#4 Mount Union vs Capital
Saturday, October 16 at 1:30 p.m. 
Mount Union Stadium - Alliance, Ohio

TV: 
WIVM-TV 39.1 Canton (Harry Paidas and Jeff Shreve)
Replay Times - Sat. Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. and Sun. Oct. 17 at 1 p.m.

Video: 
http://oac.boxcast.com

Radio: 
WRMU 91.1 FM (Ben Johnson-Bowers, Riley Sullivan and Jacob Buttar)
WDPN 1310 AM (Sam Bourquin and Ryan Keller)

Mount Union Game Notes
Capital Game Notes

The Matchup: No. 4 ranked Mount Union hosts Capital in the annual M-Club Hall of Fame game Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1:30 p.m. at Mount Union Stadium.
  
The Purple Raiders (5-0, 4-0 OAC) led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter and 35-0 at halftime as Mount Union rolled up 580 yards of offense while the defense allowed just 158 yards and posted its second straight shutout.

Mount Union quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.) threw for five touchdowns on 18-of-24 passing for 302 yards and ran for a score. His top target was Wayne Ruby (Miami, Fla. / Flanagan) who caught three of those touchdowns as he had a season-high 147 yards on seven catches. 

Josh Petruccelli (Perry) ran for 62 yards, DeAndre Parker (Crystal River, Fla.) rushed for a score while Clay Harvey (Creston / Norwayne) came off the bench and had 99 yards rushing in the second half.

Mason McMillen (Wadsworth) had 8.0 tackles and 2.0 for loss while Luke Lukowski (Auburn, N.Y.) and Jalen Griffin (Chicago, Ill. / Simeon) each had a sack to lead the defense.

Capital (1-4, 0-4 OAC) trailed 21-7 heading into the fourth quarter before John Carroll exploded for 17 points to go on for a 38-7 win.

The Comets were out-gained 551-180 as Ben Everson was 8-of-17 passing for 111 yards with a TD and an interception.

Nick Fisanick had nine tackles and an interception to lead the Capital defense.

The Series: This is the 55th meeting between the teams with Mount Union holding a 42-12 lead in a series that dates back to a 17-0 Raider win in 1958. Mount Union has won 34-straight meetings with Capital's last win coming in its OAC title season of 1987, 26-25, in Columbus. The teams, who did not meet during the 2020-21 season, last played on Oct. 19, 2019 where Mount Union scored a 66-0 in in Alliance.

Up Next: Mount Union is back on the road to take on Heidelberg Saturday, Oct. 23 at 1:30 p.m. in Tiffin.

Three is a Charm: Mount Union has three team captains this season in senior linebacker Kordell Ford (Massillon / Massillon Washington), senior wide receiver Derrick Harvey, Jr. (Akron/ Buchtel) and junior quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.).

On the Air: 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 605-781-3283.

This week's game will be broadcast live online at oac.boxcast.com and on Smart TV apps Amazon Fire, Apple and Roku. 

The game will be replayed on WIVM-TV Ch. 39.1 in Canton on Sat., Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m.

Around the OAC: A full slate of conference games headlined by Ohio Northern playing at John Carroll at 2 p.m. and Otterbein and Heidelberg meeting for the Rhine River Cup Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Westerville.

Scouting the Comets: Capital has picked a new nickname and it is Comets. The Ohio Athletic Conference's other "purple" school has previously been known as Fighting Lutherans and Crusaders.

Capital is 10th in the OAC in total offense averaging 250.0 yards per game and eighth in total defense allowing 422 yards per game.

On offense, four different quarterbacks have seen time under center with sophomore Ben Everson having most of the work last week. Everson, Luke McCarrell and Trevor Harrison-Rawn have each thrown two TD passes this season. 

Freshman Drew Engle is the top running back averaging 4.3 yards per carry with a TD while senior receivers in Kameron Lee and Michael Smith each have two touchdown catches.

On defense, junior linebacker Nick Fisanick is second in the OAC tackles with a team-best 42 stops. Junior linebacker Mike Lauofois fifth in the conference in tackles and has a sack and an interception. Senior defensive lineman Jack Blaisdell is second in the OAC with 11.5 tackles for loss.

Pitching Shutouts: Mount Union posted its second-straight shutout last week with a 63-0 win at Wilmington. The Raiders have not allowed a point in the last 127:33 of game action dating back to the John Carroll game. Mount Union is No. 1 in NCAA Division III in scoring defense allowing just 5.6 points per game. 

Passing Fancy: Mount Union quarterback Braxton Plunk threw for 302 yards at Wilmington last week which means he has thrown for over 300 yards in nine straight games which is all of his career starts. Plunk also tossed five touchdowns which gives him 49 for his career and with one more be the 10th Raider quarterback to throw at least 50 career touchdown passes.

Twice as Nice: Mount Union's M-Club will honor both the 2020 and 2021 hall of fame classes and special award winners. Make sure to read about all of them in the 2021 release - https://athletics.mountunion.edu/news/2021/8/20/general-mount-union-announces-2021-m-club-hall-of-fame-class-special-award-winnersaspx.aspx and 2020 release - https://athletics.mountunion.edu/news/2020/11/19/11_19_2020_1518.aspx

Top Target: Mount Union receiver Wayne Ruby (Miami, Fla. / Flanagan) had a season-high 147 yards and three TD's receiving last week at Wilmington. It was his third 100-yard receiving performance and first multi-TD game of the season. In 21 career games, Ruby has 1,802 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns.