Football celebrates Senior Day with 80-3 victory over Wilmington

By Tim Glon

ADA -- Ohio Northern scored on all seven of its first half possessions and cruised to an 80-3 Ohio Athletic Conference football victory over Wilmington on Senior Day on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Dial-Roberson Stadium.

The Polar Bears (5-4 Overall, 5-3 OAC) rolled up 488 yards of total offense and got a pair of Pick-6s from their defense in the victory.

The Quakers fall to 0-9, 0-8.

Sophomore Quarterback Will Freed (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos) completed 15-of-17 passes for 264 yards and five touchdowns in two and a half quarters of play to lead Ohio Northern. He was 12-for-12 for 225 yards and four scores in the first half.

Freshman running back Christiaan Williams (Sidney/Anna) ran 17 times for 103 yards and three scores and did not play in the second half.

He has now surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark in all eight of his collegiate contests and is the first freshman in ONU history to run for 1,000 yards in a season. Thus far this year, Williams has 1,038 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns on 172 attempts.

Senior defensive back Nick Rezek (Macedonia/Nordonia) returned an interception 64 yards for a third quarter touchdown and freshman defensive back Darius Jackson (Orlando, Fla./Boone) had a 32-yard interception return for a score to wrap up the scoring.

"We wanted to start fast," ONU head coach Dean Paul. "We were outstanding in all three phases. It was good to get so many guys into the game and it was good to send our seniors out with a win in their final home game."

Freed hit senior Reed Allen (Whitehouse/Anthony Wayne) on a 54-yard TD pass on ONU's first play from scrimmage and it was 7-0 just 2:38 into the contest.

Freed then hit sophomore receiver Brenden Hadley (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch) on a 30-yard TD pass, Williams ran in from 16 yards out and Freed completed a 40-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Logan Ray (Van Wert) and ONU led 28-0 after the first quarter.

In the second period, Williams banged in from 3 and 1 yards out for scores and Freed completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Caleb Saalfeld (Modesto, Calif./Beyer) as the Polar Bears led 49-3 at intermission.

Freed hit senior receiver Ryan Love (Bluffton) on a 6-yard TD pass, Rezek had his pick-6 and freshman Nolan Sotka (Aurora) ran in from 12 yards out and Northern led 70-3 after three quarters.

Senior Colin Lombardi (Milan/Edison) made a 41-yard field goal with 14:17 left in the game and Johnson's pick-6 with 1:34 left capped the scoring.

In all, 88 players got into the game for the Polar Bears.

The 80 points was the most for Ohio Northern in a single game since an 84-14 victory over Hiram on October 16, 1993 and is the most points scored in a game in Dial-Roberson Stadium history.

Eric Flynn rushed 21 times for 132 yards to lead the Quakers.

The Polar Bears will wrap up their 2016 season next Saturday with a 2 pm contest at Baldwin Wallace.