University of Mount Union Football
#1 Mount Union Purple Raiders (7-0, 6-0 OAC) vs Otterbein Cardinals (4-3, 4-2 OAC)
Oct. 29, 2016 - 1:30 PM - Memoral Stadium - Westerville, Ohio
Radio: WDPN 1310 AM (Alliance), WRMU 91.1 FM (Alliance)
The matchup: Mount Union makes its way to Central Ohio to play Otterbein in an Ohio Athletic Conference game Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Westerville.
Mount Union scored a season-high 71 points in a 71-7 win over Wilmington in an OAC game last week.
Freshmen quarterback Dom Davis (Akron/St. Vincent-St. Mary) completed 9-of-13 passes for 204 yards and three touchdowns to lead an offense that out-gained Wilmington (0-7, 0-6 OAC) 169-48 in the first half as the Raiders ran out to a 37-7 halftime lead.
Mount Union running back Jawanza Evans-Morris (Coral Springs, Fla./Taravella) rushed for over 100 yards for the first time in his career as he had 102 yards on 10 carries with a pair of scores and Braeden Friss (Avon/Avon) had three catches for 66 yards and a score.
On defense, Mount Union held the Quakers to 91 total yards.
Safety Austin White (Wadsworth/Wadsworth) had nine stops while Danny Robinson (Massillon/Massillon Washington) and Richard Morris (Coconut Creek, Fla./Coconut Creek) each returned interceptions for touchdowns.
Otterbein rallied to beat Baldwin Wallace, 33-30 to win its third game in a row.
Quarterback Logan Stepp threw for 229 yards and two TDs while rushing for 117 yards to lead the Cardinals, who trailed 23-10 at halftime.
Julian Lowe caught seven passes for 92 yards with a score and Kyle Blust had 10 tackles -- 4.0 for loss as the other top performers for Otterbein.
The series: This is the 49th meeting between the teams with Mount Union holding a 44-4 lead in the series dating back to a 12-7 Otterbein win on October 16, 1937 in Alliance. The Raiders have won 38 straight meetings going back to a 24-17 Otterbein win in 1977 in Alliance. In its last trip to Westerville, Mount Union beat the Cardinals 66-7 in 2014 and a year ago the Raiders won 55-0 at home.
Staying Regular: Mount Union's win last week matched its own NCAA record for consecutive regular season wins with 110-straight dating back to 2005. The Raiders won 110-straight regular season games from 1994-2005. Mount Union is 220-1 in its last 221 regular season games.
Running Raiders: Mount Union had a running back rush for over 100 yards for the seventh straight game this season and 13th straight game dating back to last season.
Sophomore Jawanza Evans-Morris had his first career 100 yard performance with 102 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries against Wilmington.
Senior Bradley Mitchell, who had rushed for over 100 yards in the previous six games in 2016, leads the OAC and is 8th in the nation with 1,054 yards this season.
Mount Union is 5th in the nation in rushing offense averaging 305.3 yards per game.
Many Happy Returns: Sophomore linebacker Danny Robinson and freshman defensive back Richard Morris both returned interceptions for touchdowns against Wilmington. For Robinson, it was his third INT return for a score this season and his 216 interception return yards is already the 5th most in school history. Mount Union is 3rd in the nation in defensive TDs this season with 5.
Scouting the Cardinals: Otterbein is 4-3 overall and its three losses are by a combined 10 points. In fact, in road losses at Buffalo State and Capital, the Cardinals lost the lead in both those games in the final two minutes.
Junior quarterback Logan Stepp was the team's second-leading receiver a year ago and now he leads the OAC in total offense at 304.4 yards per game and passer rating (150.2). On the season, he has completed 60-percent of his passes (107-of-180) for 1,498 yards with 12 touchdowns and one interception. He is also the Cardinals leading rusher averaging 90.4 yards per game with eight TDs on the ground.
All-OAC first team wide receiver in junior Julian Lowe is third in the OAC in touchdowns with six but it is fellow junior Hunter Joseph that leads the conference with 94.7 receiving yards per game.
On defense, junior safety Steven Carpenter leads the team with 46 tackles, junior defensive end Kyle Blust is third in the conference with 7.0 sacks while senior Jalen Liggins has a team-best two interceptions.
Double D: Freshman Dom Davis made his second straight start at quarterback last week and completed 9-of-13 passes for 204 yards and three TD's. In two starts, he is 26-for-39 for 548 yards with seven touchdowns. His quarterback rating for the season is 213.73.
Radio and TV: All Mount Union football games will be broadcast on the radio on WDPN 1310 AM and WRMU 91.1 FM and simulcast online along with a LIVE STATS game tracker. You can also hear the WRMU 91.1 FM feed on any phone by calling (330) 445-7900.
Students Noah Hiles (play-by-play), A.J. Gioglio (color) and Joe Mertens (sideline) make up the WRMU 91.1 FM crew.
Longtime area sports broadcaster Sam Bourquin and former Ohio State football player T.J. Downing will call the action on WDPN 1310AM.
On the television side, Mount Union will have two home games -- Oct. 8 vs. Heidelberg and Nov. 12 vs. John Carroll shown on television via tape delay on regional sports cable channel SportsTime Ohio and WIVM TV39 (Stark County), WIVN TV29 (New Philadelphia), Time Warner Cable (ch. 989-Stark County, ch. 99-Tuscarawas County), Massillion Cable (ch. 21) and Clear Picture Cable (ch. 21-Wayne County). Image Video produces the broadcasts while Jim Clark will do play-by-play and Harry Paidas on color. Clark, the longtime voice of the Akron Rubberducks, takes over for retired hall of famer Joe Tait while Paidas begins his 31st year on the telecast.
Up Next: Mount Union plays next Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1 p.m. at Muskingum before finishing the regular season at home Nov. 12 against John Carroll.
