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Mount Union goes vertical to beat ONU
By JEFF ZUPANIC
ADA
D’Angelo Fulford has the easiest job in Division III football. Mount Union’s junior quarterback just needs to let his receivers get open and he will find them.
Lately, he’s been finding them in the end zone.
Fulford set a career high with seven touchdown passes during the Purple Raiders’ 55-24 win over Ohio Northern on Saturday.
Two weeks ago, Fulford threw for six touchdowns in a blowout win against Capital. He currently leads the OAC with 29 passing TDs, including 15 the last three games.
Four of the TDs went to Justin Hill, while Jared Ruth had a pair and Lucas Herrington caught one. All but one of the touchdowns were to wide-open receivers who slipped past the Polar Bears’ secondary.
Fulford credited offensive coordinator Chris Kappas with the game plan to go vertical against ONU.
“Coach Kappas is the mastermind behind our offense. He sets things up to put us in the best position to win and attack teams,” Fulford said. “We had a plan today to attack them. I saw some coverages with their safeties and thought we would be able to get down the field on them.”
Hill finished with four catches for 109 yards, Herrington had five catches for 116 yards. Mount Union rolled up 540 total yards and scored at least 54 points for the seventh time in eight games this season.
The teams exchanged touchdowns on their opening series before Mount Union pulled ahead 21-7 in the second quarter. Ohio Northern (5-3, 4-3) moved into the red zone but was stopped when Louis Berry picked off Anthony McFadden in the end zone.
Mount Union made it 27-7 on the ensuing series after a 42-yard run by Josh Petruccelli, who finished with his third straight 100-yard game.
“That was a big swing for us. Both teams moved the ball on their first series and Ohio Northern got inside the red zone,” said Mount Union head coach Vince Kehres. “That was a great play by Lou and helped turn the game.”
The Purple Raiders’ defense gave up a season high 24 points but also set a school record with 11 sacks. They had 10 against Wilmington earlier this season and originally set the mark against Capital back in 2004.
Andrew Roesch had 3, Jalen Griffin 2.5, Marc Blanc 2, Trey Williams, Nick Brish, Adam Pastor each had one and Danny Robinson had a 0.5 while leading the team with 12 tackles.
“Every coach would love to have that one guy that can beat his man every time and draw a double team and it’s not to say we don’t have that one guy who can dominate but I think we have a lot of guys on defense that can take over a game,” Kehres said. “We ask a lot from our defensive guys and I think they are able to handle the challenge.”
Mount Union (8-0, 7-0) extended college football’s longest winning streak to 23 games.