|
|
| www.MtUnionFootball.com | Main Page Email |
 |
Mount Union 45 Wabash 16 by Dick Ross |
|
AMONG THE GIANTS Gray skies, cold weather and snow were the menu for the past week, in northern Ohio, but Saturday dawned with brilliant clear skies, as Mom and I headed southeast with the sun visors down, on I-271 and Rt-14. This week's opponent is Wabash College of Crawfordsville, Indiana. Though both schools have football traditions dating from the nineteenth century, this is the first time we have ever met up with them, though we have played many of the same opponents, over the years. Wabash College was founded in 1832 one of few schools that we've played, from west of us, that's older than we are. Their web site states, "Wabash College has always been independent and non-sectarian although its founders and early faculty were Presbyterian ministers. The school was patterned after the conservative liberal arts colleges of New England" and their enrollment of about 850 has remained exclusively male, to date. Wabash College is part of the oldest football rivalry west of the Alleghenies, vs. DePauw University, which has been contested 109 times, since 1890. In 1932 the Monon Railroad which served Crawfordsville, (Wabash) Greencastle, (DePauw) and was headquartered in Lafayette (Purdue) donated a 300# locomotive bell, as a trophy for the winner of the game. In 2001 Wabash pulled off the "Monon Miracle," winning with a tipped pass on the game's final play. Though each school has had streaks, controlling the bell, Wabash's 2002 win tied the series at 50-50-9. Can't get much closer than that.
The team's unusual nickname came from their 1904 team, which averaged 140# per man but which took on Illinois, Indiana, Notre Dame and Purdue. Wabash played Purdue 27 times, until 1928, winning eight. In one of their early meetings, Wabash men still believe that the men who got off the train wearing Purdue uniforms were not students but actually blacksmiths and boilermakers from the Lafayette shops. When Wabash lost, 18-4, the team, fans and townspeople escorted the visitors back to the Depot shouting insults including "boilermakers" - which stuck as the team's nickname. I always thought that it was because they were an engineering school, but the adoption of a railroad locomotive as Purdue's symbol must be a tacit admission to Wabash's 19th century suspicions. Wabash got their ticket to Alliance punched by virtue of winning the North Coast Athletic Conference, beating Wittenberg (twice) and MacMurray of Illinois. The Akron Beacon Journal accounts mention that during the past ten years of playoff runs, we have seen a lot of schools arrive in Alliance optimistic, but rarely one with the confidence and swagger of Wabash and their fans.
This year's Wabash media guide listed their season schedule up to and
including the Stagg Bowl. Something that Mount Union fans might do
mentally, but would never put in writing. I stood in the "will call"
line with a Wabash player's parent who noted that they were familiar with
our part of the country, having played nearby Wooster and Hiram in recent
seasons. As politely as possible, I told him that I thought that they
would soon find out that they were not in Hiram, today. Wabash does
have one Stagg Bowl For a smaller school, Wabash brought a sizable and vocal crowd led by an all male cheering squad in candy stripe bib coveralls, with one strap left loose and white "beanies" like circus performers. Unlike many all male schools, they do not "borrow" girls from nearby schools, except that a Purdue dance team performs at their "Bell" game. Come to think about it, however, the face on their mascot DID look a lot like the Purdue "Boilermaker" I've seen on TV... Kickoff temperature was recorded as 28 which was supposed to be the low for the day, it did get warmer, but I don't think we ever made it to the forecast high of 38. Wabash's white uniforms and helmets looked a lot like Wittenberg's though the striping and the "W" were much different, and a bit like St. John's. Mount Union won the toss and elected to receive, Wabash took the wind coming from the location of the old "Varsity Isle," at State and McKinley, which is currently a vacant lot.
Mount got the opening kick, but stalled with penalties and incompletions and
a punt which netted only 22 yards, and gave the visitors confidence to go
for a fourth down on their own 40, giving Mount the ball. Netting 20
on the exchange, the "usual suspects" got down to business, on the "short
field," with #7 Sr. QB Rob Adamson of Akron/Manchester handing off to #31
Sr. RB Dan Pugh of Norwalk/St Paul and passing to #82 Jr. WR Randell Knapp
of Kent/Field for the 22-yard touchdown into the south end, after six plays,
two of which were incomplete passes. The conversion by #11 So. PK Chad Teague of Orrville upped count to seven, and the Raiders never looked back. 48 seconds and two and a half later, #45 Sr. OLB Stan Watson of Canfield, Austintown/Fitch handed the ball back to the offense, with another short field at the Wabash 44 with an interception. This trip was also six plays, three rushes by Pugh and pass completions to Pugh, #25 Jr. WR Nick Sirianni of Jamestown, NY and the final eight to #5 Sr. TE Josh Liddell, also from the Empire State: Bemus Point, NY.
Wabash found the Mount end of the field, for the first time, as the quarter
ended, but had to punt. The Purple Raiders couldn't quite get started and called on #12 Jr. QB/P Jesse Burghardt of Uniontown/Lake. Since the teams had switched ends, the exchange of punts had produced an exact yardage "wash" and Wabash was finally able to find a gear and let out the clutch, passing down to the Mount Union nine-yard line where, unfortunately for them, #18 Sr. DB Matt Sotcan of Alliance was waiting for the second interception of the day.
Adamson found Knapp for a nice 33-yard gain down the far side. Mount
got as deep as the Giants 10, but got sacked back to the 17 and what we'd
hoped was the third touchdown was ruled a "first bounce" to After a 64-yard Teague kickoff, the Monon men worked the ball south, towards the main gate, but had to settle for three. Kicking away from Mount's return men put the ball out of bounds over by the South tunnel, 65 yards to go. On the first play Adamson found #6 Sr. WR Derrick Leach of Summerfield/Shenandoah for 23 yards. The next play was a hand off to Pugh who went over the left side and, though the PA man is supposed to be impartial, he was "eventually" bounced out of bounds at the six-yard line in the "chute" corner. Dan covered the last six yards in two carries of three yards each, for the touchdown. An auxiliary refreshment trailer, with drinks and popcorn only, is set up, during the games expected to draw larger crowds. Today's crowd was reported at only 4011, though the home stands were full, there were large empty spaces in the east stands. The kind of football dancing that you see on TV is outlawed in D3, but Rob Adamson has worked out some fine, perfectly legal, routines so that he can continue to contribute, after he hands off. He usually continues to "fade" as if he has the ball, sometimes executing phantom pitches, leaping "air guitar" throws or running, head down, hands extended, after non-existent fumbles.
After the conversion upping the count to 24, the Little Giants quarterback,
most valuable player in the NCAC was picked off by #40 Sr. DE Chris Carter
of Cincinnati, who returned the ball into the North end, bang-bang, 20
seconds elapsed time between touchdowns. I recall that the first time
I typed Chris' name, he'd recovered a fumble, ending the 2000 Stagg Bowl vs.
St. John's, and been buried by his own guys. Today, he wanted to make
certain that no one, from either team, caught him.
As I've told you before, not much happens at halftime at these playoff games - I think they've even outlawed the old sport of mascots wrestling at mid field, haven't seen that since the 'Gheny Gators were the NCAC playoff representatives. I heard some commotion on the far side, and walked over to see if the red crowd was up to something - turned out it was us, playing some sort of "canned" music on the PA - I'd heard the visitors side speakers in the covered stands, but not the one's above my head. The stadium PA system seems to be one of the few things that has not changed, in 40 years, at the "Grand Old College."
The visitors took the ball to open the third period and were able to put on
a drive that matched the pregame press releases: 14-plays, 64-yards, for a
touchdown. Unfortunately for them, they burned more than a third of
the period while doing it, not good for a team behind in a single
elimination tournament, and the two-point try was not successful. Mount Union returned the favor, with a time eating drive that also burned a third of the quarter, featuring two apparent and one real touchdowns. A 58-yard touchdown pass and run by Pugh was called back on a penalty, a second sure touchdown went off a wide open receiver's fingertips but finally Knapp went high in the SE corner, had his legs knocked from under him, but not only managed to come down with the ball, but fell with it on the correct side of the goal line. I thought this one was flagrant interference, but we could smile through the non-call, since Randell got it anyway.
Wabash managed to polish off the third quarter with a drive which got
Mount's attention when a penalty gave them a first down on our three-yard
line. After three attempts at the North end, sections 1 & 2 stood to
cheer the clock as it ended the quarter, so that the final try was at our
end.
#90 So. DT Josh Ludwig started the final 15 in fine fashion, stuffing the
play at the one, forcing a fumble, which was recovered by a Little Giant at
the five who was covered by Carter, preventing the score and turning the
ball back to the offense. I don't want to sound like a whiner, but Mount Union was heavily penalized by the officials from the ODAC. (Bridgewater's Conference) All of the calls and most of the "Non Calls" went against us. Mount had eight penalties, Wabash - none. Reaction to some of the officiating was unusually loud, for Alliance, not because they were affecting the outcome, but because they kept stopping the clock, just as the cold was seeping through our socks.
After an exchange of punts, Mount came up with another short field at the
Giants 34. Pugh switched spots with #46 Jr. RB Brian Miller from
Orrville, normally the blocking back, who caught one pass and ran twice,
before the handoff went back to Pugh, who covered 14 yards, for a touchdown.
Teague's conversion ended Mount's scoring for the day, but the Indiana men
came back down the field in a 13-play, 65-yard drive to end the scoring in
time for the home crowd to see previews of next season's team. Unlike some, the red clad crowd on the East stayed and cheered their team, 'till the end. One of the loudest cheers of the afternoon came as their team huddled at midfield and Mount's distaff dozen, cheerleaders, crossed the field for a "courtesty call."
So the good news. This win is #40, on the current streak. We are
alive in the land of the giants. We haven't been kicked off the
Island, and we are at home next week. Adamson looks fully recovered -
he was The bad news came a little later: John Carroll defeated Brockport St. in overtime, to become our next hurdle. At this time of year there are no easy ones left; but these guys, like Rowan, know us well and always play us tough. Their seniors, some veterans of the triple overtime game, are getting their fifth shot at us in four years. You know that they will be coming, on foot, dragging the bus, if they have to. Winner gets the trip to Salem, VA to face the winner of St. John's (MN) vs. Trinity (TX) game, two tough teams, both of whom we've seen before. As usual, ticket telephone lines will be open 9:00 a.m. Monday for season ticket holders and Mount Union player parents only: (330) 821-6579. Prices, set by the NCAA are $9.00 for the Covered Stands, and the "Press Box Reserve" (center) section of the visitors side. All seats at Mount Union Stadium, except for the student bleachers, are numbered and reserved, if you have a "pre-sale" ticket you will have a seat. NCAA regulations specify that ticket orders are to be secured by a major credit card and picked up with cash or check.
Sales to the general public begin, by phone, at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, General
Reserved tickets will also be on sale at the Information Desk of the
Hoover-Price Campus Center, on Simpson Street, in Alliance, during We are expecting a healthy crowd but do expect to be able to accommodate everyone. The College has set aside areas for visitors who wish to "tailgate." Alcohol is prohibited in the Stadium and in College owned lots north of Rt-62.
At this time of year, the sweetest four words in English are "see you next
week." The upcoming game may be my final report, at least for this
year, as I'm not yet sure about the trip to Salem, even if we win. I
should be at the buffet and in my regular seats in Section 3. Win or
lose, this one's the last home game of the year, folks.
|
|
appearance to their credit, a three-point loss to Widener, back in 1977.
Sirianni in the
NW corner. Teague was called on for a 34-yard field goal, no sweat.
He had the wind and he'd made a longer extra point, last week. 
15 of 23 for 234 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Pugh
gained 171 yards rushing in 25 attempts and Knapp caught seven passes for
125 yards.
regular
business hours. If any John Carroll people are reading this, you
should call University Heights first. The NCAA also has regulations
regarding the numbers and locations of tickets that must be supplied to
visiting teams. Sections 1-7 are on the home side, 8 and up are the
open stands on the visitors side. The Campus Center buffett and the
"Will Call" window at the Hartshorn Street gate will both be open at 10:00
a.m.