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Mount Union 58    Capital 17

                                                                     by Larry Faith

Purple Raiders roll past Crusaders in capital city

     The Mount Union College Purple Raiders held on to the number one ranking in the nation and atop the Ohio Athletic Conference with a convincing 58-17 over the Capital Crusaders Saturday evening in Columbus.  The victory kept intact the Purple Raiders amazing regular season road winning streak.   The last loss on an opponent's turf occurred on September 28, 1991 against Baldwin-Wallace in Berea.  Despite three first half turnovers, the Raiders raced to a 35-7 halftime lead against the Crusaders.

     Mike Miller returned the opening kickoff 26 yards to the Mount Union 39-yard line.  On first down, after a five yard penalty for motion, quarterback Gary Smeck teamed up with tailback Dan Pugh for a 41-yard pass and run completion to the Crusader's 25-yard line.  Tailback Chuck Moore then dashed into the endzone on the very next play and the Raiders took a 7-0 lead as Rodney Chenos added the point after.  Mount Union's defense held Capital to three and out and the Raiders took over on their 15-yard line.  The Purple Raiders traveled the 85 yards in seven plays as Pugh caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Smeck and a 14-0 lead.  Key plays in the drive were back-to-back pass completions of 12 yards to Adam Marino, a 36-yard run by Moore and a 16-yard completion from Smeck to Jason Richards.

     The next two Mount Union possessions resulted in pass interceptions by the Crusaders' defense. However, on the third play of the second quarter, Raider linebacker Matt LaVerde raced 53 yards for a touchdown with an interception of a Danny Edghill pass.  Chenos's conversion upped the Raider advantage to 21-0.  After holding Capital's offense, Mount Union took over on its own 20-yard line.  It took one play for Smeck to team up with wide receiver Rob Sondles for an 80-yard touchdown pass and a 28-0 lead.  The Crusaders then put together 12-play, 76-yard drive which resulted in a Edghill to Chris Copland 17-yard scoring pass.  A 28-yard field goal by Bo Comer narrowed the Mount Union lead to 28-10 with 5:29 left in the second quarter.  The Raiders closed out the first half scoring as Smeck teamed up with Marino on a 13-yard scoring strike.  Key plays on the drive were three completions to Marino and a pass to Sondles.

     Mount Union's first possession of the second half resulted in a Chenos 33-yard field goal and a 38-10 lead.  The next time the Raiders had the ball, they covered 78 yards in five plays capped off by a six-yard pass from Smeck Marino.  During the drive Moore carried the football twice for 10 and 15 yards and Smeck teamed up with Richards on a 47-yard pass completion.  The Raiders then lead 44-10.  LaVerde recorded his second interception of the game on the Crusaders' next possession and returned the pick 17 yards to the Capital 23-yard line.   Two plays later, Pugh galloped in from host's 15-yard line and a 51-10 lead.   Linebacker Jesse Pearson then picked off an Edghill aerial at the Crusader 32-yard line.  Six plays later Freshman quarterback Brian Reisert teamed up with tight end Josh Liddell for a 12-yard touchdown pass and a Mount Union lead of 58-10 at the end of the third quarter.  Capital scored the final points of the game on a 23-yard scoring pass from Edghill to Copland.

     The Purple Raiders amassed 567 total yards of offense compared to 303 yards for the Crusaders.  Smeck finished with 16 completions in 23 pass attempts for 319 yards and four touchdowns.  Edghill passed for 219 yards on 24 completions in 50 attempts.  Marino caught nine passes for 113 yards.  Moore rushed for 125 yards on 12 carries while Pugh added 79 yards on 10 carries.  LaVerde registered six tackles for the Raider defense while Ryan Belaney, Justin Burton, Jason Perkins and Pearson added five stops.

Notes: Marino's nine receptions upped his career total to 179 breaking the career record of 174 pass receptions held by Ed Bubonics from 1989-1993.  Marino's two touchdown receptions tied the career marks of Bubonics and Kevin Knestrick of 35 scoring catches.  Second ranked Trinity of Texas was upset by Centre College 25-21 on Saturday.  Ohio Northern blocked a game-tying field goal attempt of John Carroll to defeat the Blue Streaks 38-35.

Larry Faith