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Mount Union 48 Muskingum 7 by Dick Ross |
ON THE ROAD Originally called "Concord" the Village that is now New Concord was established, west of Cambridge, in 1828, when the National Road reached the spot. New Concord is regarded as a classic National Road town, with its' streets running parallel and perpendicular to the main road. Muskingum College was founded,
in 1836, by residents of New Concord, and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
The College's Indian name, shared with the county in which it resides, is sometimes In 1926 the road between Wheeling and Columbus became part of US Route 40 - there had been some sentiment to name the Highway "# 1" but that would have conflicted with the scheme in which North-South routes were given odd numbers and all highway numbers were indexed from the North and East.
The weather got better further south, traveling into the heart of fall, with sunshine lighting the multicolored hills in a palette of colors warmer than the day. In order to fully enjoy the trip, I got off a couple of exits north of I-70 and took the old road west through Cambridge, along the "Panhandle" Division of what was the Pennsylvania Railroad and down the valley of the "Crooked Creek" into New Concord.
Reaching New Concord, the
college is up the hill and the stadium is a large concrete structure set into the side of
one of the hills - while the John Glenn (Class of '43) Gymnasium occupies the opposite
hill. Like Hiram, the stadium is only single sided but the view of the valley
beyond, especially at this time of year, is truly beautiful. I got there early enough to
visit with tailgating Mount fans and parents: by some unwritten convention or ancient
tradition, the Mount Union fans occupy the high ground above the stadium and take seats to
the west as they trickle down into the structure to the right. Muskingumites who
arrived from off campus parked mostly in the paved lots, down below, and walked up into
the Cambridge side.
Making up an opening play
loss, the guys in white went 59 yards in the next six plays topped off with a seven-yard
sweep by # 31 RB Dan Pugh of Norwalk/St. Paul. Waiting for the game to start I had
been playing "trivia" with those around me. I wondered, out loud, if Dan -
who does not use "Jr." in his name - was related to the Dan Pugh, M-Club Hall of
Famer who graduated in 1976. The lady sitting behind me chimed in with "I can
answer that," turns out that she's his grandmother. By the time we had talked all of this over, Mount "Blanc" had the ball, after a short punt, and was headed for Columbus with four carries by Dan Pugh. # 10 Sr. RB Chuck Moore of Mogadore spurted the final 12 yards, for his first of three touchdowns, while touching the ball only ten times. The Raiders next drive stalled
at the west four-yard line. # 1, Sr. Rodney Chenos of Hilliard/Davidson, came on for
an into-the-wind 21-yard field goal to up the score to 17. Rodney had nine kickoffs,
six extra
The afternoon was not all
offense: # 23 Sr. LB Jason "Pancake" Perkins of Wakeman/Firelands scored two
excellent quarterback sacks for a total of 11 yards in losses. What may have been
the biggest loss of the day could have been when # 97 Sr. DT Jeff Knoblauch re-injured his
neck and shoulder, just before
Walt Whitman said that "Americans should know the universe itself as a road... for traveling souls." John Glenn has called New Concord "the center of the Universe." As the teams came out for the second half, I mentally made the turn for home. While not announced, all of the Raiders who had started the day, except for Chenos, were already done for the day. With Sophomore Jesse Burghardt "at the controls," Mount motored 59 yards in eight-running plays, one by Burghardt and seven by # 36 Soph. RB Michael Dietrick of Seven Hills/Normandy who "popped" for the final 14 yards to score. The third quarter quickly became history, mostly on the basis of the Muskie's longest sustained drive, which consumed almost half the quarter.
The biggest problems of the
second half came in the press box as humans and computers struggled to figure out who was
actually on the field. Computers are completely dumbfounded by the Mount Union
roster where up to three players may "share" a jersey number. Freshman QB
# 16 Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry lead the squad in a drive which burned off almost half of
the final period. Zac was two for two passing although one was credited, by the
computer, to a defensive player. The groundwork was done by Freshman Rick Ciccone of
Coshocton, listed as a DB, and # 29 RB Jeff Strauch, another Freshman, from Avon Lake.
This time the drive ran out of gas, just outside of Zanesville, and Rodney Chenos
came on The trip home from New Concord
is longer in both miles and minutes than Alliance, but it is all "cruise
control" Interstate, from just south of New Concord. Next Saturday Mount Union will be at home for an always dangerous B-W team, before traveling to Tiffin for the regular season finale against Heidelberg. If you are in the immediate Alliance area, the game will be broadcast, tape delayed, on UHF Channel 52 (WIVM) at 8:00 p.m. Saturday and again at 1:00 Sunday afternoon, with Joe Tait and Harry Paidas on the call. Barring a completely bizarre turn of events, Mount Union should open post season play in Alliance, following a bye week, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Mid December could call for one more trip down I-77 for that first ever "Prime Time" Stagg Bowl. But first, B-W in Alliance, the buffet opens at 11:00 a.m. and the kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. See you there!
Dick Ross
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MD to Wheeling, WV in 1818.
Largely through the efforts of Henry Clay, the road was continued through Ohio, from 1825
to 1833, using portions of an earlier route "traced" by Ebeneezer Zane, in 1797,
from Wheeling to Columbus and Maysville, KY. At the time, fully one quarter of the
state's population lived in 
mispronounced and often
misspelled. Muskingum College was male only until 1854, when women were admitted on
an equal basis with men. After the Civil War, a period of steady growth began,
accelerating until the frontier college with less than a hundred students at the edge of
Appalachia evolved into a modern liberal arts college of some 1,900 with both traditional
and graduate school students and a 215-acre campus laid out over the unglaciated hills
above New Concord.
When Franklin College, an important educational institution of the Presbyterian Church in
the 19th century closed, in 1927, its alumni rolls were added to Muskingum's, as Scio's
had been to Mount Union, twenty-five years earlier. 
a complete assortment of rain gear and
heavier clothes, so I decided not to worry. The snow was gone in an instant,
reappearing as rain from Independence to Brecksville, down I-77, and then again as wet
snow in the Canton area, but with a hint of brighter weather on the southern
horizon. A bit after ten in the morning the lights at Canton's Fawcett Stadium were
already on to welcome Massillon visitors for their annual "big game." 
Just west of Cambridge I spotted one of the stone mileposts from the old road. Even
though it is now a four lane divided highway, it must have meant that the road was still
following the original alignment. Nearing New Concord, one of several original
"S" bridges on the highway - a stone bridge with a "jog" in the center
- has been preserved, off the current right of way. To the west, in Norwich, is the
Zane Grey/National Road Museum and further down the Road is the famous "Y"
bridge in Zanesville, the current one a more recent reconstruction of the original. 
After a brief intro, by a well meaning pep band of about two dozen, the teams took the
field waiting their turns to share a single gate in the south side of the fence.
Mount was resplendent in solid white and the locals were stunning in their magenta jerseys
with white numerals, outlined in black, and black trousers, marking the fourth time in
eight games we've seen a team in black pants, not counting the two teams who wore dark
blue.
Dan Pugh, who is a junior only by his
eligibility year, is the son of her son Dick Pugh, nephew to the first Dan Pugh.
Grandmother Pugh also had news of Liz, the redheaded cheerleader from a few years back:
she is married and teaching school in Coe, Iowa. Her husband, Erik Raeburn '94, is
the Head Coach of the Coe College Kohawks. There may be quite a colony of purple
developing in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area as Raider fans should recognize the names of two
of his assistants: Ryan Gorius and William Rychel. 
points and two field goals but he did not
have to punt and I'm sure, the statistic he enjoyed the most were the two
"unassisted" tackles playing defense after the kickoffs. 
Mount's second "try" of the period saw the Raiders alternating quarterbacks,
play by play. # 42 Jr. RB Vincent Ilacqua managed a 19 yard advance, his only carry
of the afternoon, shedding would be tacklers, headed back towards Cambridge. The
drive featured pass completions by both Adamson and Soph. QB # 12 Jesse Burghardt of
Uniontown/Lake who started off by hitting TE # 5 Jr. Josh Liddell of Bemus Point, NY and
then a pitch and catch to Chuck Moore, a flair around the left side for another seven.
Coach Montgomery's D-men put the ball back into the hands of QB Adamson with 39 seconds
and 90 yards to go. Those who have been following these accounts this year know that
this is the situation where Rob excels: three straight pass completions and a 13-yard
"draw" to Chuck Moore brought out Chenos for one more, with seven seconds to
spare.
permit this use of the equipment.
THIRD QUARTER
SCORE: MOUNT UNION 45, MUSKINGUM 0
one more time to post three more, for
an even four dozen.
the Hiram Terriers were also shut out by
the Wittenberg Tigers.