Run game gets rolling as Football celebrates Senior Day with 49-6 victory over Otterbein

ADA —  Ohio Northern rushed for 296 yards and five touchdowns and got a pick-6 from the defense to post a 49-6 Ohio Athletic Conference football victory over Otterbein on a beautiful Senior Day Saturday at Dial-Roberson Stadium.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (3-6, 3-5 OAC), Otterbein (0-9, 0-8 OAC)
• Venue: Dial-Roberson Stadium - Ada, Ohio

The Game

• Ohio Northern's offense ground out a season-high 296 yards in the contest.
• Freshman Jordan Pettaway (Oregon/Clay) led ONU with a career-high 148 yards and three touchdowns on nine carries.
• Pettaway had impressive touchdown runs of 59 and 61 in the second quarter and banged in from 4 yards out to open the third period.
• Sophomore Louis Blasiole (Mantua/Crestwood) had a career-best 135 yards and two scores.
• His 2-yard TD run on Northern's second possession of the game made it 7-0 just 4:41 into the contest.
• Pettaway's 59-yard run three plays into the second quarter gave ONU a 14-0 advantage.
• Junior Brennon Norris (Steubenville/Indian Creek) then hit senior Hunter Kesler (Oakwood/Paulding) on a 6-yard touchdown pass at it was 21-0 at the 7:55 mark of the quarter.
• Sophomore Cooper Braden (Orange City, Fla./University) made it 28-0 with a 21-yard pick-6 just 1:16 later.
• Pettaway raced in from 61 yards with just one second left in the half to make it 35-0 at intermission.
• Pettaway's 4-yard run on Northern first possession of the third quarter gave the hosts a 42-0 lead.
• Blasiole raced in from 26 yards out with 5;10 left in the third and it was 49-0 Polar Bears.
• Junior Dalton Tjong (Cumming, Ga./West Forsyth) had 14 of his game-high 15 tackles in the first half for Ohio Northern.
• Braden had eight tackles and two interceptions and senior Ed Manning (Sanford, Fla./Seminole) had six tackles and blocked a field goal and an extra point for ONU.
• The Polar Bears kept the ball on the ground the entire second half, gaining 133 yards on 26 carries without attempting a pass.
• ONU out-gained OU in total offense 378-376.

Notables

• Dean Paul is in his 20th season as head coach of the Polar Bears with a 121-77 career record at ONU.
• Today's game was part of Senior Day and at Ohio Northern.
• Senior Josh Bever (Ashland) now has 36 career sacks in 43 career games. He ranks second all-time in ONU history. All-American and 10-year NFL veteran Jason Trusnik holds the school record with 43.0 sacks from 2002-06.
• Bever tied a school record with his 43rd consecutive start on Saturday. Brock Martin, Austin Eick and Dom DiFalco each started a school-record 43 games from 2018-22 for the Polar Bears.
• Bever is also second in ONU history with 52.5 TFL in his career.
• Manning became the first player in Ohio Northern history to block to kicks in the same game.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will wrap up its schedule on Saturday with a 2 p.m. contest at Wilmington.