WILMINGTON – On a very cold and windy day at Williams Stadium on the campus of Wilmington College, it did not take long for the Heidelberg University football team to heat up. The Student Princes jumped out to a 39-0 lead and never looked back in a 53-10 rout of the host Quakers.
THREE STARS
Quarterback Michael Mees only played briefly into the third quarter, but still put up some big numbers. The senior threw for four touchdowns to four different receivers, all in the first half.
Running back Cartel Brooks is no stranger to having good days on the ground, and he turned in another solid performance against the Quakers. He finished the day averaging 7.8 yards per carry on 21 carries for 164 yards and one touchdown.
Cameron Vocke came up big on special teams in a way he is becoming accustomed to. A Quaker punt was blocked by Donteea Dye, and Vocke was there to scoop it up and return it five yards for a touchdown, the third time he has done that this season, with the other two coming in the win over Muskingum
KEY STATS
The Heidelberg defense held Wilmington eight points under their season average, with the lone touchdown coming near the end of the fourth quarter on a trick play.
Both interceptions that the Berg defense caught turned into points as they scored a field goal after one and a touchdown after the other to make Wilmington pay for their mistakes.
Austin Crow led the Heidelberg defense with three tackles for loss, which was a new career high.
FIRST QUARTER
The Student Princes received the opening kickoff and marched down the field quickly. The drive was capped off by a 5-yard touchdown pass from Mees to Dye. The lead was pushed to eight when Cale Sandridge took the snap on the PAT and ran around the right side for the two-point conversion.
After the two teams traded punts and Wilmington missed a field goal, Mees found Nick DeLisa across the middle with DeLisa going 59 yards for the score.
SECOND QUARTER
After the Berg defense force a three-and-out, the offense worked their way through the Wilmington defense again, this time finishing off the drive with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Mees to Christian Dominguez.
Mees threw an interception on the next drive for Heidelberg, but the defense stepped up with another three-and-out. On the ensuing Quaker punt, Dye found his way through and blocked the punt, which was returned five yards for a touchdown by Vocke.
Another solid defensive possession for Heidelberg set up the offense again, who drove the field and finished it off when Mees found his brother, James Mees, in the end zone for a five-yard touchdown, pushing the Student Prince lead to 36.
On the ensuing Wilmington drive, the Quakers were down into Heidelberg territory until a Daniel Crusan pass was intercepted by Will Lance to stop the threat. The Berg offense then took the ball down the field, but stalled in the red zone, settling for a 20-yard field goal by Stephen Smith.
Wilmington tacked on a field goal of their own as time expired in the first half, making the score 39-3 at the break.
THIRD QUARTER
The third quarter opened up a little more quietly, but the Student Princes changed that quickly when Tim Littles made his third interception of the year, this time coming off of a pass by Blake Valenzuala. Heidelberg made them pay for that mistake when Brooks scampered three yards for a touchdown on a fourth down.
On the ensuing Wilmington drive, Chris Jones forced a fumble which was recovered by Billy Byrne, stopping a promising Quaker possession. After the turnover, the Student Princes methodically worked their way down the field, ending the drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Jon Sandwisch to Derek Hug.
FOURTH QUARTER
The final period saw the two defenses battle, with Wilmington finally finding the end zone on an end-around pass for what turned out to be the final score of the ball game.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
Sandridge's two-point conversion was the first for Heidelberg since 2012 against Ohio Northern.
With Dye's one TD and 50 yards, he now needs just four touchdowns and 575 yards to tie the career Heidelberg records, held by Mike Preston.
Brooks now has run for 100+ yards in 25 games in his Heidelberg career with the 164-yard performance today.
The four touchdown passes for Mees puts him over 20 touchdown passes for the third straight season.
AJ Morrison had three touchbacks on kickoffs today which is one shy of his career high.
NOTABLE QUOTES
Head coach Mike Hallett on the team bouncing back this week: "You could feel it in the week of practice. I think last week our guys practiced, but didn't practice their best. I think this week they practiced really hard. Pregame was very, very different, we had a lot of energy, guys were very fired up, and that's the message we had for them last week. If you sleepwalk through the game, it will be a dog fight, but if you go impose your will, good things are going to happen for us, and I think the guys had a blast out here today. They were having a lot of fun, playing together and playing hard, and I think that's who we have to be to be the team we need to be."
Hallett on the defensive performance: "They had some good drives, but the time they had those we were rotating pretty heavily and trying to get our guys on the field. Greg Forest, their offensive coordinator, does a great job, I think he has some great schemes, I just think our talent level was a little higher than theirs today."
Hallett on five different receivers making touchdown catches: "It was kind of out of necessity... We had a good game plan and I think the guys executed it very well for the weather conditions, being cold like this."
Hallett on Cam Vocke and his third blocked punt returned for a TD: "I've never seen anything like that; he's like a ball magnet when we block a punt... Cam was right there, the ball popped up in the air and it worked out really well. Cam Vocke is a really special player."
UP NEXT
The Heidelberg football team will be on the road again next week, November 8, when they take on Capital. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Bernlohr Stadium in Bexley.