ALLIANCE, Ohio -- Sophomore quarterback Kevin Burke (Westlake/Lakewood St. Edward) threw three touchdown passes and ran in another to lead No. 1 ranked Mount Union to a 33-14 victory over No. 14/17 ranked Heidelberg in an Ohio Athletic Conference game Saturday at Mount Union Stadium.

Burke commanded an offense that had 493 yards as he completed 13-of-17 passes for 216 yards and ran for 67 yards on 16 carries on a cold, windy and rainy day. His three touchdown passes were to three different receivers in seniors Shannon Stewart (Bloomdale/Elmwood), Julius Moore (Lakeland, Fla./Kathleen Senior) and Chris Denton (Plantation, Fla./South Plantation).

Senior Jasper Collins (Geneva, N.Y./Geneva) ended up leading the receiving corps with 81 yards on five catches.

Senior running backs Blair Skilliter (Curtice/Genoa) and T.J. Lattimore (Maple Heights/Maple Heights) had 97 and 95 yards on the ground respectively. Skilliter had a 22-yard touchdown run as the Purple Raiders grinded out 277 total rushing yards.

Heidelberg (7-1, 6-1 OAC) came into the game on an 11-game win streak (second best in the nation) and took a 7-0 lead on the game's opening possession as quarterback Michael Mees hit C.J. Powell on an 11-yard touchdown pass and held that lead at the end of the first quarter.

It was the first points the Purple Raiders surrendered since the opening game of season at Franklin -- a span of 377 minutes 27 seconds.

It was also the first time since a 7-0 deficit at the 2010 National Championship game against UW-Whitewater that Mount Union trailed at the end of the first quarter of a game.

The nation's No. 1 rated defense then went to work holding Heidelberg to 20 total yards in the second quarter.

Burke then tossed TD passes of 37 yards to Stewart (extra point was no good) and a 38 yards to Moore (two point attempt no good) and the Raiders took a 12-7 lead at the half.

Mount Union was forced to punt on its first possession of the second half and senior Brandon Mathie (Louisville/Louisville), who had his best punting day of his career, pinned the Berg on its own nine-yard-line with a 40-yard punt. On the day, Mathie averaged 47.2 yards per punt including a school-record 78-yarder.

Heidelberg went three-and-out losing four yards then punted which Skilliter returned eight yards to the Berg 30-yard line. Then on fourth down Burke threw to Denton, who got in the end zone for a 29-yard touchdown pass that made it 19-7 with 8:49 to go in the third.

On the ensuing drive, Mees tossed his second interception of the game -- this one hauled in from senior Isaiah Scott (Hamilton/Fairfield) and eight plays later Skilliter ran it in from 22 yards out that extended the lead to 26-7 at the end of the third quarter.

Heidelberg missed a field goal on its next drive and the Raiders put the game away on a 15-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 9:30 and was ended when Burke ran it in from three yards out with just under three minutes to play.

Mees punched in a score with a one-yard run with just 10 seconds left on the clock.

Mount Union's defense held Heidelberg to 295 total yards -- the Berg was averaging 506.1 yards per game heading into the contest.

All-American seniors Nick Driskill (Wabash, Ind./Southwood) and Charles Dieuseul (Winter Haven, Fla./Lake Region) along with sophomore Ted Rosalva (Boynton Beach, Fla./American Heritage) each had nine stops to lead the defense.

Mount Union goes on the road for its final two regular season games starting next week at No. 18-ranked Baldwin Wallace at 1:30 pm in Berea.

A Mount Union win will clinch at least a share of its 21st consecutive conference title.

                               Box Score (Final)
       #14 Heidelberg vs #1 Mount Union (Oct 27, 2012 at Alliance, Ohio)

  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score
  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----
  Heidelberg..........  7  0  0  7  - 14       Record: (7-1,6-1)
  Mount Union.........  0 12 14  7  - 33       Record: (8-0,7-0)

  Scoring Summary:
  1st 11:23 HEID - C.J. Powell 11 yd pass from Michael Mees (Dan Kilger kick), 11-75 3:37, HEID 7 - MTU 0
  2nd 11:27 MTU - Shannon Stewart 37 yd pass from Kevin Burke (Tyler Almeida kick failed), 5-55 1:54, HEID 7 - MTU 6
      05:18 MTU - Julius Moore 38 yd pass from Kevin Burke (T.j. Lattimore rush failed), 2-41 0:39, HEID 7 - MTU 12
  3rd 08:49 MTU - Chris Denton 29 yd pass from Kevin Burke (Tyler Almeida kick), 4-30 2:03, HEID 7 - MTU 19
      02:48 MTU - Blair Skilliter 22 yd run (Tyler Almeida kick), 8-72 3:38, HEID 7 - MTU 26
  4th 02:46 MTU - Kevin Burke 3 yd run (Tyler Almeida kick), 15-80 9:30, HEID 7 - MTU 33
      00:10 HEID - Michael Mees 1 yd run (Dan Kilger kick), 11-75 2:36, HEID 14 - MTU 33

                                     HEID      MTU
  FIRST DOWNS...................       19       24
  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   35-122   53-277
  PASSING YDS (NET).............      173      216
  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  38-17-2  17-13-1
  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   73-295   70-493
  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0
  Punt Returns-Yards............     1-10      3-6
  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     4-82      0-0
  Interception Returns-Yards....      1-0      2-0
  Punts (Number-Avg)............   6-36.5   4-47.2
  Fumbles-Lost..................      0-0      2-0
  Penalties-Yards...............     2-13     6-74
  Possession Time...............    27:38    32:22
  Third-Down Conversions........  9 of 18  4 of 11
  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 2   2 of 3
  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      2-3      1-3
  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     3-10      0-0

  RUSHING: Heidelberg-Cartel Brooks 14-70; Bryan Lacey 9-36; Michael Mees 4-15;
  Dontez Smith 7-1; Team 1-0. Mount Union-Blair Skilliter 19-97; T.j. Lattimore
  15-95; Kevin Burke 16-67; Jake Simon 2-18; TEAM 1-0.

  PASSING: Heidelberg-Michael Mees 17-38-2-173. Mount Union-Kevin Burke
  13-17-1-216.

  RECEIVING: Heidelberg-Mario Escalante 4-43; C.J. Powell 4-31; Bryan Lacey 3-35;
  Donteea Dye 2-30; Robert Gray 2-26; Dontez Smith 1-5; Derek Hug 1-3. Mount
  Union-Jasper Collins 5-81; Shannon Stewart 3-41; Julius Moore 2-45; Chris Denton
  2-42; T.j. Lattimore 1-7.
 
  TACKLES (UA-A): Heidelberg-Dawson Gore 5-4; Craig Sykes 6-1; Ben Poirier 6-1;
  Justin Suddeth 4-3; Andy Lovins 2-5; Chadd Williamson 5-1; Stephen Fejedelem
  3-2; Chase Bauer 2-3; William Nunnally 4-0; Adam Cepik 2-2; Ryan Malloy 3-0; Tim
  Littles 2-0; Mitchell Kelly 0-2; Mike Bodyke 1-0; Austin Bentz 1-0; Troy
  Delamatre 1-0; Larry Massey 1-0; Andy Kujawa 0-1; Shane Byrne 0-1. Mount
  Union-Ted Rosalva 5-4; Charles Dieuseul 4-5; Nick Driskill 4-5; Isaiah Chambers
  5-1; Matt Fechko 4-1; Frank Orteca 2-2; Shawn Riley 1-3; Joshua Scott 2-1; Alex
  Nicholls 2-1; Isaiah Scott 0-3; Colton Bridges 2-0; Blair Skilliter 1-1; Hank
  Spencer 0-2; Jack Laforce 1-0; Tom Lally 1-0; Nyejel Thomas 1-0; Dan Allen 0-1.