By Ryan Briggs
Grove City SID
Just three teams in the Great Lakes region sport undefeated records entering Week 8. Mount Union held off pesky John Carroll 34-16 for the Purple Raiders' 48th consecutive win while fellow Ohio Athletic Conference member Capital also improved to 6-0 with a 56-10 drilling of Heidelberg in Columbus.
In the Presidents' Athletic Conference, Washington and Jefferson raised its record to 6-0 by downing winless Bethany 38-3.
The one undefeated team that found Week 7 quite unlucky? Adrian. Host Hope (4-2, 3-0 MIAA) hammered the Bulldogs (5-1, 1-1) 33-7 Saturday to claim first place in the MIAA midway through the conference schedule.
Quarterback Phil Butler fired three touchdown passes, including two to Joe Verschueren as the Dutchmen raced out to a 23-0 lead in the third quarter.
"I thought this was the best game we've played overall this season," Hope head coach Dean Kreps told the Holland Sentinel. "We had those three games early where we were pretty explosive offensively and two games where I thought the defense was outstanding. Today, I thought they both put it together pretty well."
Adrian managed just 56 yards rushing for the afternoon.
"(Hope) outplayed us (Saturday). They did a great job. They made the big plays and we didn't," Adrian coach Jim Lyall told the paper.
It's the second straight week that Hope knocked off an undefeated team. Last week, the Dutchmen downed then-unbeaten Kalamazoo, 21-18.
Unscathed
Mount Union and Capital remained unbeaten with OAC victories. The Purple Raiders overcame an injury to quarterback Jesse Burghardt as fellow signal-caller Zac Bruney picked up the slack. Bruney threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns in the Purple Raiders' 34-16 win at John Carroll.
Capital crushed Heidelberg, rolling out to a 42-3 lead by halftime. Quarterback Rocky Pentello threw four touchdown passes, including a school-record 83-yard strike to Kyle Rankin on the first play of the game. Pentello passed for 254 yards on 11-for-18 accuracy.
Those two teams meet in Alliance this Saturday with first place in the OAC at stake. It's the start of a brutal stretch for Capital. After visiting Mount Union, Capital hosts Baldwin-Wallace. A visit to Muskingum is followed by a home date with John Carroll.
Washington and Jefferson kept Bethany winless with a 38-3 win at Cameron Stadium Saturday. Sophomore quarterback Chris Edwards threw three touchdown passes as part of a 254-yard outing.
Presidents head coach Mike Sirianni, a Mount Union grad, is now 7-0 in his coaching career.
Lurking in the weeds
The Presidents' undefeated run could be in peril on Saturday, however. Washington and Jefferson (6-0, 3-0) will make the 30-minute trip down Interstate 79 to Waynesburg (6-1, 3-0) with the PAC title at stake.
Waynesburg is only a missed extra point away from possibly being 7-0 this year. Only that missed conversion in a 31-30 loss at Gettysburg (4-2) stands between Waynesburg and perfection. The Yellow Jacket offense features depth and balance while averaging over 40 points and 422 yards per game.
Three different running backs have rushed for 100 yards in a game, including the freshman tandem of Ryan Abels and Eric Daniels. Daniels has 550 yards and eight touchdowns on 87 carries while Abels has 404 yards and eight scores on 84 carries. Yet neither one is considered the starter!
That honor belongs to another freshman, Dennis Gearhart, who had 411 yards rushing before missing Waynesburg's 45-10 win at Grove City Saturday.
Junior quarterback Jeff Dumm has completed 66 percent of his passes and thrown 18 touchdowns so far. Three different Jacket receivers have more than 30 catches but no more than Ivan Hawkins' 34 receptions.
Brothers Mark and Matt Harnish, both juniors, help anchor a stout defense that has forced 22 turnovers. Mark Harnish, an outside linebacker, has 32 tackles and three fumble recoveries. Matt Harnish has a team-best three interceptions this year. Waynesburg is 6-1 for the first time since 1976 and very well could claim at least a share of the PAC title this Saturday.
Not bad for a team in a town that is best known for "Rain Day" every July 29. Over the past 126 years, it has rained 105 times on July 29 in the borough of Waynesburg. This fall, Waynesburg has been raining points all over the opposition.
Despite all of this, Waynesburg is barely a blip on the D-III radar, receiving just six voter points in this week's poll. The AFCA poll has yet to recognize Waynesburg at all this year.
Blue collar men
The City of Pittsburgh is renowned for the work ethic of its citizens and that attitude has obviously struck Carnegie Mellon.
Against visiting Case Western Reserve Saturday, fullback Brad Stanley and halfback Ricardo Clarke gained a combined 289 yards on a workmanlike 65 carries in the Tartans' 44-16 rout in both teams' University Athletic Association opener.
Stanley ran for 169 yards and three touchdowns on 39 attempts while Clarke toted the ball 26 times for 120 yards and a pair of scores. As a team, CMU ran the ball 79 times and held a 17-minute edge in time of possession.
The Tartans attempted just nine passes, completing five. CMU (4-2, 1-0 UAA) had just one negative play the entire day.
Break up the Big Red?
After stumbling out of the gate with four losses, Denison sits squarely in the middle of the NCAC pack with a 1-1 league mark after the Big Red downed Earlham, 28-17. Phil Bouwhuis ran for a career-high 225 yards and a pair of scores in the victory.
A 22-point third quarter vaulted Denison to its first league victory of the season. Bouwhuis ran 42 yards for a score while Joey Thees scored on a 50-yard sprint. Quarterback Larry Cappetto also threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Matt Peterson.
Denison piled up 537 total yards of offense, including 316 on the ground.
Saturday's win comes on the heels of a 55-7 triumph at Kenyon on Oct. 10 in a non-conference game. That night, Denison scored the game's final 55 points and chewed up 490 yards of offense, 245 rushing and 245 passing.
Winning a third consecutive game will not be easy for Denison, however. The Big Red visit NCAC-leading Allegheny (3-3, 3-0 NCAC) on Saturday.
Matlak's men take sole possession of first
Allegheny stayed atop the NCAC with a 26-20 win at Wooster. Quarterback Bubba Smith threw three touchdown passes while Brian Woods nearly put the win away with a 77-yard punt return for a score midway through the fourth quarter.
Allegheny's defense did yield nearly 400 yards of offense in allowing Wooster to keep the ball for over 38 minutes. But the Gators came up with crucial plays when needed.
Mike Soltis had three of Allegheny's six sacks on the day while Elliott George's interception in the final minute capped the victory.
The Gators opened the season with a 45-26 loss at Baldwin-Wallace, then dropped a 28-23 verdict at still-undefeated Washington and Jefferson. In its final non-league game, Allegheny lost in overtime to Westminster, 3-0, as both teams slogged through the mud and rain.
Allegheny is gunning for its first NCAC title since they shared the 1997 title with Wittenberg and Wooster at 7-1. The Gators also won outright titles in 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1996.
Big fish in the big pond
While most attention given to the OAC is directed towards Mount Union, Baldwin-Wallace and John Carroll, another OAC school has worked its way into the spotlight.
Muskingum improved to 5-1 overall, 4-1 in the conference, with a 20-12 victory over an improved Otterbein squad Saturday. Defensive back Ryan Spicer had a big hand in the Muskies' win as he blocked a field goal and returned it 77 yards for a score in the first half.
Spicer then slammed the door on Otterbein with a 40-yard interception return to the end zone in the final moments of the game. In addition, Spicer also returned a kickoff 52 yards.
This Saturday, the Muskies welcome Baldwin-Wallace to New Concord in what is pretty much an elimination game in the OAC. Both teams have one loss in the conference already as Mount Union blanked both teams.
More troubles for Thiel
This was supposed to be Thiel's year to make a run at the PAC championship. Instead, the Greenville, Pa.-based school has stumbled to a 1-5 overall mark, 0-4 in the league, and has also lost its starting quarterback.
Junior Daryl Moore left the team after Thiel's 16-15 loss in the Mercer County Cup game with Grove City. Moore is also the starting point guard on Thiel's basketball team and is now fully concentrating on basketball, according to the Pitsburgh Tribune-Review. Mike Lindenfelser, a transfer from Division II Indiana, Pa., is the new starter.
Saturday, Thiel lost at Westminster (Pa.), 14-13, as a blocked extra point proved pivotal. Paul Stibich's 47-yard field goal in the final seconds struck the crossbar and fell back into the field of play, giving Westminster the win.
Game of the Week
Capital (6-0, 5-0 OAC) at Mount Union (6-0, 5-0), Alliance, Ohio: First place in the Ohio Athletic Conference is up for grabs Saturday in Alliance. The Crusaders are looking to make the ascent into Division III's elite while Mount Union chases consecutive win No. 49.
The OAC's top two offenses will be on display in Alliance. Mount Union leads the league in scoring (48.3 points per game) and total offense at 553.3 yards per game. Capital is second in both categories, averaging 46.7 points and 514.2 yards.
Ironically, Mount Union leads the conference in scoring and total defense while Capital is second in both categories. In all likelihood, this is Mount Union's final obstacle to the OAC title as the Purple Raiders close the season with Marietta (1-5), Ohio Northern (1-5) and Wilmington (0-6).
Other games of note
Washington and Jefferson (6-0, 3-0 PAC) at Waynesburg (6-1, 3-0), Waynesburg, Pa.: Waynesburg is looking for its first-ever outright Presidents' Athletic Conference title since joining the league in 1990. Washington and Jefferson has dominated the PAC, winning at least a share of 18 of the last 19 league titles. The two teams did split the PAC title with Grove City in 1998.
Kalamazoo (5-1, 1-1) at Albion (3-3, 2-1), Albion, Mich.: Both teams look to keep pace with Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association leader Hope, which is playing Tri-State in a non-conference clash Saturday. Last year, Albion pulled out a 21-20 win at Kalamazoo by blocking an extra point with 11 seconds left in the game. The Britons had trailed 14-3 but rallied with 18 second-half points to down Kalamazoo.
Baldwin-Wallace (5-1, 4-1 OAC) at Muskingum (5-1, 4-1 OAC), New Concord, Ohio: Muskingum is not an easy place to play and it will not be as easy for Baldwin-Wallace to escape New Concord with a win as one might think. It is probable that the runner-up in the OAC will receive a Pool C bid to the Division III playoffs with just one conference loss. That is what makes Saturday's game so important. Both teams still have to play Capital also, which means the road to the playoffs is quite rocky.
