Area college roundup \ Saturday’s games

Mount Union 58, Otterbein 7

ALLIANCE — No. 1 ranked Mount Union clinched its 18th straight and 21st Ohio Athletic Conference football championship. The Purple Raiders (9-0, 8-0 OAC) won a nation’s best 24th consecutive game and also take the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III championships. Mount Union is the defending national champion and has won a record 10 titles. The Mount Union defense did all the damage in the first half as they held the conference’s top rushing offense to six yards on the ground and had three interceptions, two in the end zone by safety Roger Stewart III. Mount Union forced six Otterbein turnovers. The Raider offense generated 301 first half yards and 536 for the game as senior quarterback Kurt Rocco tossed four touchdown passes and Cecil Shorts III had a game-high six catches for 95 yards. Mount Union also churned out 320 rushing yards as Zac Lemmon ran for 118 yards and score on six carries in the second half, Scott Panchik had 108 yards and two touchdowns while Terrance Morring had 91 yards and a score. Quarterback Austin Schlosser was 14-of-26 for 201 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions for Otterbein. Ryan Rowley had six catches for 68 yards and Colton Coy rushed for 35 yards on nine carries for the Cardinals.

Waynesburg 38, Thiel 17

WAYNESBURG, Pa. — A pair of juniors led the Yellow Jackets on senior day. Junior quarterback Brad Dawson, the conference’s top passer, completed 23-of-37 passes for 306 yards and three touchdowns, while not throwing an interception. He also rushed eight times for 49 yards and a fourth score. Dawson’s 22 touchdown passes are three off of John Huntey’s school single-season mark of 25, which was set in 1968. Junior linebacker Troy Cree tied for the game-high in total tackles with 12, including a game-high 11 solo stops. He also recorded a sack, two total tackles for loss and broke up two passes. With the win, the Jackets jumped back over .500 for the year (5-4) and are now 2-3 in PAC play. The Tomcats dropped to 3-6 on the season and 1-4 in conference action.

Grove City 38, Westminster 31

GROVE CITY, Pa. — After Grove City (4-5, 3-2 PAC) scored 21 straight points to take a 31-17 early in the fourth quarter, Westminster (3-6, 2-4 PAC) rallied to tie the game at 31-31 only to see the Wolverines march down the field on their final possession and score the go-ahead touchdown with 13 seconds left. Grove City senior quarterback Andrew DiDonato found Luke O’Hara standing in the back of the end zone for the game-winning score that was O’Hara’s third touchdown catch of the game. DiDonato led Grove City with 365 yards on 20-of-31 passing with two touchdowns and one interception, while also rushing for 37 yards on 11 attempts. Westminster senior running back Nick McKolosky led the Titans with 107 rushing yards on 24 totes and two touchdowns to move him into sixth place on the school’s all-time list for career touchdowns with 29.

Washington & Jefferson 49, Bethany 0

BETHANY, W.Va. — Washington & Jefferson scored 21 first-quarter points en route to victory. The Presidents (8-1, 4-1) scored on their opening possession when QB Steven Shumaker snuck over from a yard out for a 7-0 lead. W&J would add on two more scores before the period closed out on an 18-yard scoring pass from Shumaker to Craig Besong and a 17-yard touchdown run by Brian Baldridge to increase their lead to 21-0.

Wabash 41, Hiram 0

CRAWFORDSVILLE, IND. — Wabash accounted for 430 yards of total offense, including 244 yards on the ground. Hiram tallied 148 yards of offense (32 rushing and 116 passing). The Little Giants were led by Matt Hudson who completed 13-of-17 passes for 186 yards and three TD. Derek Rowe rushed for a game-high 90 yards on four carries. Hiram was led by junior Glenn Campbell who saw playing time at quarterback in addition to his wide receiver duties. He accounted for 83 of the team’s 148 yards of offense, completing five-of-11 passes for 67 yards and rushing for 11 yards on six carries. Campbell also caught a pass for five yards. Freshman wideout Kyle Callari had game-highs of five receptions for 67 yards. Sophomore running back Rodney Jacobs had a team-best 24 yards rushing in five attempts. Defensively, sophomore defensive back Mike Brown, senior defensive back Matt Wilson and sophomore All-NCAC linebacker Jon Hull all tallied a team-high six tackles.

Vindicator staff report