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Mount Union 48    Allegheny 21

                                                                      by Larry Faith

     Mount Union College opened the 2000 football campaign with a convincing 48-21 victory over Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania on Saturday.  The Purple Raiders demonstrated a balanced attack as they amassed 536 yards of total offense in moving the football up and down the field against a veteran Allegheny defense.  In fact, the Purple Raiders were never forced to punt the entire game!

     The Purple Raiders received the opening kickoff and drove 65 yards to the Gators' 4-yard line before turning the ball over on downs as a Gary Smeck to Dan Pugh pass completion was stopped at that point.  The Mount Union defense dug in and forced the hosts to punt from their end zone and the Raiders took possession at midfield.  Chuck Moore ran for 11 and 9 yards on successive plays and Pugh raced for 11 yards on the third play of the series.  After a five yard run by Sophomore tailback Vince Ilacqua, Smeck teamed up with Pugh on a nine-yard pass play to set up first and goal on the Gators' five-yard line.  Smeck then found tight end Adam Irgang open for the first Raider touchdown of the season and Mount Union took a 7-0 lead.

     To Allegheny's credit the Gators came right back, as on first down quarterback Joe Cowart hooked up with wideout LaMarcus Thurman on a 40-yard pass completion to the Purple Raiders 26-yard line.  Seven plays later tailback Shane Ream scored from the one-yard line and Allegheny tied the score at 7-7.  From that point Mount Union would take control of the football game. 

     The Raiders then took possession of the football on their 26-yard line and drove 74 yards on 10 plays culminating in a Moore three-yard touchdown run on the second play of the second quarter to go ahead 14-7.   Highlights of the drive were pass completions from Smeck to Moore of 17 yards and to Ilacqua of 14 yards and rushes of Moore of 11 yards and Pugh of eight and seven yards.  After another three and out by the Gators compliments of the Raider defense, Mount Union drove 53-yards in just seven plays to take a 21-7 advantage as Smeck threw a 13-yard scoring pass to junior wide receiver Jason Candle.  The drive saw Smeck find wideout Adam Marino on passes of 14 and 12 yards.  After two more three-play Allegheny possessions, Mount Union ended the first half scoring on a Rodney Chenos 26-yard field goal and a 24-7 halftime lead.  A 15-yard pass from Smeck to Candle and a 13-yard run by Moore set up the Chenos three-pointer.

     After stopping the Gators on its first possession of the third quarter, it took only three plays for the Raiders to cover 38 yards.  Moore gained four yards on first down.  Smeck then teamed up with Irgang for a 20-yard completion.  The Gators were penalized seven yards for a personal foul to the seven-yard line from where Moore raced into the end zone to give the Purple and White a 31-7 lead.  The Raiders defense then held but Allegheny took over the football as Moore fumbled on first down after gaining 18 yards to Allegheny's 48-yard line.  On a fourth and ten situation, Cowart teamed up with Thurman on a touchdown pass on a tipped ball that ended up in the receiver's hands on the Mount Union 20-yard line from where he dashed into the end zone for a 31-14 score.

     Mount Union answered the Gators touchdown in just seven plays with Pugh busting over from the 4-yard line of the hosts.  Smeck threw pass completions to Marino for 15 yards and Candle for 21 yards on that drive.  The Chenos point after gave the Raiders a 38-14 lead.  Chenos added his second 26-yard field goal on the final play of the third quarter to up the Mount Union advantage to 41-14.   This 22-yard drive followed a 35-yard punt return by Marino.

     The fourth quarter saw both teams tally touchdowns.   Mount Union upped its lead to 48-14 on a one yard plunge from Ilacqua.  The Gators scored on a four-yard run by Jeremy Snyder following a pass interception by the Allegheny defense at the Purple Raider 19-yard line.  Alliance High School product Matt Sotcan intercepted two Allegheny aerials in the fourth quarter to stop Gator drives.

     Smeck showed why he is an All-American candidate by riddling the Allegheny defense on a 20 of 26 passing performance for 223 yards and two touchdowns.   Moore led the Raider rushing attack with 129 yards on 19 carries.  Pugh added 84 yards on 18 carries while Dustin Blake and Ilacqua each rushed for 41 yards.   Marino caught five passes for 71 yards while Pugh also hauled in five Smeck throws for 31 yards.  Candle had three receptions for 49 yards and Moore also caught three passes for 30 yards.  The Raiders amassed 313 yards rushing for a total of 536 yards compared to 254 total yards for the Gators.  Mount Union had a 31-11 advantage in first downs.  Brian Cassidy led the Raider defense with nine tackles while Jason Perkins was credited with seven stops.

Notes: Marino, Moore and Mike Miller were outstanding on kickoff and punt returns.  Freshman offensive lineman Larry Kinnard was solid as he replaced Steve Nettle at right tackle.  Nettle was suffering from heat exhaustion.  Over half of the 4,000 fans at Robertson Field were Mount Union faithful who followed the Raiders the 100 miles to Meadville.  Congratulations to the entire Purple Raider offensive line which simply controlled the experienced Allegheny defensive front.   The temperature was in the mid-80's but fortunately a breeze stirred up in the second half.  Also note that Mount Union dominated a very good football team which will battle for the Division III playoffs.

Larry Faith