ALLIANCE, Ohio – No. 1 ranked Mount Union scored 28 first quarter points and never looked back in a 72-14 victory over Christopher Newport (Va.) in the first round of the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs Saturday at Mount Union Stadium in Alliance, Ohio.
The 72 points was a team record for Mount Union in the playoffs and it was the 65th straight home field win for the Purple Raiders who play No. 15 Johns Hopkins (Md.) in the second round next Saturday at noon at site to be announced by the NCAA Sunday.
Kevin Burke (Westlake/Lakewood St. Edward) completed 11-of-15 passes for 264 yards and three touchdown passes all in the first half as the Raiders led 49-7 at the break.
For the second straight week, Mount Union had a pair of 100-yard receivers as Jasper Collins (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) had six catches for 145 yards with two touchdowns and Julius Moore (Lakeland, Fla./Kathleen Senior) had three catches for 100 yards with a touchdown.
After forcing a Christopher Newport to punt on the opening possession, the Raiders covered 67 yards on five plays as T.J. Lattimore (Maple Heights/Maple Heights) went in from 10 yards out.
The Captains went three-and-out on their next possession and Chris Denton (Plantation, Fla./South Plantation) returned the punt 80 yards for a touchdown. It was Denton's fifth punt return for a score for the season which matched an NCAA record and made the score 14-0 just over five minutes into the game.
Mason Minnich (Greenwich/Ashland Crestview), Drew Prendergast (Minerva/Minerva), Blair Skilliter (Curtice/Genoa) and Jake Simon (Parma Heights/Holy Name) all tacked on rushing touchdowns for the Raiders who had a season-high 641 yards of offense.
The top rated Mount Union defense again had another stellar performance as they held the Captains to just 102 total yards including nine net rushing yards and two total yards in the second half.
All-Americans Charles Dieuseul (Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Region) and Nick Driskill (Wabash, Ind./Southwood) each had seven tackles to lead the unit.
Box Score (Final)
Christopher Newport vs #1 Mount Union (Nov 17, 2012 at Alliance, Ohio)
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Christopher Newport. 7 0 0 7 - 14 Record: (6-4)
Mount Union......... 28 21 9 14 - 72 Record: (10-0)
Scoring Summary:
1st 11:35 MTU - T.j. Lattimore 10 yd run (Tyler Almeida kick), 5-67 1:17, CNU 0 - MTU 7
09:56 MTU - Chris Denton 80 yd punt return (Tyler Almeida kick), , CNU 0 - MTU 14
05:41 MTU - Jasper Collins 11 yd pass from Kevin Burke (Tyler Almeida kick), 5-42 2:07, CNU 0 - MTU 21
01:31 CNU - Zack Stevens 17 yd pass from Marcus Morrast (Mason Studer kick), 8-76 4:02, CNU 7 - MTU 21
00:45 MTU - T.j. Lattimore 16 yd run (Isaac Spearman kick), 2-68 0:38, CNU 7 - MTU 28
2nd 13:32 MTU - Julius Moore 55 yd pass from Kevin Burke (Isaac Spearman kick), 2-66 0:33, CNU 7 - MTU 35
09:45 MTU - Jasper Collins 26 yd pass from Kevin Burke (Isaac Spearman kick), 5-55 1:58, CNU 7 - MTU 42
01:53 MTU - Jake Simon 1 yd run (Isaac Spearman kick), 7-74 2:06, CNU 7 - MTU 49
3rd 13:25 MTU - Blair Skilliter 24 yd run (Isaac Spearman kick failed), 5-60 1:27, CNU 7 - MTU 55
03:17 MTU - Isaac Spearman 18 yd field goal, 15-54 7:45, CNU 7 - MTU 58
4th 14:55 MTU - Drew Prendergast 4 yd run (Isaac Spearman kick), 4-55 1:34, CNU 7 - MTU 65
06:56 MTU - Mason Minnich 25 yd run (Isaac Spearman kick), 1-25 0:08, CNU 7 - MTU 72
00:10 CNU - Camer. Bertrand 8 yd pass from Lyndon Garner (Mason Studer kick), 7-26 2:22, CNU 14 - MTU 72
CNU MTU
FIRST DOWNS................... 6 31
RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............ 33-9 50-326
PASSING YDS (NET)............. 93 315
Passes Att-Comp-Int........... 23-10-1 19-14-0
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS..... 56-102 69-641
Fumble Returns-Yards.......... 0-0 0-0
Punt Returns-Yards............ 1-11 5-87
Kickoff Returns-Yards......... 12-284 3-43
Interception Returns-Yards.... 0-0 1-0
Punts (Number-Avg)............ 11-32.1 0-0.0
Fumbles-Lost.................. 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards............... 3-30 5-33
Possession Time............... 30:27 29:33
Third-Down Conversions........ 3 of 17 5 of 10
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 2 2 of 4
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-2 6-7
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 1-5 3-16
RUSHING: Christopher Newport-Paul Dukes 11-14; Storm Parker 9-10; Markee.
Stovall 3-minus 1; Justin Williams 2-minus 5; Marcus Morrast 8-minus 9. Mount
Union-T.j. Lattimore 10-94; Mason Minnich 11-71; Drew Prendergast 11-46; Blair
Skilliter 4-37; Jake Simon 4-36; Roman Namdar 3-19; Kevin Burke 4-18; Taurice
Scott 2-5; TEAM 1-0.
PASSING: Christopher Newport-Marcus Morrast 6-15-1-78; Lyndon Garner 4-8-0-15.
Mount Union-Kevin Burke 11-15-0-264; Roman Namdar 3-4-0-51.
RECEIVING: Christopher Newport-Rudy Rudolph 2-10; Storm Parker 2-7; Paul Dukes
1-35; Zack Stevens 1-17; Justin Williams 1-10; Camer. Bertrand 1-8; Richard
Roethel 1-6; Markee. Stovall 1-0. Mount Union-Jasper Collins 6-145; Julius Moore
3-100; Shannon Stewart 2-19; Jack Nicholls 2-12; Sherman Wilkinson 1-39.
INTERCEPTIONS: Christopher Newport-None. Mount Union-Blair Skilliter 1-0.
FUMBLES: Christopher Newport-Storm Parker 1-0. Mount Union-None.
SACKS (UA-A): Christopher Newport-Shaun Copening 1-0. Mount Union-Alex Kocheff
1-0; Tom Lally 1-0; Matt Fechko 1-0.
TACKLES (UA-A): Christopher Newport-Daniel Lewis 4-4; Derek Wright 4-3; Tyler
Portell 4-2; Evan Moog 4-1; Patrick Sorey 3-2; Marvin Mills 3-2; Tyshawn Harris
3-1; Chad Cieslewicz 3-0; A.J. Schmetzer 2-1; Joey Wolff 0-3; Kendal Rivers 2-0;
John Johnson 1-1; Justin Navarro 1-1; Michael Ruckman 1-1; Dorion Jackson 1-1;
Dylan Krupp 1-0; Richard Roethel 1-0; Shaun Copening 1-0; Tyrell Eaton 1-0; Joe
Jardine 1-0; Je. Williamson 1-0; Jared Launder 1-0; Micha. Atkinson 0-1; Ryan
Parker 0-1; Aharon Neil 0-1. Mount Union-Charles Dieuseul 4-3; Nick Driskill
4-3; Jonathan Gonell 4-2; Tre Jones 3-2; Alex Kocheff 1-3; Camden Krohn 3-0;
Cody Pogorelc 3-0; Ted Rosalva 2-1; Isaiah Scott 2-1; Tom Lally 1-2; Frank
Orteca 1-2; Mike Maier 1-2; Colton Bridges 2-0; Durum Alarms 2-0; Matt Fechko
1-1; Leshawn Luke 1-1; Alex Nicholls 1-0; Joshua Scott 1-0; Josh Butler 1-0; Pat
Mahoney 1-0; Roy Fowler 1-0; Dan Allen 0-1; Shawn Riley 0-1; Hank Spencer 0-1.
