Football drops 51-7 decision at No. 2-ranked Mount Union

By Tim Glon

ADA — Ohio Northern fell to 3-2 on the season after a 51-7 loss at No. 2 Mount Union on Saturday afternoon at Mount Union Stadium.

The Polar Bears are now 2-2 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Purple Raiders improve to 5-0, 4-0.

Senior Justin Magazine carried the ball 14 times for 30 yards and a touchdown and freshman Will Freed was 21-of-38 passing for 171 yards to lead the ONU offense.

Defensively, junior Dan Eller tied a career-high with 12 tackles to lead the Polar Bear defense.

Magazine plowed over from 1-yard out with 14 seconds left in the contest to account for Ohio Northern's score.

Mt. Union drove 80 yards for a score on its first possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead.

Northern drove into MtU territory on both of its first two possessions, but could not get on the score board on either occasion.

Pinned deep after a punt by junior Kyle Bergman, the Purple Raiders drove 93 yards in 13 plays to take a 14-0 lead with 13:55 left in the half.

UMU then drove 80 yards for another score on its next possession to go up 21-0 and a pick-6 later in the period gave Mt Union a 28-0 halftime lead.

The Purple Raiders led 37-0 after three periods.

"We put ourselves in too many third-and-long situations on offense," ONU head coach Dean Paul said. "On defense, we struggled to get off the field on third downs. We did a good job of limiting big plays, but just couldn't get enough third down stops. Mount Union is a great team, but I believe that we are better than we showed today."

The Purple Raiders had three players eclipse the 100-yard mark rushing, led by Logan Nemeth with 22 carries for 142 yards and two touchdowns.

UMU out-gained ONU 547-184.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday with a 1:30 pm home contest with Capital at Dial-Roberson Stadium.