Football: Ohio Northern (0-0 Overall) at Denison (0-0 Overall)
Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, 7 pm - Piper Stadium, Granville, Ohio
Saturday's Contest: Saturday's contest is season opener of the 2019 season for both teams. ONU is 536-497-36 in 125 seasons of play, a winning percentage of .518. ONU is 20-5 in its last 25 season openers and is 66-53-5 all-time in its 124 previous season openers.
ONU Head Coach Dean Paul: Paul is in his 16th season at ONU with a 101-53 record, a winning percentage of .656. Paul is ONU's all-time winningest coach in ONU football history. He is 141-65 in 20 seasons overall and is 0-0 vs. DU.
DU head coach Jack Hatem: Hatem is in his 10th season at Denison with a 56-35 record. He is 0-0 against ONU.
ONU Last Year: The Ohio Northern football team posted an upper division finish in the OAC for an impressive 22nd time in the past 24 seasons in 2018. The Polar Bears were 5-5 overall and finished tied for fifth in the 10-team OAC with a 4-5 league record. Northern suffered through myriad of injuries during the season, especially on defense, where seven freshmen were in the starting lineup at the end of the season. Senior OT Sam Shook shook off injuries his sophomore and junior seasons to be named First Team All-America and First Team All-Great Lakes Region by D3football.com and Second Team All-America by the Associated Press. Shook was also named Honorable Mention Mayo Clinic CoSIDA Comeback Player of the Year after his amazing 2018 campaign. He was also named the OAC Offensive Lineman of the Year and First Team All-OAC. Senior WR Chad Rex joined Shook as an All-Region honoree, earning Third Team accolades by D3football.com. A total of 10 Polar Bears were named All-Conference. Shook, Rex, senior K Chase Watson and junior LB Mark Niles were all named First Team All-OAC.
ONU Leaders: The Ohio Northern running game is led by All-American RB Christiaan Williams (269 att, 1623 yards, 11 TDs in 2017), (RB Brock Martin (158 att, 756 yards, 13 TDs in 2018) and QB Anthony McFadden (126 att, 390 yards, 1 TD in 2018). QB Anthony McFadden was 156-of-260 passing for 2,218 yards and 20 TDs last year. WR Chase Rose (31 rec, 383 yards, 2 TDs in 2018) and WR A.J. Marks (8 rec, 115 yards, 1 TD in 2018) lead the receiving corps. LB Mark Niles, LB David Haseleu and S Andrew Valenti led the defense with 86, 84 and 58 tackles, respectively.
DU Last Year: The Big Red posted a 10-0 recular season record, captured its first NCAC championship since 1986 and advanced to the Division III playoffs for the first time since 1985. Record-setting QB Canaan Gebele has graduated but eight starters return on defense along with NCAC rushing champ Alex Minton.
DU Leaders: The DU running game is led by RB Alex Minton (209 att, 1368 yards, 12 TDs in 2018) and RB Dara Laja (24 att, 146 yards, 1 TD in 2018). QB Brad Baldinger was 13-of-24 passing for 143 yards and QB Drew Dawkins was 3-of-5 passing for 31 yards in 2018. WR Hunter Biddle (29 rec, 426 yards, 5 TDs in 2018) and RB Alex Minton (22 rec, 230 yards, 2 TDs in 2018) lead the DU returning receivers. LB Tristan Knoer, S Ryan Hallinan and LB Andrew Smith lead the defensive returners with 55, 52 and 52 tackles in 2018, respectively. LB Nate Keirn led DU and with 10.5 sacks last year3.
ONU Returning Statistical Leaders (2018 Stats):
Rushing Yds. |
Passing Yds. |
Receiving Yds. |
Tackles | Sacks | ||||||||||||||
1. | C.Williams | 1,623* | 1. | McFadden | 2,218 | 1. | Rose | 383 | 1. | Haseleu | 86 | 1. | Haseleu | 4 | ||||
2. | Martin | 650 | 2. | M.Williams | 80 | 2. | Marks | 115 | 2. | Niles | 84 | 2. | 6 Tied With | 1.5 | ||||
3. | Marks | 588 | 3. | T.Smith | 54 | 3. | Rockwell | 22 | 3. | Valenti | 58 | 3. | 5 Tied With | 1.0 | ||||
* 2017 Totals |
All-Time Series: DU leads the series between the two schools by a 12-4-4 margin. The two teams have not played since a 21-6 DU win in 1983. ONU went 3-0-1 from 1979-82.