ZANESVILLE – Mount Union's football team won its 33rd straight season opener with a 51-15 win over Muskingum in an Ohio Athletic Conference game Friday night at Sulsberger Stadium in Zanesville.

The win was first for head coach Geoff Dartt as the Purple Raiders out-gained the Muskies 580-277.

Mount Union quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.) threw for six touchdowns, five in the first half and finished the game 20-of-26 for 314 yards. Three of his touchdowns went to Jaden Manley (Columbus / Bishop Hartley), two to Wayne Ruby (Miami, Fla. / Flanagan) and one to Jared Perez (Canton / Canton South). Ruby finished with five catches for 110 yards.

The Raiders also got 108 yards rushing from Josh Petruccelli (Perry), 103 yards rushing from KJ Redmon (Fairborn), while DeAndre Parker (Crystal River, Fla.) ran in a touchdown.

Linebacker Carson Kovath (Brighton, Mich. / Catholic Central) had nine stops, Malik Britt (Bossier City, La. / Airline) had an interception and Mason McMillen (Wadsworth) had 1.5 sacks to pace the defense.

Jordan Garrett was 20-of-33 passing for 229 yards with two touchdowns to lead Muskingum.

The Muskies went three-and-out on the game's first possession, then Mount Union turned it over on downs. After another stop, Mount Union scored on one-play as Plunk threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Ruby for the Raiders to lead 7-0 with just over five minutes to go in the first quarter.

Muskingum spent the last four minutes of the first quarter and first two minutes of the second quarter driving to the Mount Union seven-yard line before turning it over on downs on a stop by Eli Beers (Canal Fulton / Northwest) and Kaleb Detellem (Batavia).

Five plays later, Plunk threw his second TD pass of the day, this time 45 yards to Manley and it was 14-0 with 11:26 left in the second quarter. The Muskies went three-and-out and a bad snap on the punt gave the Raiders the ball on the Muskingum 13-yard line and on the very next play Plunk found Ruby for a second time and it was 21-0 Mount Union.

Muskingum then drove 77 yards and Garrett completed a pass to Gannon Unger for 10 yards, the extra point was no good, and the Muskies closed the gap to 21-6 with 5:45 left before halftime.

Plunk threw touchdowns No. 4 and No. 5 before halftime with throws of 25 yards to Manley and six yards to Perez and the Raiders led 35-6 at the break.

The second half started with a 50-yard kickoff return from Redmon then three plays later Parker ran in a 12-yard touchdown and Mount Union led 42-6.

Garrett threw his second scoring pass of the game, this time to Travis Roberson, and again the extra point was no good and it was 42-12 with 10:29 left in the third quarter. The Muskies forced a fumble to get the ball back, but the Raiders held and forced a turnover on downs. Plunk threw his sixth touchdown pass, third to Manley and Mount Union took the lead to 49-12 with 2:57 left in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter featured a 29-yard Muskingum field goal by Gavin Costello and a bad punt snap by the Muskies gave the Raiders a safety for the 51-15 final.

The Raiders return home to host John Carroll in an OAC game next Friday at 7 p.m. at Mount Union Stadium.