Football wraps up road slate with 63-24 loss at No. 1 Mount Union

ALLIANCE — Ohio Northern wrapped up the road portion of its 2019 football schedule with a 63-24 loss at No. 1-ranked Mount Union on a sunny and chilly Saturday afternoon at Mount Union Stadium.

The Polar Bears (4-4 overall, 4-3 OAC) were led by junior All-American Christiaan Williams (Sidney/Anna), who carried the ball 28 times for 125 yards and two scores.

The Purple Raiders (8-0, 7-0) scored on their first seven possessions to lead 49-3 with 5:48 left in the third quarter.

Williams capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive with a 1-yard run to get ONU within 49-10 with 38 seconds left in the third quarter.

After the ONU defense forced a Mount Union punt, McFadden his junior Chase Rose (Kenton/Upper Scioto Valley) on a 48-yard TD pass and it was 49-17 with 14:06 left in the game.

Williams then banged in from 15 yards out, surpassing the 100-yard mark for his school-record 23rd time in the process, to make it 56-24 with 8:34 left in the fourth quarter.

"We just couldn't get off the field in the second quarter," ONU head coach Dean Paul said. "On their first four or five drives, we had them in third and long or fourth down in each one, but couldn't get the stop. Then we gave up a few bigs plays and it snowballed. We kept playing and had some success in some areas so there are some things to build on."

Mount Union took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in 12 plays and went up 7-0 with 8:08 left in the opening quarter.

The Polar Bears answered with an 11-play, 44-yard drive that was capped with a career-long 49-yard field goal by sophomore Dom DiFalco (Murraysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) with 3:05 left in the first quarter to make it 7-3.

DiFalco's 49-yard field goal is the longest in the OAC this season.

Mt. Union then scored 35 second quarter points to put the game away.

Mount Union out-gained Ohio Northern 604-273 in total offense.

Senior Mark Niles (Miramar, Fla.), the league's leading tackler, had a team-best 10 stops to lead the ONU defense.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday with a 1:30 pm home contest against Baldwin Wallace.