By Tim Glon
Junior Will Freed (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos) threw for 289 yards and three touchdowns to junior Chad Rex (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch) to lead the Ohio Northern football team in a 40-21 loss to Heidelberg on Saturday afternoon at Dial-Roberson Stadium.
The Polar Bears fall to 1-1 overall and are 0-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while the Student Princes improve to 2-0, 1-0.
Freed hit Rex on TD passes of 2, 55 and 3 yards, but the Heidelberg offense picked up 655 yards of total offense to spoil Northern's home-opener.
Rex finished the day with six receptions for a career-high 144 yards.
Defensively for ONU, sophomore Greg Dennis (Mount Vernon) had a career-high 10 tackles and freshman Andrew Valenti (Famersville/Valley View) had a career-high nine tackles and a blocked PAT in his first career start.
Heidelberg scored on two of its first four possessions to take a 13-0 lead. Rex then made a spectacular catch on a 2-yard TD pass from Freed to pull ONU within 13-7 at halftime.
The Student Princes drove 91 yards in 11 plays on its first possession of the second half to take a 20-7 lead.
The Polar Bears appeared to stall on their ensuing possession, but junior punter Sean Devany (Cuyahoga Falls/Saint Vincent-Saint Mary) ran for 11 yards on a fake punt to give ONU a first down and keep the drive alive.
Freed hit Rex on the next play over the top for a 55-yard score and it was 20-14 with 6:43 left in the third quarter.
HU responded on its next play from scrimmage as Cameron Vocke broke three tackles and raced 91 yards for a touchdown and a 26-14 lead.
Northern answered again, this time on a 12-play, 62-yard touchdown drive. Freed to Rex for 3 yards accounted for the score and brought ONU within 26-21 with 45 seconds left in the third.
The Student princes then drove 61 yards in eight plays and scored on a 34-yard pass from Tyler Stoyle to Keivon Belcher and it was 33-21 with 12:35 left in the game.
ONU drove to the HU 40-yard line on its next possession, but was forced to punt on a 4th and 11 with 9:02 to go in the game.
Heidelberg then put the game away with a 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive, capping the scoring with a 6-yard run with 53 seconds left to play.
ONU sophomore Christiaan Williams (Anna) carried 21 times for 73 yards, marking the first time in his 11-game career that he was held under 100 yards rushing. He did catch five passes for 44 yards, giving him 117 all-purpose yards and marking the 11th consecutive game he surpassed the 100-yard all-purpose yardage mark.
Heidelberg out-gained Ohio Northern 655-372 in total offense, but ONU won the time of possession battle 31:17 to 28:43.
Vocke carried 17 times for 179 yards and two scores and Stoyle completed 22-of-33 passes for 365 yards and a score for HU.
The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday when they entertain Otterbein at 1:30 pm at Dial-Roberson as part of Homecoming Weekend at ONU.
