|
|
| www.MtUnionFootball.com | Main Page Email |
 |
Mount Union 38 Capital 22 by Dick Ross |
HIGHWAY 40 BLUES MAIN STREET OF MID AMERICA This week, taking my own advice, I traveled to Bexley the long way via I-77 to Cambridge, and I-70 west to Columbus, to avoid the Ohio State home game crowds, which usually start backing up just south of the Turnpike. Leaving early, the steady overnight rains dissolved into a murky gray morning, with fog along Rockside Ridge. The temperature read 48 degrees on the big "Goodyear" sign at the top of the hill. I rolled along, on cruise control, until I spotted the big black Goodyear Airdock, on my left, and realized that I'd missed the turn to the south, on the Akron bypass. I did get back on track and
enjoyed the fall scenery. Headed south, again, I noticed that the most
brilliant colors were along the highway and that the hilltops were generally
still green I guessed that any frosts, so As I traveled along I-70,
about half way between New Concord and Zanesville, I spotted a sign for the
"National Road/Zane Grey Museum." Since I had been plotting this story
for a while and had time, I paused
About an hour further along, Bexley is a very special place. If you don't believe it, they have blue oak leafed banners advertising it on almost every telephone pole. The "Big Bear," just OUTSIDE Bexely, flashed the temperature as 55 degrees giving credence to my "rule of thumb" that it's generally about ten degrees warmer, in Columbus. Though skies were still overcast, there was no further rain. Capital's own history
indicates that it was founded, in Canton, in 1830, by the "Evangelical
Lutheran Synod of Ohio." In 1832, when the school hit its first
financial crisis, Columbus offered $500 more than Canton for the privilege
of hosting the school, not quite a "Stadium" deal. The school was
moved to Columbus on South High Street, where construction was started on a
28' x 50' building, about the size of a suburban house these days, which was
to be home to the entire institution including offices, classes and living
space, made a bit simpler by the fact that the school was male only, until
1918. In 1850 the school was chartered as "Capital University" and moved to East Town Street, moving again to North High Street, in 1853. In 1874, Capital moved to the current location, just beyond Alum creek. They were now outside the city limits, on the National Road, "surrounded by cornfields," on a spacious campus of 50 acres. Today, Capital boasts nearly 4,000 students, about 2,000 undergraduates, over 1,100 graduate students and the balance in "Non Traditional" programs. Even though they have managed to acquire some additional space, Capital is very cramped and surrounded not by cornfields, but by very pricey real estate. The National Road ran through downtown Columbus on Main Street, but today's "US 40" takes a jog north to Broad Street, just west of Capital, for reasons mostly political and long forgotten. I haven't been to Capital in
four years and, in that time, they have changed a lot in their athletic
program. Not only have they leveled and re-built just about the entire
block containing their athletic facilities, but they've also changed their
uniforms, significantly, and become much more competitive. The new
home uniforms are almost a "mirror" of our playoff dress - except that they
have purple tops with black numerals, outlined in white with "Johnny U"
style doubled white stripes around the shoulders and the black trousers that
we'll probably see twice more this year, with Wilmington and Ohio Northern.
Their purple helmets carry
The brick arched exterior of the new Capital Center is built to appear like an older urban stadium, and I was even reminded of the baseball park at the Cooperstown Hall of Fame. The building contains a gorgeous gym, comparable to Mount Union's though admittedly much newer, exercise facilities, athletic offices, classrooms, service facilities and direct access to the new Bernlohr Stadium, which is built into the west side of the building. The new stadium retains only the name of the old facility though the field, now the same surface as ours, has been pushed slightly to the east, consuming the baseball field, which had been up in the northeast corner. Extra points and field goals still bounce out into Mound Street south of the stadium but since Bexley has, so far, declined to vacate the alley east of the field, there are no visitors stands. Since the university's
property is so severely cramped and they seem to have invented
"portability," even before there was such a thing as major league sports, I
think that if I were a trustee, I would have thought long and hard about
making such a major investment at that location. Mount Union, dressed in white, except for their purple "Raiders" helmets, won the coin toss, elected to receive and headed north, towards the highway with a 41-yard kick return by #29 So. RB Jeff Strauch of Avon Lake. Much was made about Mount's three quarterback offense last week. This week we got to see all three on the opening series. #7 Sr. QB Rob Adamson started off with a 26-yard completion to #82 Jr. TE Randell Knapp of Kent/Field, who finally got his name spelled right in the program - still just a four page "handout" in Bexley. After an incompletion, Adamson called "timeout" and #8 So. QB Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry came in. "Cap" must have watched the films of last week, closely, and they chased the little guy all over, for a 10-yard loss. As far as I could see, that was Zac's final appearance of the day, other than as a holder for the place kicker. #12 Jr. QB/P Jesse Burghardt came in to punt, he put one up that was downed on the 'Saders one-yard line. We would see more of Jesse, at quarterback and as a punter, later in the afternoon. Capital's first offensive try
was a three and out. Mount got the ball back at the Cap. 38, but a
penalty put the ball back to midfield and required a 27-yard Adamson to
Knapp "hookup," just to keep the drive alive. Mount finally ran out of
steam at the 13-yard line. The guy with the best seat in the house was
washing
The Crusaders next attempt
netted a loss of two yards on three plays and then they punted to #4 So. WR
Jason Cavell of Painesville/Riverside who slipped and fell, trying to make a
cut, at the 41-yard line. The Franklin County squad got another three and out before Mount got the ball back at their own 29. Pugh covered considerable distance on the ground and both he, Knapp and #5 Sr. TE Josh Liddell of Bemus Point, NY grabbed Adamson passes, before Knapp got one good for an 18-yard touchdown, to climax the 10-play, 71-yard drive and end the scoring for the first quarter.
FIRST QUARTER SCORE: MOUNT UNION 17, CAPITAL 0 The second quarter opened with Capital in the Mount Union end. This time, instead of a three and out, they elected to go for a fourth and three. Danny Edghill, who had started the season as a wide receiver, going back to quarterback because of injuries, ended up buried under #89 Sr. DE Matt Campbell of Massilon/Perry, #91 Jr. DT Antoine Dillard of Cleveland/Benedictine and #45 Sr. LB Stan Watson of Canfield, Austintown/Fitch, for a 14-yard loss. When Capital's defense came
back on, they picked off an Adamson pass - for the second time in three
plays. I think that for the rest of the half the Crusader defense had
more pass receptions than their offense. The "pick" was returned 48
yards to the Mount 12 by Cap. Fr. Kyle Hausler who wears #1 and, oddly, is
from the same school as Rodney Chenos, Mount's former #1, Hilliard/Davidson.
Mount's defense dug in, led by #37 Sr. DE Jason McElhaney of Pulaski, PA,
who had a tackle on the one-yard line and knocked Burghardt came in to lead the next drive, which was mostly on the ground, with Burghardt & Pugh taking turns running the ball, until Pugh broke through the right side, putting the ball across from 18 yards out after eight plays, 67 yards and two minutes off the clock. Capital's offense, once
again, could not get started against the Raider "D" and Adamson came back to
lead the team on a seven-play, 68-yard drive, with the final play scored as
a 31-yard touchdown, to Derrick Leach. It was a dead on strike, in the
end zone, with a pass that must have been over forty yards in the air. For a school like
Baldwin-Wallace, that prides itself on music, and whose web site touts the
joys of music, I find it hard to believe that Capital had no band, not even
a student organized pep band, a bugler, a baseball type organist, or even a
guy with a drum. I've heard that it's all below the "Conservancy"
types; not because they suffer from the insecurity of being so close to "The
Best Damn Band in the Land." Halftime entertainment consisted of the 15-year reunion of the last team to beat Mount Union - and the same "canned" music that you hear at Indians' games, designed to get you up out of your seats to buy a beer and a bag of nuts. I found it hard to believe that the school's administration had heard the tape they OK'd. It included some real "Hillbilly" fiddle music, drinking songs and at least one that had been banned from the radio for many years, in addition to the irritating "yadda, yadda, yadda" song from the Tribe games. I did not hear the National
Anthem, the Capital Alma Mater - or, even though I sat in the Capital
section, the "Pride of the Purple" fight song that was printed in the
program. I think I've said it before, and I'll say it After the intermission,
Capital had two penalty assisted drives, which allowed them to retain
possession longer than three plays each, significant only because #97 Sr. DT
Jeff Knoblauch of Pickerington, went down with a leg injury, which appeared
quite serious - when he was helped to the opposite sideline. It looked
like his replacement was #90 So. DT Josh Ludwig of East Liverpool. Burghardt led off the scoring
in the third quarter with an eight-play, 69-yard drive highlighted by a
37-yard pass that Knapp snatched from between two Capital defenders at the
four-yard line. Pugh went the final two to up the score to 38-8,
before the Crusaders were finally able to get it in gear with a 12-play,
70-yard drive, into the north end. This trip the two-point try was
intentional and failed when Gales was stopped well short. The remainder of the afternoon was pretty much a Dan Pugh clinic on the "Draw" play. Dan qualified to run it by leading Chuck Moore into the line so many times. Even though the grass was artificial, Dan's white uniform was almost black, from the ground up tires, used to cushion the "turf." Edghill, the Capital
quarterback, showed an interesting variation, on the play, however. He
would take the snap and hold the ball against his right leg, standing
nonchalantly, for almost a "two" count before handing off. He was able
to lead his team to one more score, into the south end, but the "timeout"
necessary to organize the two-point conversion, even though it was
successful, effectively ended any chance for the Crusaders. This was a tough game in
which both teams played their first teams until the final gun, though it
should be pointed out that Mount Union had the ball on the Capital 10-yard
line, as time expired. A career day for Dan Pugh, 40 carries, 213
yards and 2 touchdowns, but one that Rob Adamson would probably rather
forget: 11 of 23 passing for 217 yards and three touchdowns, but with three
interceptions. Next Saturday we have
Marietta, coming off a one-point win over Wilmington. The buffet opens
at 10:30 a.m., kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. Make sure to get there early to
enjoy the band! Dick Ross
|
|
for
an enjoyable visit - the web site cannot convey their beautiful scale
dioramas of life along "The National Road - Highway 40," over the years.
Worth a stop and the $5.00 admission fee, to view the chart on how to figure
gas prices at 14 cents per gallon.
a
Crusader's shield, with crossed swords and are almost the same shade as
ours. I said before the game, "That may make it rough for the
quarterbacks."
windows on the second floor of a brown brick building north of the
field, which, I do not believe is owned by the school. He did have a
great view when #11 So. PK Chad Teague of Orrville put the first three
points
on the repainted and refurbished north end scoreboard.
picked
up the ball, ran to his right and found Brian Park, listed as a defensive
end, for two points. He must have been lined up at an "eligible" spot
- no one questioned the play.
