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Mount Union 56 Wheaton 10 by Dick Ross |
THUNDER IN THE SNOW This week's trip was a bit different. Flying solo, I had thought about going down Friday afternoon, to avoid the snow forecast for that night. When it started to snow at 2:00 in the afternoon, accumulating rapidly, up to seven inches in Alliance, I decided to wait 'till my usual Saturday morning start. In Alliance, crews led by Head Coach and Athletic Director Larry Kehres worked all afternoon and, under the lights, into the night and early morning hours to keep the field ready for play.
Leaving Cleveland at eight in the morning the late season sun was rising
under the clouds, well to the south of where I am used to seeing it.
The roads were clear and dry, with snow "frosting" the northeast sides of
the barren trees. When I passed south of Streetsboro, Route 14 was
wet, under brilliant skies, around the Ravenna bypass, with a bit of slush
after the turn at Edinburg. Just before the light at Atwater one road
sign says "Alliance 8," about 500 yards later the distance reads "7," one
sure way to make up time. I arrived in time to go all the way to Hartshorn Street, where the field was completely clear and a polished emerald green. I passed Chapman Hall, circled Miller Ave. and headed for the campus center buffet, not quite as full as usual, probably due to the weather. Our opponent this week is Wheaton College of DuPage County Illinois, just outside Chicago. The school was founded by abolitionist Methodists and Wesleyans in 1854 as the Illinois Institute. Even though, like most others, the school went through some difficult financial times, it never accepted any denominational ties. In 1859 the Rev. Jonathon Blanchard arrived from Knox College, an older and very similar school, in Galesburg, Illinois.
Soon after taking over as President, Rev. Blanchard dedicated the school "To
Christ and His Kingdom" and renamed it Wheaton, in 1860, after the
generosity of the Wheaton brothers, early settlers for whom the From the outset, Rev. Blanchard and his school were known for their crusades for social justice and the Christian faith. Wheaton has traditionally been more of a soccer school and owns a national championship in that sport. When we first played them in 1995, they were know as the Crusaders, a name that was unofficial but which seemed to describe domestic mission of the school well. According to an email from Jim Matson, a Wheaton Alum, the school has a large number of expatriate grads many involved with missionary work in areas of the world where the word "crusaders" is used, in the historical sense, interchangeably with "imperialists." The team name was changed to avoid any obstacles to the overseas missions of their Alumni. The "Thunder" was adopted as an official mascot and name by the school. If you think about it in terms of evangelical sermons and hymns, it also fits.
Headed for the stadium, Mount Union's athletic department, maintenance staff and baseball team had already won one, against the weather, with the kickoff taking place as scheduled, at noon. The visitors arrived, in white uniforms trimmed in orange and a blue so dark that it looked black and dark blue helmets, with "Wheaton" in a script orange. The north end flags were standing out toward the east stands but this week the "on field" winds were coming from the north end. Wearing purple and black, Mount won the toss and chose the ball but had to head upwind and defend the south end.
CSTV digital satellite TV was here for the day, and they were supposed to
have 13 cameras. I don't think that I spotted them all but the huge
semi trailer production truck, the trailer mounted generator, the three
scissors cranes and the camera mounted in a college owned truck were hard to
miss. We saw the same outfit at John Carroll's Don Shula stadium,
earlier this year, with less equipment. They put on an amazing effort,
for a "start up" operation but, no dummies, they were able to sell their
"feed" to the Chicago area and this week's Mount Union tape featured their
pictures and graphics with the voices of Joe Tait and Mount Union's first series was a three and out. Wheaton came back and got as close as the Mount 21, before being pushed back and settling for a 48-yard field goal which had plenty of wind and leg behind it as it soared through the uprights, through a flurry of snowballs from the student section, prompting a PA warning about objects, including snow, thrown on the field. Wheaton has an interesting set up - a bit like the old "lonesome end" where one or both of the "wide outs" do not come into the huddle, but go directly to their positions, I never did figure out how they were supposed to know the plays unless the offensive scheme allowed them to "scat" like jazz musicians.
Well, we've started from behind before. With a boost from Sr. DB Mike
Miller of Cuyahoga Falls, on the kick return, the offense started north with
Jr. QB Zac Bruney of Martins Ferry at the controls, Mount never slowed down.
The drive was mostly a ground pounder with runs by Bruney, Jr. RB Jeff
Strauch of Avon Lake and Sr. FB Brian Miller of Orrville, with the score
coming on a 17-yard pass to Sr. TE John Healy from The first play of the second quarter was a nine-yard toss to the tight end whose name was listed first, this week, Jr. Drew Hanley of Tiffin/Columbian, who went to both knees and scooped the ball off the turf for the score. To get the game back to even numbers, Mount lined up for two and it was a Burghardt toss to Jr. WR Randell Knapp of Kent/Field on a pattern, across the back of the end zone for two points.
Wheaton got the ball back, ran out of downs on their own 46 and Mount got
the ball in great position when the Wheaton punter lost the snap and had to
go to one knee to pick it up. Bruney and Burghardt are back to alternating series, this time it was Zac's turn, from the Wheaton 33. A 24-yard completion to Healy, a short run by Strauch, a completion to Knapp and an extra point by Jr. George Wilders of Loveland/Kings upped the Purple Raiders count to 21. A short time later Wheaton ran out of downs at the Mount 40, when Sr. LB Anthony Frate of Mentor "stuffed" their featured back for no gain on a fourth and one, earning Burghardt another turn. Nine plays and 60 yards later the senior member of the "tag team" quarterbacks boosted the total to 28, with his second toss to Hanley.
To say that Mount Union's offensive and defensive lines were pretty much in
control would be an understatement. By this time in the playoffs,
there are no easy teams left and paraphrasing Wheaton's coach, they were
able to make a good team look bad. The Raiders defense got the ball back,
on downs, with just under two minutes left. Bruney lead the team 65
yards, actually 80 including two penalties, with a mix of runs and passes
topped off with a three-yard touchdown pass to Miller, giving the ball back
to the At the half I circled the field to visit with friends and to make sure the blood was still flowing to my feet. As the team came out of the south tunnel, I observed quarterback emeritus Jim Ballard greeting the team and I wondered if he still had the white cap that he always donned to signal that the game was "in hand."
Wheaton got the kickoff from Jr. Chad Teague of Orrville and put on an
impressive drive all the way to the Raider six where a mishandled pitch out,
covered by Jr. CB Ross Watson of Austintown/Fitch gave Mount Union the ball
at their own nine-yard line. The 91 yard trip back was lead by
Burghardt who, with the exception of one pass to Knapp, mostly handed off to
Strauch, who also took it the final seven yards into the end zone.
This series and two long drives put the third quarter into the history
books, leaving the Thunder one yard short of the Mount goal line. THIRD QUARTER SCORE: MOUNT UNION 42, WHEATON 3 The first play of the fourth period, a one-yard plunge, was the first and only touchdown for the visitors and set up a final "turn" for Bruney who led a nine-play, 76-yard trip featuring a 31-yard completion to Knapp for six, plus the extra point by Wilders. After a short series by Wheaton, Mount Union got the punt at their own 49. After one play the senior offensive line came out: George Momirovic of East Canton, Brent Miller of Orrville, Dusty Wilson of Warren, PA, Bob Bradley of Fredricksburg, VA and Larry Kinnard, of Alliance. Brian Miller took an eight-yard curtain call and turned his job over to Sr. RB Michael Deitrick of Seven Hills/Normandy, who came in fresh and immediately broke off a 31-yard run to the 12, then took it the rest of the way in shorter increments, to close the scoring for the day.
On the Raiders final series Fr. QB Michael Jorris of Woodsfield/Monroe
Central and So. RB E.J. Lilly of Alliance got to see action before Sr. Caleb Chappelear
of Norwalk punted for the second time on the day,
It was, as Coach Kehres said, "a total team effort" with the defense led by
seniors Shaun Spisak of Sagamore Hills/Nordonia, Andrew Doak of
Uniontown/Green, Matt Caponi of Pittsburgh, PA and Tony Buckler of
Canton/Central Catholic who, stepped in for an injured Luke Garland of
Washington Courthouse. Saturday was a day when not many talked of the three time defending national champions winning their 108th game of the last 109, tying the mark of 54 straight victories, set by the Purple Raiders 1996-1999 teams, and qualifying for the national semifinals for the ninth straight time.
Next week will be a new challenge: the semifinal game is the one we lost in
1995, to Wis-La Crosse, and in 1999, to Rowan. Our opponent,
determined Sunday after a weather delay, in Williamsport, PA, will be
Bridgewater College of Virginia. The team we played in the 2001 "Prime
Time" Stagg Bowl. They are Ticket telephones will open at 9:00 a.m. Monday for player's parents and season ticket holders only: (330) 821-6759. Everyone else can call the same number beginning Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. All seating in Mount Union Stadium is reserved.
Mount Union football games are broadcast live on AM 1310, WDPN radio, and
the college student station, FM 91.1, WRMU, which also webcasts through the
"student life" section of the college website. Win or lose, this one
is the final home game of the season.
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town was also named.
Harry Paidas.
Steubenville, who got his
first career touchdown, headed for the monopole goal post. The extra
point attempt was blocked. After a Wheaton punt, the quarter ended
with our other QB Sr. Jesse Burghardt of Uniontown/Lake running the offense.
visitors with only six seconds and change.
and just the 20th time all year.
anxious for the rematch, even though it will be in Alliance. They
proved Sunday that they can play in cold weather.