2014 Mount Union Football
#3/3 University of Mount Union Purple Raiders (2-0, 1-0 OAC) vs Marietta College Pioneers (1-1, 0-1 OAC)
Saturday, September 27 - 7 pm - Mount Union Stadium (Alliance, Ohio)
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THE GAME
No. 3 ranked Mount Union hosts Ohio Athletic Conference foe Marietta in the home opener Saturday, Sept. 27 at 7 pm at Mount Union Stadium in Alliance.
Mount Union scored three touchdowns on its first 16 plays from scrimmage to run out to a 21-0 lead on its way to a 62-6 win at Muskingum last week. The defense got interceptions on the Muskies first two possessions to set up short fields for the offense. Senior quarterback Kevin Burke (Westlake/Lakewood St. Edward) played in just the first half and completed 17-of-21 passes for 272 yards with four touchdown passes. Muskingum managed just 128 yards of total offense against the Raider defense.
Marietta forced four Otterbein turnovers and had four trips inside the Cardinals' 35-yard line but failed to score in a 20-0 loss last Saturday in Westerville. Quarterback Lucas Havens was 17-of-30 for 143 yards but had two interceptions for Marietta.
THE SERIES
This is the 53rd meeting between the teams with Mount Union holding a 43-8-1 lead in the series dating back to a 20-0 Mount Union win on September 23, 1933 in Alliance. The teams have met every year since 1981 and Mount Union has won all 33 of those meetings. The last Pioneer win was a 20-6 decision in 1977 in Marietta.
THE COACHES
Vince Kehres (Mount Union '98) is 16-1 (.941) in his second season as head coach. He went 14-1 in his first season in 2013 to set an NCAA record for most wins (14) by a first year college football coach. He earned OAC Coach of the Year and Lee Tressel Ohio College Football Coach of Year awards. Kehres spent 13 years, eight as defensive coordinator, on the Raiders coaching staff for his father Larry Kehres. As either a player of coach, Vince Kehres has been part of 10 of Mount Union's 11 national championships.
Andy Waddle (Wittenberg '03) is 2-10 (.167) in his second season as head coach at Marietta. Waddle spent the last eight years as an assistant at Wittenberg being the defensive coordinator for seven of those seasons. He also had assistant coaching stints at Mansfield (Pa.) and Maryville (Tenn.).
STORYLINES
Mount Union Stadium is celebrating its 100th birthday this week. The Raiders began playing on the field in 1913 but the stadium was not dedicated until 1914. Mount Union Stadium is the oldest college football stadium in Ohio.
Quarterback Kevin Burke became just the fourth player in Mount Union history with over 10,000 career yards of total offense as he had 280 last week (272 passing, 8 rushing) at Muskingum to give him 10,236 yards. The other three -- Bill Borchert 15,308 (1994-97), Jim Ballard 10,907 (1991-93) and Gary Smeck 10,884 (1997-2000).
Sophomore running back Bradley Mitchell had a rushing touchdown last week to extend his streak of games with a rushing TD to nine.
Mount Union has out-scored its first two opponents 83-0 in the first half this season while the 120 total points after two games is the most since 133 in 2007 (75 - Averett, 58 - Otterbein).
BE THE MATCH EVENT FRIDAY
The University of Mount Union football program will host a Be The Match event Friday, September 26 from 10:30 am - 2 pm at the Hoover Price Campus Center.
For people with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma or other diseases, a cure exists. Be The Match connects patients with their donor match.
The Be The Match college campaign is intended to educate people in this key age range about their importance to patients searching for a match.
On the day of the event, Mount Union football players will be educating students on what it means to be a bone marrow donor. They will ask students if they would like to join the Be The Match Registry and assist walking interested students through their paperwork and cheek swabs. The entire process takes about 10 minutes from beginning to end.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
This week marks the last of three-straight road games to open the season for Marietta and the Pioneers scored a 29-11 win at Kenyon before being shutout 20-0 at Otterbein.
Six starters are back from a year on an offense that is currently eighth in the OAC at 340.5 yards per game. Junior quarterback Lucas Havens has completed 50-percent of his passes (23-of-46) for 291 yards with a TD and two interceptions. His top target has been senior wide receiver Tannon Roberts (8 rec., 129yds, 1 TD) while freshmen Nick O'Neal and Masai McDaniel have been a 1-2 punch running the football. O'Neal has averaged 5.7 yards per carry on 21 touches while McDaniel has 104 yards.
On defense, the Pioneers return four starters and after two games are third in the conference in yards allowed (266.0 yards per game). Junior linebacker Daryl DeWindt leads the team in tackles with 18 while junior linebacker Nick Thompson has 3.0 sacks to lead the group.
KEVIN BURKE AKA "PAUL BUNYAN" PLAYING BIG
Nicknamed "Paul Bunyan" by ESPN's QB guru George Whitfield -- Mount Union senior quarterback Kevin Burke (Westlake/Lakewood St. Edward) tossed four touchdown passes as he was 17-of-21 for 272 yards passing in the first half in last Saturday's 62-6 win at Muskingum.
Burke, an All-American and reigning Gagliardi Trophy winner, is the nation's highest rated passer in all divisions of college football this season with a passerrating of 219.04. He has completed 72.7-percent of his passes (40-of-55) for 683 yards and seven TD's.
PUTTING THE SPECIAL IN SPECIAL TEAMS
After a school record 189 punt return yards in the opener, Mount Union had over 100 yards of punt return yardage as the Raiders had 122 yards on six returns with a punt return touchdown at Muskingum. Freshman Braeden Friss (Avon/Avon) had a 45-yard punt return for a score as Mount Union is averaging 22.2 yards per punt return which is 10th best in NCAA Division III.
It was also a good day for senior punter/placekicker Edward Ruhnke (Bayville, N.J./Central Regional) who in his one punt on the day booted a season-best 43-yard punt. Ruhnke also converted a 29-yard field goal to go 4-for-4 on the season while making six extra points to be 13-for-13 in that catagory on the season.
The Raiders also blocked an extra point as sophomore Alex Hubbell (Poland/Poland Seminary) earned his first blocked kick of his career.
THREE OF A KIND
Mount Union had three running backs with at least 70 yards at Muskingum. Sophomore running back Bradley Mitchell (Detroit, Mich./South Lake) now has a rushing TD in nine straight games dating back to last season as he has 73 yards on nine carries. Junior Brandon Williams (Oakland, Calif./Livermore) had 70 yards on five carries including the long run from scrimmage for the team this year with a 48-yard run for a TD while freshman Jamal Johnson (New Philadelphia/New Philadelphia) had 70 yards and nine carries wiht a TD in his first-ever college game.
TURNING IT OVER
Mount Union's defense got things going early with two interceptions in Muskingum's first six plays on offense. Junior safety Will Hiteshue (Medina/Medina) snared an interception on the Muskies' first possesion while on the ensuing Muskingum possession Hank Spencer (Greencastle, Ind./North Putnam) got an interception. It jump started a day for the Raider defense that held Muskingum to 128 total yards with 9.0 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery. Junior safety Alex Kocheff (Chagrin Falls/Kenston) had five solo tackles to lead the unit.
"ROMAN" THE SECONDARY
Junior wide receiver Roman Namdar (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) had a team-best 76 yards receiving on three catches with a touchdown at Muskingum last week. On the season, Namdar leads the Raiders with 11 catches for 238 yards with two touchdowns. It is the first two games at receiver for Namdar, who did not play in 2012 and was a backup quarterback in 2011.
UP NEXT ... ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Mount Union will go back on the road for two more weekends -- playing next Saturday -- Oct. 4 at Capital University in Columbus. Kickoff will be at 12:30 pm from Bernlohr Stadium in Bexley to accomodate the Mount Union-Capital women's soccer game which will start at 4 pm. The Raiders then play Oct. 11 at Ohio Northern University with a 1:30 pm kickoff in Ada before returning home for homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1:30 pm against Heidelberg.
