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Mount Union 55 Otterbein 0 by Dick Ross |
I'M A BELIEVER While we've had some rain and cooler nights, summer continues without interruption, in Northern Ohio. Most of the fall colors, to date, have been provided not by nature, but by the annual October deluge of direct mail political advertising. Leaving home about nine, the dawn was still trying to fight its way through the heavy gray chilly and moist aftermath of Tropical Storm Lilly, the furthest down the alphabet of any Atlantic storm that I remember. The trip to Otterbein is almost twice as long, for me, as the trip to Alliance but is a much easier one, since it's all "cruise control" mileage down I-71 and one exit east on I-270. Blendon township, which now includes
Westerville, was first settled in 1806. By 1838 there were nearly 900
people in the township, including the Westerveldt brothers who had arrived
in 1816, and donated land for a school, called the Blendon Seminary.
When the hamlet achieved status deserving a local post office, the
townspeople selected the name Westerville to honor the Westerveldt brothers,
who had been so generous.
The seminary was, however, short lived
and in 1846 the land and two modest buildings were purchased by the United
Brethren Church and named "Otterbein" after Philip Otterbein, one of the
founders of the Church, which through consolidations and mergers finally
became a "United Methodist" college when In the days leading up to the American Civil War, Otterbein, like Oberlin, became a hot bed of anti - slavery sentiment and "underground railway" activity. I recall that, as a child, my grandmother once mentioned such a house on Main Street in Alliance and that I got into trouble by peering into the basement windows, to see if the tracks were still in place. Pre - Civil War Westerville must have been a real "no nonsense" town. In 1858 it passed one of the earliest alcohol prohibition ordinances in the country. An interesting series of incidents, with aspiring saloon owners, between 1875 and 1879, led to what became known as "the whiskey wars" involving many prominent citizens and ending in the explosive demolition of one of saloons, with exactly 52 pounds of gunpowder. No "fermented spirits" have been sold in town, since. The temperance movement was another
connection between Westerville and Oberlin. The Anti-Saloon League,
founded in Oberlin in 1893 and later relocated to Washington DC was, by
1908, looking for a Westerville was chosen because of its tradition of temperance and as "a village socially clean and morally upright." The fact that the postmaster carried an offer worth $10,000, was not mentioned in the announcement. It was, apparently, a good investment by the Board of Trade as, by 1915, the plant was producing and mailing over forty tons of booklets, flyers, pamphlets and placards, per month. Westerville became the smallest city in the country with a "First Class" post office and a major player in the adoption of the 18th Amendment (National Prohibition). In 1973 the "Temperance Education Foundation," successor to the Anti-Saloon League, turned over its records, collections and building, to the City of Westerville, to be used as a public library, which is where I found most of this information. As I arrived in Westerville, the skies were still gray and overcast. Off the main roads, there is still a genuine small town, flavor to the old downtown and the area around the college, isolated from Columbus by the beltway, which acts like a moat, along the southern border.
There had been a few scattered sprinkles on the way down and I realized that I'd neglected to bring a cap, to keep the mist off my glasses. I bought one from the "remainder" table at the college bookstore and grabbed my purple sweatshirt on the way to the stadium. Although kickoff temperature was a chilly 62 degrees, it wasn't long before I was sitting on my sweatshirt and using my Otterbein cap to keep the sun out of my eyes. Today was visitation day at Otterbein. I kept seeing "National Champions - Salem, VA 2002" signs all over. In our minds, that game has not been played yet, but the "Otters" were talking basketball, where the Division III championship is played in the Salem Civic Center, just beyond the bare bones room, where we usually have our parties. Otterbein took the field led by their Cardinal and Tan, marching band, and a flag team carrying flags for all of the Ohio Athletic Conference teams, which were planted, around the track, in the north end of the stadium, nicely done. The architecture of the big gym, beyond the north end, has always reminded me of the spaceship in the old B&W movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Otterbein's uniforms look very much like the San Francisco 49'ers, red over tan, with intertwined "OC" in an oval on their gold helmets. The Raiders came out in road white jerseys and the always popular purple pants.
The Cardinals won the coin toss, their only advantage of the day, and opted to kickoff. The kick went out of bounds and Mount Union, with #8 So. Zac Bruney, of Martins Ferry, at quarterback, started from the 35-yard line. After a two-yard "quick hitter" #31 Sr. RB Dan Pugh hit the right side of the line, behind #71 Sr. center Justin Coston (sat near his Dad) of Elyria and #75 Jr. Big Larry Kinnard, homegrown RT from Alliance, and was 63 yards gone for a touchdown in what looked like a replay of Chuck Moore's Stagg Bowl run. The extra point was added by #11 So. PK Chad Teague, of Orrville, with Bruney holding. Switching over to offense, Otterbein gained a first down by virtue of a penalty against Mount Union, but then went three and out. #89 Sr. DE Matt Campbell, of Massillon/Perry was in the opponents' backfield all afternoon, though #17 Sr. CB Chris Kern from Fairbault, MN was the leading tackler. Usually it's not a good sign when a defensive back is your leading tackler, but the Purple Gang held the Cardinal and Tan offense to a net total of one-yard rushing and only 81-yards passing. (13 completions in 33 attempts, with three sacks and one interception)
Pugh and Bruney took over and moved the good guys, in the white shirts, 66 yards down the field, this time in smaller increments, with only one pass, to #46, So. RB Brian Miller, also from Orrville, and Pugh pushing in for the final four yards and the touchdown. Otterbein, again, got only three plays
before punting, one was a completed pass, stopped by Kern, for a three-yard
gain. Mount's third drive ended in a punt. #12 Jr. QB/P Jesse
Burghardt of Uniontown/Lake came in to punt, pinning the "Otters" inside
their 20 and stayed in to quarterback Mount's next drive, which featured
Jesse, himself, in one of those "Student Body - Left" plays which headed
directly at us, on the visitors side, and gained 25 yards. Pugh
completed the series, with a 15-yard touchdown run. Campbell
and #97 Sr. DT, Jeff Knoblauch of Pickerington, polished off the quarter by
stuffing the Cardinals fullback after he gained that single yard. The Cardinals opened the second period by gaining a first down on a
fourth
and six, but ended up losing yards, on the drive. #3 Sr. WR Rourke Skelton of
Chelsea, MI turned a nice punt return into good field position for the
Raiders, at the Otterbein 34. Burghardt, at the controls, took
immediate advantage with a 33-yard pass to #5 Sr. TE Josh Liddell of Bemus
Point, NY, who was ruled out at the one-yard line. Pugh finished the
job, covering the final yard for the touchdown: two plays, elapsed time,
exactly thirty seconds. Otterbein returned the following kickoff to midfield, but ran out of downs at the Mount 29. Bruney returned, under center, to lead the 71-yard return to touchdown territory. The drive was highlighted by a 43-yard pass to Liddell, but completed by a three-yard run by Pugh. His five touchdowns in one half are a new school record, the all time full game record of six, scored by the late Leo Grimes, against Detroit Tech, in 1931, still stands. Otterbein gained 35 yards on their next series, but ran out of downs at the Mount 40. This trip it was Burghardt calling signals, and while Pugh contributed 24 yards to the drive and #82 Jr. TE Randall Knapp of Kent/Field caught a 27 yarder, it was Liddell who went back in catching the touchdown pass to up the count to 42. Otterbein managed to lose seven yards on its next possession and
Burghardt and Pugh set the Raiders up at the Otterbein 14 as time ran out.
There was some moaning, from the home stands, when Mount called time out,
with second down on the 14 and two seconds left. Teague kicked a 31-yard
field goal. Sounded like they were cheering for "Pugh" over there too... Otterbein's band put on a spirited halftime show, featuring a tune that Neil Diamond wrote for "The Monkeys," which suggested the title of this week's letter. I've been told that even though Otterbein is half again the size of Mount Union it is, by a number of composite statistics, the school which is most like us, in the conference, so it's appropriate that they should have a good band. As the third quarter began, the clock went into "warp" speed. Although
they put 15 minutes up there, it seemed to take less than that to play. The
period consisted mostly of Bruney handing off to #34 So. RB Rick
Ciccone, of Coshocton. At about the same time a crowd of girls in Coshocton
soccer shirts went by, one wearing the same name and number. Mount's march
south pulled up short, as Teague got a shot at the other goal posts,
cashing in a 29-yard field goal on third and two. Though his name does not
appear in the stats, #14 Jr. QB Grant Relic of Brunswick picked up some
playing time, handing off, and running down the clock.
The fourth quarter opened with a six-yard touchdown run by Ciccone, capping a nine-play, 55-yard drive that didn't stop the clock until it hit the end zone. Second half entertainment, consisted mostly of "MUCaw," our purple parrot mascot, wearing a #7 herself, holding a sign asking the real Rob Adamson to please stand up. He did, with his index finger heavily taped, threw a few warm up passes along the sidelines but was not among the four quarterbacks used by Mount on the day. Though the weather turned gorgeous, "Air Kehres" remained grounded for the day. #42 again picked up a defensive stat, but it was worn by Fr. PK Edward
Dick, of Brunswick, who last week, borrowed #13 and kicked extra points.
This week #13 was worn by So. QB Robert McDavid of Canal
Winchester/Pickerington who mopped up the rest of the period. The real owner
of #13, Sr. CB Mike Miller of Cuyahoga Falls, was on crutches along the
sidelines. I've been told he's had surgery and is out for the year but,
since
he hasn't played, he'll have another year of eligibility, if he chooses to
use it.
You can never take anything for granted in the OAC, which celebrates the
100th anniversary of it's founding on Thursday, but next Saturday should be
more of the same, when Heidleberg visits Alliance. The real challenge should
come when John Carroll rolls into town on October 19th. I plan to be at the game, on the 12th. Don't worry if you miss me at the
buffet, as I have a ticket to the "M" club breakfast.
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permanent home. The Westerville Board of Trade
sent the village postmaster to DC to "promote
Westerville" as a site. 
WHEN I NEEDED SUNSHINE...
NOW I'M A BELIEVER
