Football: Utica (N.Y.) (1-0 Overall) at Ohio Northern (0-0 Overall)
Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015, Noon, Dial-Roberson Stadium, Ada, Ohio
Saturday's Game: Saturday's game is is the 2015 season opener for Ohio Northern and is the second game of the year for Utica. It is also the first game of a home-and-home agreement between the two schools, with ONU making a return trip to Utica on Sept. 10, 2016 ... ONU head coach Dean Paul welcomes back 43 lettermen, 11 starters and all three kickers from last year's squad that went 7-3 overall and finished fourth in the OAC with a 6-3 mark ... Northern returns six starters on the offensive side of the ball. On defense, 11 players with starting experience are back ... Depth abounds on special teams as two kickers, a punter return and both returners are back ... The offense is led by senior All-OAC honorees RB Justin Magazine and WR Devon Price ... All-OAC RT Rody Seballos, RG Logan Shell and C Ethan Joseph return on the offensive line. WR Reid Allen is ONU's sixth returning starter on offense ... The QB battle appears to be narrowed down to freshman Will Freed and sophomore transfer Ricardo Johnson. If Freed is the starter, he would be the first freshman to start on opening day for ONU since Ed Chessar in 1987 ... On defense, All-OAC DB Dan Eller, DB Will Bodden, DB Darnell Bloom, DB Justin Tello, DT Mike Cunningham and LB Cody Cox all return ... Utica (N.Y.) earned its seventh straight season opening victory with a 42-28 home win over Misericordia (Pa.) on Sat. ... Five different Pioneers scored a TD in the win; including a school-record 90 yard KO return by Jerred Beniquez to give Utica a 21-7 lead in the second quarter ... The Pioneer offense compiled 484 yards of total offense on the day, while LB Juwan Wilson made a team-best 11 tackles and broke up one pass ... QB Teddy VanGalen completed 18-of-25 passes for 263 yards and a TD and RB Ryan Burnett ran 26 times for 108 yards and a score to lead the Pioneer offense.
ONU 2014 Statistical Leaders
| Rushing Yds. |
Passing Yds. |
Receiving Yds. |
Tackles | Sacks | |||||||||||||||
| 1. | Magazine |
913 |
1. | Angle |
2,334 |
1. | Price | 846 |
1. | Kwiat | 79 |
1. | Hundley |
2.0 |
|||||
| 2. | Angle | 318 | 2. |
Walter |
40 |
2. |
Allen |
522 |
2. | Eller | 66 | Cunningham |
1.5 |
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| 3. |
Price |
220 |
3. |
Bridges | 232 |
3. |
Hostetler |
58 |
3 Tied With |
1.0 |
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All-Time Series: This is the first meeting between the two schools.
Head Coach Dean Paul: Paul in his 12th season at ONU with a 75-37 record, a winning percentage of .670. He is 115-49 in 16 seasons overall and is 0-0 against UC.