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Mount Union 48 Otterbein 10 by Dick Ross |
A TIME FOR EVERY PURPOSE, UNDER HEAVEN Up and on the road early, on a
crisp fall morning, we greet the rosy fingered dawn with a silver sliver moon and high
wispy clouds. The return of airplanes and contrails, framed by an ice crystal
rainbow, is reassuring as we cross the Cuyahoga on the high bridge with steam like clouds
of fog rising from the gorge. We arrive in Alliance at 9:00 a.m., to be followed by
friends arriving from Cleveland for lunch and the game.
With the help of Rev. Miller,
I pieced together the following. Phillip W. Otterbein (1726-1813) a German -
American minister of the German Reformed church was the cofounder (with Martin Boehm) of
the United Brethren in Christ near Frederick Md in 1800. Otterbein College, which
was founded in 1847, was affiliated with the Brethren and named to memorialize one of the
founders. The Brethren merged with the Evangelical Church in 1947 and eventually
became part of the modern United Methodist Church in 1968, bringing Otterbein College with
them. With the most recent merger, Otterbein became Ohio's fifth United Methodist college. The school is located in Westerville, Ohio, a quaint small town north of Columbus, and although the current enrollment is listed as 3,000 it is probably the OAC school which is most like Mount Union. The last time I wrote about
Otterbein, there was some sentiment to change the team name from "the Cardinals"
to "the Otters" a nasty little marine mammal, related to the beaver and the
wolverine. There are hundreds of teams named "Cardinals," most named for
the bird, but many named for church officials. Stanford University is "the
Cardinal" as an engineering school, formerly "the Indians," I believe that
their name is based on primary, indivisible, cardinal numbers. Although Otterbein
could have been number one of one among the Otters, alumni and students voted against the
change about two years ago.
Our visiting Cardinals were in
nice looking uniforms reminiscent of San Francisco 49ers, luckily they did not bring
either Joe Montana or Jerry Rice with them. With the flag at half staff, the order
of events was somewhat different. The band played the Alma Mater first then the
captains of both teams came out Kickoff temperature was a cool
62 degrees, under mostly sunny skies, with a light breeze out of the east-northeast.
With a healthy spattering of Cardinal red north of the pressbox, the crowd was a
fairly skimpy 4,132 with not very many taking advantage of the widely distributed
Community Day coupons.
With the 50-yard field goal
and a booming kick off I was thinking that, if their kicker Derrick Hone played for us, I
might start calling him "Bigfoot." Starting on their own twenty, after the
touchback, Mount managed # 7, Rob Adamson our new starting QB from Akron/Manchester has a rifle for an arm but also seems to have a lot of nervous energy, after waiting three years behind Gary Smeck, and has tended to open throwing high, hard and long, until he settles into the game routine. "Someone should give that kid a cigarette - to take the edge off" I joked. "Right" was the reply, but with the current tobacco free and no re-entry policies "he'd have to go across the street, and pay his way back in." Turns out that there was no
need for radical measures: on the third drive of the quarter Rob found the range to # 9
Sr. Jason Candle WR of Salem/West Branch with a 57-yard TD pass, which must have covered
fifty yards in the air. The conversion by Chenos upped the home team's total to ten.
Chuck was also Mount's last hope on
the next scoring play. Adamson was hit from behind at the Mount 34 and his fumble
was picked up by # 77 Mark Pezo of Otterbein who rumbled for the TD. Though not
normally charged with defense, Chuck Moore came from out of nowhere and had hold of the
white Mount got the ball back with 2
1/2 minutes to go and the crowd could sense a resolve to get the points back. The
first play was an unusual sequence. Moore rushed for 4 yards; Mount was penalized 10
yards for holding, the Cardinals 15 for roughness; the officials actually stepped off the
penalties in both directions for a net gain of nine yards. I think that I might
"do the math" and save the walking. Quickly, Adamson struck 53 yards to
Jr. TE # 5 Josh Liddell of Bemus Point, NY, but "Blue" was flagged for illegal
motion. Normally taciture coach Larry Kehres was now visibly upset with the
officiating and though there was now one minute less on the clock and five more yards to
go, the stadium could taste the determination to score. Moving purposefully and
getting good experience in clock management, Adamson led the team to a first down on the
one-yard line where he spiked the ball, to stop the clock, and allow Chuck Moore to
complete the mission, with only 16 seconds remaining.
FINAL SCORE: MOUNT UNION 48, OTTERBEIN 10
Dick Ross
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Two years ago, when we played Otterbein I tried, unsuccessfully, to find the origin of the
name of the school from the web site and the media guide. My first guess was that
"Otterbein" was a town or city name such as Wittenberg or Heidelberg. I
asked list member Orloff Miller ' 53, retired and living in Germany for help; he checked
his Michelin Guide and came up with a number of towns with "Otter" in the name,
but no Otterbein. Since almost every Mount Union employee or alum knows the story of
our founder, Orville Nelson Hartshorn, and many can even add details such as "the old
carding mill" or Hartshorn's classmates from Allegheny, Professors Chapman and
Clarke, I tried contacting the school in Westerville. The initial response was
"the guy who knows the answer is out" and "we'll get back to
you." The answer, when it came, was a bit garbled and unclear.
Because of the events of the week, this Saturday promised to be a bit different.
There was a nice crowd for the Community Day cookout on the Campus Grounds patio, south of
the Campus Center, but my guests chose the buffet, inside, which they had read about in my
letters, and were not disappointed. In spite of the activity outside, the crowd in
the Hoover-Price dining commons seemed heavier than usual, with a much heavier
concentration of students. Even the short walk over to the Stadium where the teams
were warming up, was a bit different and the teams seemed subdued. 
holding hands, in a line
of seven across, alternating between the home purple and visiting white jerseys. The
young men of both schools faced the flag while the band played the national anthem,
followed by all present singing "God Bless America." 
Mount took the opening kick off, but in spite of a nice return by # 31 Sr. Dan Pugh
of Norwalk, couldn't get started. Otterbein managed a short return drive but big
hits from Seniors # 23 Jason Perkins of Wakeman, # 58 "Rocky" Coniglio of
Coraopolis, Pa, and Jr. # 97 Jeff Knoblach from the nuclear city of Pickerington, Ohio,
kept the visitors on their heals most of the afternoon. They finally put the ball
down on the south 40, just in front of me, and kicked a 50-yard field goal to take the
early lead. 
Mount opened the second quarter scoring with a drive that began in the first period.
The final play on this one was a 33 yard screen to Dan Pugh who gained most of the yards,
down the near side, after the catch. It looked as though he was trapped at about the
15-yard line but squirted free for the TD. The Raiders scored on its next
opportunity, a 67- yard drive, mostly on the ground by Pugh and # 10 Sr. Chuck Moore of
Mogadore who scored the TD on a two yard "up the middle" play. Moore is
not only an outstanding student and a record setting athlete but, according to the
Saturday "PD," he is also the leading candidate to become a kidney donor to his
younger sister, a student at Youngstown State. Nothing immediate, we are assured,
but "when that time comes, I'll be there," he said.
The band music and the sun felt good at the half. The band has two very tall
upper-class majorettes with one new girl from Louisville, who seems to be a real expert
baton twirler and juggler, replacing the band's red bearded, caped and silk shirted on
field "Raider." Just before the start of play, one of our cheerleaders
fell out of a "lift" and landed on her back, bumping her head on the rubberized
asphalt track. She laid still for what seemed to be a long time. It was good
to see her brush herself off and return to her normal activities.
