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Mount Union 24 by Dick Ross |
STRIKE UP THE BAND CALLING ONE AND ALL The trip today is a bit different, with my daughter and her husband visiting from Florida, we headed down Rt. 14 with an SUV full of family towards the campus center buffet. After Friday's daylong leftover hurricane rains, Saturday was born, freshly scrubbed and brilliantly clear, with just a bit of "nip" in the air. Temperatures rose into the 60's as we passed the first, and only, fall colored tree just north of the tracks on Rt. 183. Arriving in Alliance before 11:00 a.m., parking was already beyond the new dorms and out to Rockhill Ave. and the food service line was already backing down the hall in the campus center. We greeted old friends and family, introduced the kids and said hello to Lloyd Davidson, in the food service line.
On September 6th of this year, Baldwin Wallace and the City of Berea
dedicated a historical marker to John Baldwin and the founding of Baldwin
Institute in 1845. The marker was placed at the corner of Front and
Bagley, apex of the old stone campus. B-W likes to trace its history
to 1845 which makes them one
In recent years B-W has been somewhat ambivalent about marketing itself as a university or as a college. I guess the correct answer is both. They are a university enrolling 6,000 people in all their programs, graduate, undergraduate, traditional and non traditional, (evening and part time). Depending on the source, B-W's undergraduate enrollment is between 2,900 and 3,100. The larger number, I believe, includes the "non traditional" students. Because of the school's urban location, the number of full time resident students is probably not that much greater than ours. This is the 99th season for B-W football. They are Mount's earliest opponent, 1896, on our current schedule and it is a bit surprising that the two schools who both recruit along the I-77 axis, through the football heart of Ohio, have met only 41 times in that period. B-W has been in and out of the Ohio Athletic Conference more than once, while Mount Union (1914) is the oldest continuous member of the OAC which celebrated its centennial, last year, to limited fanfare.
B-W's colors are brown and gold (yellow). The team name "Yellow Jackets" would seem to be a "no brainer." I think it would be fairly safe to assume that, sometime in the past, a group of students or athletes appeared somewhere in yellow jackets. Today the team arrived with a new style uniform - Minnesota Vikings style shoulder and trouser stripes, double brown encasing yellow, on white jerseys and trousers. The yellow helmets with "BW" appeared unchanged except for "jackets" spelled out down the center stripe, in the back. Their traditional yellow trousers seem to have faded into history. LET THE DRUMS ROLL OUT Following the Alma Mater and the National Anthem, Mount's men made their own statement, out of the south tunnel, charging towards the band, in the "Black Nasties," uniforms usually reserved for the playoffs. There must have been more than two full sets and they also looked all brand new to me.
B-W won the coin toss on a gorgeous day officially described as "NICE" on
the stats sheet. The kind of day doubly appreciated, with the creeping
realization that there won't be many more, like this one, left in the
calendar year. B-W won the toss and elected to take the ball.
Mount took the south end, with Hartshorn The side bar story was of B-W's QB, # 8, Sr. Dan Larlham (Walsh Jesuit) and Mount Union's WR #82, Sr. Randell Knapp (Kent/Field), two young men from the same small town, who grew up together and went separate directions to end up on opposite sidelines for today's game, something that tends to happen a lot in OAC football.
After preliminary "exchanges" B-W took the unusual step of a third down
"quick kick" from their own nine. It had the desired effect of
catching Mount by surprise and suppressing any runback but gave the ball to
the Purple and Black attack at its own 41. Our #8, Jr. QB Zac Bruney of Martin's Ferry, took the opening "snaps" this week, as Mount's "Battling B's" tag team quarterback derby continued. In week one, Burghardt and Knapp rolled up the big numbers, today it was Bruney and Sirianni. The offense quickly shook off the surprise kick, gathered their gear, and marched north. The 59-yard drive was finished off nicely with an 11-yard touchdown pass to #25 Sr. WR Nick Sirianni of Jamestown, NY, in the corner beyond the home stands, always a favorite spot for the Sirianni brothers.
B-W got the kick on its own 28 and started a 10-play drive, pitch pass and
optioning off the balance of the first quarter.
When the quarter ran out, play went away from us, into the scoreboard end.
Our section groaned but the considerable B-W crowd, concentrated in the
northeast stands, was happy. Larlham and company got only two more
downs and attempted a field goal, with the flags hanging limp. The
28-yard attempt was blocked by #13 Sr. Mike Miller of Cuyahoga Falls, who
sliced in from the kicker's right. After the quick kick, in the first period, B-W opted to try a fourth and nine from the Mount 21, midway through the second period. The play was stopped for a four-yard loss, credited as a sack, to # 5 So. Justin Stickley of Massillon/Jackson. Starting from his own 25, Bruney mounted a 75-yard drive back down towards the Hartshorn end. When he got close, B-W covered #82, Knapp and #25, Sirianni but # 80, WR Joe Bugara of Alliance was so open in the end zone that he had time to read his mail while he waited for the ball, directly in front of the goal post. It was not only Bugara's first career touchdown catch as a Purple Raider, it was also his first career reception.
An exchange of punts managed to run the clock to eight seconds and B-W got
one more desperation play from its own 44. Larlham's "up for grabs"
pass was picked off by our new # 7 Sr. DB Andrew Doak of Uniontown/Green to
end the half. As the half drew to a close, Dan Buckle urged us to remain in our seats for a special presentation. Speculation mounted as President Jack Ewing stepped out to the microphone to recognize Dr. Tuman Turnquist, retiring this year, for his contributions to college athletics as an Athletic Director at Mount Union College and delegate to the OAC, in addition to his regular job as a chemistry professor. He was involved on many of the OAC boards and committees and was also a conference representative to the NCAA, where he served as a voice for the conference and Division III. Dr. Turnquist also served as Acting Dean, at Mount, and "ramrod" on the construction of the new Bracy Science Hall. Also present, as special guests, were football Alums Napoleon Bell and Vince Marotta, both legendary football players from the early 1950's and both very successful, in later life. Mount Union's band presented a rousing half-time show of "Swing" era favorites to close the intermission, "The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Strike up the Band" and "It don't mean a thing - If you ain't got that swing."
Mount took the second half kickoff, proceeding from left to right, on your computer screens. Our two first team tailbacks # 34 Jr. Rick Ciccone of Coshocton and #22 Jeff Strauch of Avon Lake, continued to alternate tailback duties, while blocking back #46 Sr. Brian Miller of Orrville got three catches for 23 yards. On one of them he got stopped by a guy who he had been blocking all afternoon. The collision was heard in the back rows and was accompanied by a large oooohing, ouching sound from the home side. The drive ended with two apparent touchdowns that were disallowed, a Bruney scramble that came up short and finally a Chad Teague 32-yard field goal through the south uprights. Famous for "adjustments," Mount's defense quickly figured out B-W's pitch, pass and option offense and really began to shut it down after the intermission. It looked to me like the defenders plan was to penetrate and wait for the play to come to them. Mike Miller had a career day, tipping and deflecting the passes that actually got deep enough to be worrisome. Miller and Shaun Spisak #44, LB from Sagamore Hills/Nordonia were the team's leading tacklers on the day.
B-W got the ball back, after Mount's field goal and worked it up towards
Simpson St., in front of their considerable crowd. This drive consumed
nearly six minutes and ended with a field goal attempt that The Purple Raiders began the final quarter with a drive started in the waning moments of the third period. This 63-yard drive featured Burghardt and Strauch and ended with a 14-yard pass, Burghardt to Sirianni, in the family's favorite end zone. With a 24-point lead and just over 12 minutes left you could sense the defense, beginning to smell a "shut out" in the big game and digging in, extra deep, at the prospect.
The Yellow Jackets got the ball again and pushed it to the Mount 20, before
running out of downs. From there, with just over nine minutes on the
clock, it became a game of "nothing flashy - nothing risky" for the Mount
offense. Preserve the defense's moment, and run the clock. The
only question was when the starters would start taking their "curtain calls"
to the home sideline. If this had been a card game, someone might have
demanded a check of the deck, as Mount played their second #7 of the day, #7
So. QB Randy
The lines to get out of the stadium were extra long, though a lot of the
Brown and Yellow crowd had left early. The "afterglow" in the Campus
Center was extra full but we had more plans for the day and had to hit the
highway back home without much delay, a surprising, but satisfying
afternoon.
Next week Mount Union travels to Muskingum to take on the "Fighting Fish" of
New Concord. Muskingum has shown a surprising resurgence so far this
season and could be a challenge. The Muskies, like Baldwin-Wallace, is
one of few schools who still hold an all-time advantage over Mount Union and
can be, indirectly, credited with a portion of our current success.
Partly because we could never beat Muskingum, "Skipper" Jack Raffeld hired
Muskingum grad Ken Wable to coach football. Wable started at Mount the
same year I did, in the Fall of 1962. In the 1970's and 80's he
recognized the talents of Larry Kehres and Don Montgomery, and the rest, as
they say, is the history we have been writing over the past several years. I'm going to miss this one, though, if you're in the area, I highly recommend the trip. Visiting fans traditionally park above the stadium and sit to the right. The view from McMonagha Stadium, across the field over the college lake and down an endless valley, punctuated by a small white church, is a very pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
Saturday, October 4th is Homecoming, in Alliance, featuring the dedication
of the Bracy Science Building, and several other traditional events
receptions and Alumni events, including the football game against Otterbein
and the selection of the Homecoming "Royalty."
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year
older than Mount Union, even though they were re-chartered in 1855 as
Baldwin University, relocated to their current location in 1891 and
chartered again as Baldwin-Wallace College when they merged with nearby
Wallace College, a German speaking school, in 1913.
Street and the student bleachers at their backs. The new record crowd
of 8,732 was still filing in, breaking the previous record set by the John
Carroll regular season crowd last year. The attendance was spurred by
stories in the Cleveland paper that this should be the year for B-W, close
last year, with most of their team returning. The headline in the
"Dynamo," Mount's student newspaper, gave B-W "A Punchers Chance." In
other words, the outside chance that a "puncher" could always land a lucky
one on a boxer.
T
drifted wide
left. After the miss, you could almost hear the air leaking out of the
B-W side. 
Mason of Girard.