John Carroll at Mount Union
Mount Union hosts John Caroll in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup Friday, March 19 at 7 p.m. at Mount Union Stadium.
The Purple Raiders opened the spring season with a 51-15 win against Muskingum at Zanesville High School. The offense was led by sophomore quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.) threw for 314 yards and six touchdowns in his first collegiate start, senior Jaden Manley (Columbus / Bishop Hartley) caught three of those touchdowns and junior Wayne Ruby (Miami, Fla. / Flanagan) had 110 yards receiving with two touchdowns while running backs in senior Josh Petruccelli (Perry) and junior KJ Redmon (Fairborn) both ran for over 100 yards with 108 and 103 respectively. On defense, junior Carson Kovath (Brighton, Mich. / Catholic Central) had nine stops, senior Malik Britt (Bossier City, La. / Airline) had an interception, sophomore Mason McMillen (Wadsworth) had 1.5 sacks and junior Eli Beers (Canal Fulton / Northwest) blocked a pair of extra points.
John Carroll beat cross-town rival Baldwin Wallace, 28-17, in its opener at home last week. Senior quarterback Jake Floriea completed 17-of-21 passes for 134 yards with a touchdown and sophomore running back Matthew Buser ran for 76 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries and caught a touchdown pass. The defense held BW to 303 total yards as Ross Valenti had 2.0 tackles for loss with a sack and a fumble recovery, Kyle Ulshafer forced a fumble and Tyshawn Jones had an inteception. Josh McLean was named OAC Special Teams Player of the Week as he had a scoop-and-score touchdown off of a blocked field goal midway through the third quarter.
Spring Ball: The traditional fall football season scheduled for 2020 was delayed until March and in its place is a five-game sprint to an OAC title with no NCAA playoffs.
The OAC has split the 10-team conference into two divisions – Mount Union in the East with Baldwin Wallace, John Carroll, Marietta, and Muskingum along with the West of Capital, Heidelberg, Ohio Northern, Otterbein and Wilmington. Each team play a game against each team in their division over the first four games then the fifth game will be a cross-over based on standings with the top two teams in each division playing for the conference title.
Mount Union is the defending conference champion and the Purple Raiders have won a record 30 conference titles all of them coming over the last 35 seasons.
The Series: This is the 40th meeting between the teams with Mount Union holding a 34-3-2 lead in a series that dates back to a 48-0 Raider win in 1920. Mount Union has won the last three meetings including last year in University Heights where the Raiders bulit a 30-0 lead and won 37-14.
Team Captains: Mount Union's football team has named three team captains for 2020-21 -- senior linebacker Kordell Ford (Massillon / Massillon Washington), senior wide receiver Derrick Harvey, Jr. (Akron / Buchtel) and sophomore quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.).
Ford is a three-time letterwinner, who in 2019 started all 12 games and had 53 tackles with 8.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, a fumble recovery, and an interception. He earned AP All-American first team honors, was the Ohio Athletic Conference Lee Tressel Award as the conference's top defensive back and an All-OAC first team selection. Harvey was an All-OAC second team selection in 2019 with 34 catches for 691 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has played two seasons with the Purple Raiders after two at Savannah State (Ga.). Plunk was the backup quarterback as a freshman in 2019 and completed 71-percent of his passes (59-for-83) for 961 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was 13-for-17 for 221 yards with a touchdown against Muskingum and threw three touchdowns at Marietta.
On the Air: Every Mount Union game will be broadcast on live video online for FREE on oac.boxcast.com and on the radio on WRMU 91.1 FM and WDPN 1310 AM.
This week's home game will also be broadcast on television via tape delay on WIVM-TV in Canton (Ch. 39, Ch. 989 on Spectrum) with Harry Paidas and Carmen Angelo on the call from the Joe Tait broadcast booth. Tait, a hall of fame broadcast who called the Cleveland Cavaliers for 39 years, Cleveland Indians for 17 years and 30 years of Mount Union football from 1985-2015. Tait passed away last week at age 83 and will be honored on the broadcast at halftime.
Opening Act: Sophomore quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.) threw for 314 yards and six touchdowns in his first collegiate start last week at Muskingum. It was the most yards and touchdown passes in a Raider quarterback's first start since Neal Seaman threw for 328 yards and five TD's in a 45-28 win at UW-Oshkosh on September 11, 2010.
Dynamic Duo: Senior Josh Petruccelli (Perry) and junior KJ Redmon (Fairborn) both rushed over 100 yards at Muskingum last week. It was the first time that two Mount Union running backs did that in a game since 2017 when Petruccelli and Jawanza Evans-Morris ran for 102 and 127 respectively against Baldwin Wallace.
Scouting the Blue Streaks: Rick Finotti (25-7 record) enters his fourth season as John Carroll head coach with 16 returning starters from a team that went 9-1 in 2019. Nine starters are back on offense for John Carroll being led by quarterback Jake Floriea and All-OAC linemen in Blake Herideen and Will McGennis. Devin Limerick and Keyshawn Colmon are top two receiving targets while Matthew Buser and Demerius Goodwin are in the backfield. On defense, seven starters return including all-conference players in defensive backs Nate Leopold and Tyshawn Jones and defensive lineman Harrison Richardson.
Up Next: Mount Union is off next week before hosting Marietta on Friday, April 2 at 7 p.m. at Mount Union Stadium.
OAC Spectator Policy
- There is no public ticket sales or passes for the game as OAC has a spectator policy for a select group to attend each event.
- At each event, two people per eligible participant will be granted access into a facility for an event. The number of eligible participants will vary by sport and location and will be communicated to the student-athletes for both teams
- These admissions may not exceed 30 percent of spectator area capacity.
- Attendees at events will be required to wear masks and abide by social distancing guidelines.
