (N.Y.) at Dial-Roberson Stadium, freshman Will Freed threw for 439 yards and three TDs as the Polar Bears rallied from a 19-7 deficit to post a 29-22 win.

After a tough 28-27 loss to Baldwin Wallace the following week under the lights at Dial-Roberson, the Polar Bears found themselves down 20-10 in the third period to Heidelberg.

Again the Polar Bears stormed back, winning 34-20.

The first road trip of the year came next at No. 11-ranked John Carroll and again ONU found itself in a third period hole, trailing 24-7.

But Freed hit senior Justin McCray on a 35-yard TD pass on a 4th-and-20 with 4:22 left in the game to give ONU a 30-27 victory.

Northern rattled off five consecutive wins to wrap up its regular season with an 8-2 mark, scoring at least 42 points in each of the games.

The Polar Bears continued their historical dominance in the month of November, improving to 24-3 in the month in the Dean Paul era.

Magazine tied a school record with a 6-touchdown effort in ONU's 42-7 win over Otterbein on Senior Day to propel Ohio Northern into the Playoffs for the fourth time in school history.

In the First Round at undefeated Franklin (Ind.), ONU trailed 16-0 at halftime.

But again, the Polar Bears came roaring back, scoring on four of its next five possessions, to win the game 27-22 and improve to 4-0 all-time in the First Round of the Playoffs.

Northern's playoff run came to an end in the Second Round with a 42-7 loss at No. 3-ranked Wisconsin-Oshkosh.