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Mount Union 42 Wheaton 21 by Dick Ross |
FROZEN THUNDER
THANKSGIVING IN ALLIANCE This week's trip was a bit different from usual. Because my daughter was home for Thanksgiving, but leaving Saturday afternoon, Mom and I waited 'till the last possible moment to leave for Alliance, just after 10:00 a.m., to make the Noon start. Playoff football has almost become traditional, in Alliance, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. In the two weeks since our last trip scenery, along the way, had progressed to full Winter black, brown and grey. Our opponent this trip is Wheaton College from DuPage County, Illinois. Directly west of Chicago, the area that is now Wheaton was settled by Jesse and Warren Wheaton about 1837. In 1848, they donated a three mile right of way to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and, in return, the depot and eventually the village that grew around it, were named for them. The college was founded "by Wesleyans" in 1854, as the Illinois Institute but fell on hard times and was taken over by Rev. Jonathan Blanchard, who came from Knox College, a well known abolitionist and social crusader who dedicated the school to "Christ and his Kingdom" and sponsored the change in name, to recognize donations by the Wheaton brothers, in 1860.
The school does not list a denomination, but I think it would be fair to call them Evangelical. Their campus is home to the Billy Graham Center and The Center for Applied Christian Ethics. When we played them seven years ago they were known as the Crusaders, which seems appropriate for a school which operates an outreach ministry within its Athletic Dept. and is associated with Rev Graham. The change in the team's name to "Thunder" came fairly recently and was due to the historical, religious warfare implications of the Medieval Crusaders. Oddly, in the weeks leading up to this game I'd become aware of thunderstorms moving through the area, something normally associated with spring and summer, not fall and winter. Saturday, the only Thunder that I noticed was the team from Illinois, who took the field, through the north tunnel, in blue trousers, white jerseys with blue numbers, outlined in orange, and blue helmets with "Wheaton" in an orange script. Mount Union's men arrived through the south portal, in their playoff black jerseys, with the purple pants. Our cheerleaders were dressed to match, if Wheaton has a squad I didn't see them.
It seemed like everything, except the visiting linemen, was on a smaller
scale this week. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, cold weather
and the prospect of snow, the crowd was just over 3,000. Both teams
dressed only 52 each, per NCAA playoff regulations, which meant that the
Mount squad was less than 1/3 the number of players dressed for the final
regular season Parents' Day game - two weeks Mount Union won the toss, took the ball, and headed north. The wind, which was fairly stiff, came mostly from the west with occasional veers from the south, driving a misty snow, that almost looked like fog.
After each team had the ball once, Mount got started with a 29-yard punt
return by #4 So. WR Jason Cavell of Concord, Painesville/Riverside, which
put the ball on the Wheaton 44-yard line. #31 Sr. RB Dan Pugh of
Norwalk/St Paul hit the quick opener and then #7 Sr. QB Rob Adamson, once
again showing his pre-injury "Rifleman" form, hit #82 Jr. WR Randell Knapp
who leapt and stretched around the 10-yard line, made the catch, half rolled
and landed on his back inside the five-yard line. I think everyone who
was paying attention knew what was next, Pugh got the ball on a delay,
headed left of center, got hit behind the line and spun a full revolution to
the right, for the touchdown. #11 So. PK Chad Teague of Orrville came
on to make the score 7-0, we were to have a bit of snow, but "the Thunder"
never got closer. Chad had an opportunity for a 32-yard field goal,
but allowed a bit to much "windage" and was wide to the wind side.
As the teams switched ends, Mount Union was again running out of gas inside the red zone, this time on the south end. #8 So. QB Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry came in for two plays, to try to get things going. In spite of a lot of running, they failed to get any closer to the goal line and Mount turned it over, on downs, at the 10-yard line near the front gate. Five plays later Wheaton lined up to punt. "Thunder" was the sound of the ball bouncing off all 6'4" of #96 Jr. DE Johnny Josef of Mogadore and landing back in the end zone, where it squirted away from several Mount men, before #17 Sr. DB Chris Kern of Fairbault, MN surrounded it for a "zero" yard touchdown. I know that after the ball is kicked the possession arrow goes to the offense; since Kern's "return" was scored as "0" yards, Josef was credited for the 23 yards from the original line of scrimmage to the end zone. #41 Sr. LB Luke Garland of Washington Court House, made the stop on ensuing kickoff. As Mount played defense, I noticed another big guy, #71 Sr. C Justin Costin of Elyria, wearing one huge purple mitten on a black string, like an overgrown character from "Southpark," but only on his right hand. I don't think that he needed to worry about anyone pulling the old playground stunt, however, and could have worn two if he'd wanted to.
Wheaton advanced the ball from the Hartshorn end all the way to the Mount
20, where they took time out to look over a fourth and eight. When
play resumed, Thunder quarterback Chad Bradley looked over all his possible
outlets and took off scrambling towards the home sideline. It looked
like he was turning the corner and had it made, until #40 Sr. DE Chris
Carter came up hard and bounced him backwards over the The misting snow turned into fluffy flurries, suspended in the air, not really landing, as Adamson, Pugh and Knapp headed back to the south end. Credit has to go to the Wheaton defenders, as this drive also ran out of downs at the edge of the "Red Zone." Then our "Purple Gang" defense showed up to challenge the Chicago area school.
On their first play # 22 Sr. SS Dustin Blake of West Jefferson stripped the
Thunder ball carrier and handed the game back to the offense. Three
plays later, Adamson, Pugh and Knapp with an assist by #72 Jr. OG George
Momirovic of East Canton, who fell on a loose ball, got the score. A
14-yard pass to Knapp, completed the series as the new style clock went into
"hyperdrive," with less than a minute left. If the game had a "turning
point" this was it. Mount got flagged for celebration behind the south
end zone and after the penalty, Teague successfully kicked the extra point,
35 yards from the spot of the ball.
Not much happens at the half in playoff games. In spite of the smaller
crowd, the cold weather produced very long lines at the rest rooms some, I
think, just looking to warm up. Wheaton took the second half kickoff
and couldn't do much with it but Cavell could. Jason hauled the punt
return 41 yards down the visitors side to the Wheaton 22, almost taking it
all the way with a fine downfield block by #86 So. TE Drew
The greater Chicagoland team finally got its offense going in the third
period with two long drives of 15-plays, 74-yards and seven-plays, 59-yards.
On the second touchdown Mount Union was flagged for a face mask penalty,
after the kick had failed. With a second chance and only half the
distance, Wheaton went for and made a two-point conversion. With the
lead down to 13, things might have started getting nervous as the Purple
Raiders lined up to discourage a possible onside kick by the Thunderers.
Instead, the ball went deep to Pugh who had to pick up a loose ball,
hesitated briefly and took off 91 yards down the home sideline with
blocking by #38 Jr. DB Keith Spivey of Chesterland and #46 Jr. RB Brian
Miller of Orrville. Mount's attempt to match the two-point conversion
failed, but with the lead back to three scores, the end was in sight.
The final quarter opened with the Thunder wrapping up an 11-play, 64-yard
drive that closed the gap back to 13, when their two-point try failed.
The snow began to arrive in earnest and started to stick as Mount Union
headed north, again in what was to be the longest sustained drive of the
day: 76 yards in 11 plays. The drive was kept alive by a 16 yard
Adamson to Knapp pass on a third and 15 and was polished off by Pugh's
fourth touchdown of the day and a two-point conversion, Adamson to Pugh to
Knapp on a wide receiver reverse. This is a play that rarely works
because it takes too long to get going, but the field was just slick enough
that when the defense saw Pugh go to his right, with the ball, they weren't
able to reverse themselves when Pugh flipped the ball to Knapp who was going
full tilt to the left. It seemed like At this time of year, those are the sweetest four words in football. In other playoff action Trinity (TX) beat up Washington & Jefferson 45-10, John Carroll continued to win in the Eastern Region, defeating Muhlenberg 21-10. Last year's Stagg Bowl opponent, Bridgewater (VA), squeaked by King's (PA). St. John's (MN) our "Y2K" opponent, eliminated Coe College of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, coached by Mount Alum Erik Raeburn, and Linfield also advanced with a win over Wartburg. One of the loudest cheers of the day came when it was announced that Rowan, our perennial nemesis, lost 15-12 to Brockport State, who will host John Carroll next week. Our next opponent, Saturday, December 7th, will be a new one for us, Wabash College from Indiana, who defeated Wittenberg 25-14. All NCAA playoff games start at Noon, local time. Ticket prices, established by the NCAA, are $9.00 for the covered stands, the middle section "press box reserve" seats, on the visitors side, and $8.00 for all others. All seating in Mount Union Stadium, except for student bleachers, is reserved. The Campus Center buffet will open at 10:00 a.m. Everyone is welcome.
The ticket telephone lines will be open 9:00 a.m. Monday for season ticket holders and player parents only: (330) 821-6759. Sales to the general public begin, by phone, at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday. By NCAA rule, telephone orders must be reserved with a major credit card and picked up with cash or check. There are no limits to the number of seats that may be purchased, but additional seats will not necessarily be with your regular seats.
General reserved tickets are also on sale at the Information Desk of the
Hoover-Price Campus center. Mount Union games are broadcast live on
WRMU 91.1 FM, WDPN 1310 AM and web cast by WRMU at the college web site.
Even though the students will be back in school, there should be plenty of
room for everyone.
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ago. A small, but enthusiastic pep band, giving up a portion of their
holiday weekend, sat in the regular band section. Since they were
smaller in number, "informal" and not in uniform it looked, to me, like they
had friends, family and Alums mixed in with the horns this week.
sideline, three yards shy of the first down.
Henley of Tiffin/Columbian. A 10-yard pass to #5 Sr. TE Josh Liddell
of Bemus Point, NY and two runs by Pugh, one for the touchdown, upped the
count to 28, less than 2 1/2 minutes into the half.
Mount got off to a bit of a slow
start Saturday, perhaps because of the quality of the opponent, but Dan
Pugh, Randell Knapp, Rob Adamson and the Purple Gang defense all seem to be
shifting into top gear, just at the right time.