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Mount Union 68 Heidelberg 13 by Dick Ross |
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OCTOBER HIGHWAYS AMERICAN ROAD TRIPS This month is the Centennial of the first World Series. Also, in Dayton, the Wright Brothers were putting the finishing touches on the powered machine that they would fly in North Carolina, in December but one of the more remarkable episodes of 1903, the first transcontinental automobile voyage, was already in the books. Some of you may have seen Ken Burns' "Horatios Drive" on PBS in the last week, but for those who didn't, it covers the story of a Vermont MD, Horatio Nelson Jackson who, while on vacation to California, took some "automobiling" (driving) lessons and later got involved in a spirited discussion at San Francisco's University Club. Though he did not own an automobile and had only a few hours of driving experience, he wagered $50.00 that he could make the trip to New York City in less than 90 days.
Their automobile, Winton serial No. 1684 made in Cleveland, had been
recommended by Sewall Jackson's 1903 Winton was a 20 horsepower chain drive vehicle, with a two speed transmission, described as about the size of a queen bed but higher off the ground, and mounting a pair of straight back, buttoned leather upholstered parlor chairs. A pair of good horses could have been had for the extra $500 and might have been a useful accessory but, instead, the Doctor christened the car "Vermont" and chose a bulldog named "Bud" for a mascot. Bud, purchased for $15.00, joined the tour in Caldwell, Oregon and soon acquired his own set of custom fitted goggles for the dusty trails that passed for roads.
Sixty-three days later, having spent over $8,000 out of pocket, the Doctor
arrived in New York City. In
With the 4:00 p.m. start, both the sun and I rose later on Saturday.
The early morning was gray with a bit of chill and haze which burned off by
noon. Although it's October and we've had our first official snow, our
trees are still mostly green. The local maples feature red traced
leaves and the other varieties show lots of yellows and browns ranging from
tan to leather brown, so dark it could be purple. Headed southwest on
Ohio Route 18, the uncut corn still showed green, in the stalks, while many
of the second growth roadside sumacs were scarlet. There were fields
of harvested stubble, some plowed for replanting and others that showed
heavy activity with harvesters, singly or in groups, using the nice weather
for an all out push. Tiffin, a city of 18,600, started as two separate towns virtually ignoring each other. The first settlers in 1817 were on the site of Fort Ball, northwest of the Sandusky River. The Tiffin side, south and east of the bend in the river, was first settled in 1822. No one thought of bridging the river until 1834, when it was done as a "for profit" toll bridge. There are various stories about the name "Sandusky." Some say it was an Indian word meaning "cold water," others claim that it the name of a Polish trader named Sanduski, who so endeared himself to the local Indians that they chased him all the way to the area of the Stagg Bowl, before killing him.
The two towns, separated and joined by the river, merged in 1850, the same
year that Heidelberg was founded by two brothers, Reverends Good, of the
German Reformed Church. The school now lists an affiliation with the
United Church of Christ and an enrollment of 1,300. I understand that
the UCC is a very
Heidelberg's football tradition dates from 1892 but counted their glory days
under coach Paul "The Fox" Hoernemann who got his start in coaching by
replacing "Woody" Hayes at New Philadelphia High School and compiling a
record, at Heidelberg, of 102-18-4 from 1946 to 1959.
After many years as "The Student Princes" Heidelberg briefly "tried on" the name "Berg" but seems to have returned to "Princes," or to at least ambivalence. They dropped their white "Berg" helmets in favor or a stylized lower case orange "h" on a black background, last year.
Whatever you call them, the home team took the field, behind Tiffin
Columbian High School, wearing solid black, head to toe, with white
numerals, traced in orange. Mount Union chose solid white and because
of the mild weather, high seventies feeling like eighty in the sun, took
their warm ups, in tee shirts, Mount Union won the toss and elected to receive. After a kickoff return by Sr. DB #13 Mike Miller of Cuyahoga Falls, Sr. QB Jesse Burghardt of Uniontown/Lake took over and led a three-play, 69-yard drive to the north end with passes to Sr. WR #82 Randell Knapp of Kent/Field, and a breakthrough 28-yard touchdown run by Jr. TB #34 Ricky Ciccone of Coshocton with the conversion by Jr. #11, Chad Teague of Orrville. To no one's surprise, Mount was up by seven, less than a minute into the game.
What happened next was a bit of a surprise: Jr. QB #12, in black, Adam
Haught from Minerva lead a steady drive featuring previously unheralded Jr.
TB #46 Avaunte Miller of East Cleveland/Shaw, the first runner to get more
than 100 yards, against the Raiders, this year. The drive produced the
first score against the Purple "D" in more than three games. As if to
prove that it was no fluke, Avaunte had a 62-yard
Following another nice return by Mike Miller, Mount's next turn featured
Burghardt at quarterbacl and Jr. TB #22 Jeff Strauch of Avon Lake.
Burghardt scrambled the sequence a bit, using two nice runs by Strauch and a
13-yard pass to #25 Sr. WR Mike Sirianni of Jamestown, NY.
Heidelberg's lead had held for one minute and nine seconds but, incredibly,
it looked like it could be the beginning of a competitive ball game.
The extra point was added by #48 Jr. George Wilders of Loveland/Kings, as
the coaches started to rotate the kickers, as well. With the other half of Mount's "Dynamic Duo" at the helm, # 8 Jr. QB Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry found Sirianni in the other end zone, point by Teague made the margin 21-10. Less than a minute later # 4 Jr. WR Jason Cavell from Concord/Painesville Riverside, returned a punt 82 yards down the west sideline, his second long return in as many weeks, point by Wilders upped Mount's count to 28. Just as the men in black seemed to be recovering, #16 Sr, DB Matt Caponi of Pittsburgh/Baldwin picked off a long pass at the Purple Raider 37 and set up Burghardt for another three-play, 60+ yard drive.
This time Burghardt covered most of the ground himself with a 38-yard option
sweep around his own left. An option pitch to Ciccone and a pass to
Sirianni, for his third of the day. Seconds later Matt recovered a fumble
forced by #37 Sr. DE Jason McElhaney of Pulaski, PA and Bruney hit Knapp for
a
The half ended with three consecutive Mount Union field goals, two by Teague
of 31 and 32 yards, and one by Wilders from 26 yards out. The half featured a performance by the Heidelberg student pep band, small but spirited, in highway cone orange shirts, doing many of the same songs our kids do. From the way many of the first team players were talking to parents and girlfriends outside the locker room, it was fairly easy to spot who was done for the afternoon. Heidelberg got the ball, to open the half, but Mount Union opened the scoring when Sr. LB # 35 Tony Buckler of Canton/Central Catholic intercepted a pass at the scoreboard end and almost before anyone knew what was happening was gone 16 yards for a score. So. #18 Edward Dick of Brunswick handled the kickoff and scored an unassisted tackle in his brief appearance.
#19 Jr. QB Robert McDavid of Canal Winchester/Pickerington came in to run the "cloud of dust" offense which was, in this case, clouds of black rubber pellets holding the artificial turf in place. After a couple of line plunges #36 Sr. RB Michael Deitrick of Seven Hills/Normandy slipped outside for a 56 yard accidental touchdown. For those of you scoring at home, it took four-plays not 15, somebody must have forgot to reset the counter after #40 So. LB Mike Gibbons from Mentor/Lake Catholic recorded a 19 yard quarterback sack. Also would like to mention that #93 Jr. DE Karl Jackson of Akron Copley and #97 So. DT Jesse Wells of Caldwell/Shenandoah teamed for a clean hard hit on the 'Bergs tailback. Karl was having such a good time that he refused to come out when he lost a contact lens on the play.
Mount continued to run the ball and the clock. Teague recorded his
third field goal on a first down from the nine, closing the third period
scoring. The final period went quickly with McDavid and #5 RB E.J. Lilly of Alliance handling the ball. Heidelberg got close, trying two 40-yard field goals, making and missing one. The sun set slowly behind the visitors stands and chased us out of town, pausing only for the Tiffin Calvert High School band, marching in the street towards the stadium, for the evening game.
Mount Union's win ties, for the second time, Oklahoma's 47 straight wins,
and extends our OAC streak to 80. Both times we've tied the Sooners
number came vs. Heidelberg in Tiffin, the last time on a wet evening in
1999.
Headed northeast, towards Bellevue, I observed several huge pieces of farm
equipment still working the fields, their exhaust leaving lengthy horizontal
trails about ten feet off the ground. Stopped for dinner at McClain's
Irish Inn, Ohio's oldest tavern, on Main Street in Bellevue. The
tavern dates from 1880, the
Next week is the game that everyone has circled on the schedule: John
Carroll University. The game is at 1:30 at their new "Don Shula
Stadium," built on the site of the old one on Belvoir Blvd., in University
Heights. Reserved seating is available only on the home side, General
Admission seats will be sold both in Cleveland and in University Heights,
starting on Monday.
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Crocker, who Jackson hired as co-driver and mechanic as the sturdiest
vehicle of the day. With only five days grace to get equipped and
started, they found a used Winton, and paid $3,000 for it, $500 over the new
price, even though it already had been driven over 1,000 miles. At the
time most autos were pre-ordered and there were no newer ones available on
the West Coast. On May 23, 1903, the "Mad Doctor" headed North from
San Francisco towards Oregon and the Columbia River Valley. Previous
attempts by the Winton brothers, themselves, had bogged down in the deserts
of the southwest.
spite of the fact that he had been
unemployed since 1900, following a bout with tuberculosis, he never
attempted to collect his original wager. Luckily, his wife was heir to
one of the wealthiest men in Vermont, the inventor of a patented celery
elixir that no demonstrable medical value but may have actually made people
feel better, mostly because it was later analyzed at over 25% alcohol!
large tent, home to some widely varied congregations.
without jerseys or pads. The mid season nice weather and three home
games on the same field, for the same day, may have actually helped keep the
crowd at well under 2,000.
gainer, in front of the
visitors stands, before being hauled down from behind, by Mike, one of our
Millers. After that bit of excitement, Mount's defense began to figure
out the young man from Minerva. A quarterback sack by DT's #90 Jr.
Josh Ludwig of East Liverpool and #91 Sr. Antoine Dillard of
Cleveland/Benedictine and a "Hurry" by #99 Sr. DE Johnny Josef of Mogadore
held the 'Berg to three, after a first down at the 12 but Heidelberg led
10-7 with five minutes left in the first quarter. Either these guys
hadn't read our press releases, or our guys had spent way too much time with
them.
single play, 27-yard touchdown drive. Wilders hit both the kickoff and
the return man for a nice stop.
ornate back bar from 1888, and features the oldest known examples of Hunter
brand ceiling fans, originally water powered, long since electrified but
still driven by leather belts from a single power source. I met Casey
McClain, 5th generation owner and father of a Persian Gulf Marine.
After dinner I followed the "Hunters Moon," full, less a single
slice, east to Cleveland.