By Greg Chandler
D3sports.com 

The big showdown in the Ohio Athletic Conference turned into the big blowout on Saturday as No. 1-ranked Mount Union flexed its muscles against OAC newcomer Wilmington.

The Purple Raiders' offensive machine rolled up 566 yards of total offense in steamrolling the No. 23 Quakers, 42-7, for their 54th straight OAC victory and 59th straight regular season win. The loss was Wilmington's first since joining the OAC this fall and ended a four-game winning streak.

Quarterback Gary Smeck completed 17 of 26 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns for Mount Union (6-0, 5-0), while Chuck Moore added 153 yards rushing on 22 carries and two more scores, marking the 22nd consecutive game in which he has scored a touchdown, a Division III record. Wideout Adam Marino caught nine passes for 156 yards.

Wilmington's offense, which had put up unbelievable numbers the first month of the season, was held in check all day, as Mount Union held the Quakers to 266 yards of total offense. Quarterback Adam Ryan was limited to 20-for-41 through the air for 274 yards.

With that win, Mount Union appears ready to run the table again for a sixth consecutive perfect regular season. Having already beaten traditional OAC powers Ohio Northern and John Carroll, the Purple Raiders now face Capital, Muskingum, Baldwin-Wallace and Heidelberg the rest of the way.

In the North Coast Athletic Conference, Wittenberg is in command. The No. 5 Tigers won their 19th straight conference game and 28th straight regular season contest Saturday, pulling away late to defeat traditional rival Wooster 42-26 in Springfield. The Fighting Scots were the last team to beat Witt in a regular season game, doing so late in the 1997 season.

Casey Donaldson was huge for Wittenberg (7-0, 4-0) in the victory, rushing for a season-high 262 yards on 34 carries and scoring four touchdowns. Donaldson's 16-yard TD run late in the third quarter broke a 26-26 tie put the Tigers ahead to stay, then his 61-yard TD gallop midway through the fourth quarter iced the win.

Donaldson now has 4,594 rushing yards and 62 touchdowns for his career, both school and NCAC records. Scott Jones ran for two touchdowns and caught a pass for a third in a losing effort for Wooster (4-2, 2-2).

Speaking of outstanding rushers, Grove City's R.J. Bowers continues to add to his list of records. Bowers set two more NCAA records and tied a third last Saturday as he rushed for 266 yards and three touchdowns (44, 51, 25) as the Wolverines defeated Waynesburg, 32-29, in four overtimes.

Bowers recorded his 32nd consecutive 100-yard game to eclipse the record held by Ohio State's Archie Griffin, who rushed for 100 yards or more in 31 straight games from 1973-75. His three touchdowns moved him past Emporia State's Brian Shay as the all-time all-divisions record holder for rushing touchdowns with 84. He also matched another of Shay's records with his 15th 200-yard rushing day.

With 6,810 career rushing yards, Bowers needs just 149 yards this Saturday against Westminster to break Shay's NCAA all-divisions rushing record of 6,958 yards.

The Alma Scots opened Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play the same way they ended last season -- knocking off traditional conference power Albion. The Scots thrilled a sellout homecoming crowd of 4,500 with a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback, overcoming a 17-6 deficit to pull out a 21-17 win.

Brandon Wrobel led the Alma comeback, throwing a 2-yard touchdown pass to Brian Burgtorf midway through the fourth quarter, then hooking up with Kris Ernst on a 34-yard TD strike with 2:45 remaining for the win. Ernst finished the day with 12 catches for 141 yards, and also had a 67-yard punt return.

After dropping eight straight to Albion during the late 1980s and most of the 1990s, Alma (1-0, 4-2) has now beaten the Britons (0-1, 4-2) three of the last four times they've played.

This week, Alma goes on the road to face the other MIAA contender, Hope. Last year, the Flying Dutchmen administered a 62-7 whipping of the Scots for Alma's lone regular season loss.

Hope has won four straight after a season-opening loss to Division I-AA non-scholarship Valparaiso. On Saturday, the Flying Dutchmen turned seven Kalamazoo turnovers in the first half into 28 points in ripping the Hornets 42-25. Quarterback J.D. Graves threw for three touchdowns and ran for a fourth for Hope, while linebacker Kevin Kudej returned an interception for a touchdown, the third time a Flying Dutchmen defender has returned a pick for six this season.

John Carroll quarterback Tom Arth threw for 395 yards and five touchdowns, as the Blue Streaks ran all over Muskingum 41-3. Three of Arth's TD passes went to senior wide receiver Larry Holmes, who caught eight passes for 213 yards. JCU set a school record with 442 passing yards in the contest.

Brian Dawson completed 19 of 27 for 338 yards and three touchdowns as Washington and Jefferson handed Bethany its third straight loss, 28-18. Dawson, the nation's most efficient passer, has now thrown 22 TD passes this season. Ryan Silvis, who leads Division III in touchdown receptions, caught two more scoring tosses to give him 13 for the year.

Bethany's Brandon Isbell rushed for 177 yards on 25 carries in a losing cause.

Reamed II
For the second straight week, Allegheny's Shane Ream rushed for four touchdowns as the Gators took a big bite out of Kenyon with a 50-0 blowout. Ream rushed for 182 yards, giving him 1,077 for the season and 19 touchdowns. Teammate Jeremy Snyder added 100 yards on the ground as Allegheny piled up 371 rushing yards, most in the NCAC this season.

Marietta's Kenneth Sasu was a tired hombre on Sunday after his work on Saturday. Sasu carried the ball 45 times for 165 yards as the Pioneers. ... Ohio Northern's Jamal Robertson caught four passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns, and added 74 yards rushing and another score in ONU's easy win over Heidelberg. Wabash wideout Kurt Casper caught 13 passes for 135 yards and two scores in the Little Giants' victory against Earlham.

Cases for the defense
Capital freshman linebacker Ron Swearingin is having an outstanding first season. He had 22 tackles in the Crusaders' loss to Marietta. Baldwin-Wallace inside linebacker Todd Bacik had 17 stops against Otterbein, while teammate Matt Caine had 12 tackles, including four for losses.

The Hiram-Oberlin game wasn't much on offense, but featured several outstanding defensive efforts. Hiram's Matt Stiner had eight tackles, two for losses, two interceptions and two pass deflections. Oberlin freshman George Parr had three interceptions and broke up four other passes, while teammate Sam Hobi had 18 tackles, three for losses, a forced fumble, and two blocked kicks -- one field goal and one punt. Hiram came from behind to nip the Yeomen 9-8, keeping Oberlin winless for the season.

Twin picks
Twins Tim and Jim Lorber of Allegheny each had an interception in the Gators' blowout win against Kenyon.

Milestone win
Ohio Wesleyan coach Mike Hollway became the 25th active Division III coach to reach the 100-win plateau on Saturday as the Battling Bishops downed Denison, 19-3. Hollway reached the milestone about an hour ahead of Simpson's Jim Williams, who also picked up his 100th career coaching win on Saturday.

Hollway is Ohio Wesleyan's all-time winningest coach with an 89-46-1 record, for a winning percentage of .656. He led the Bishops to the NCAC championship in 1989, and had earlier coached at Marietta.

"I have been blessed with the opportunity to work at fine schools with great athletics support and blessed with being surrounded by terrific players and great coaches," Hollway said. "The greatest satisfaction is in seeing players enjoy the success, due in significant part to their great efforts."