By Tim Glon
Senior Patrick Angle threw for a career-high 398 yards and four touchdowns to lead Ohio Northern to a 38-24 football victory at Capital Saturday afternoon at Bernlohr Stadium.
The Polar Bears improve to 3-3 overall and are 2-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Crusaders fall to 2-4, 1-4.
Angle accounted for five scores overall, as he completed 24-of-31 passes for 398 yards and ran eight times for 34 yards and another score.
Junior Devon Price and sophomore Reed Allen each had big days receiving. Price caught 11 passes for 170 yards and a TD and Allen caught five passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns.
Junior Justin Magazine led the ONU rushing attack with 67 yards on 16 carries.
"It was important for us to come out and get a win," ONU head coach Dean Paul said. "Losing three in a row can take an emotional toll, but we found a way to win. We did not play well at times and left quite a few points on the board today. This is something we can build on though and hopefully can get us on a roll the rest of the season."
Angle scored on a 5-yard run on ONU's first possession to give the Polar Bears a 7-3 lead.
After a CU score, Angle hit Allen on a 60-yard TD strike and Northern led 14-11 with 6:54 left in the half.
Angle went over the top again on ONU's next possession, connecting with Price on a 61-yard TD pass to increase the lead to 21-11 with 3:33 left in the second quarter.
On the third play of the second half, Angle hit Allen on a 72-yard TD pass to put ONU up 28-11.
Junior Andrew DiMario nailed a 24-yard field goal with 10:10 left to play to extend Northern's lead to 31-18 with 10:10 left in the game.
Capital scored with 7:08 left in the game to pull within 31-24, but senior Darnell Bloom blocked the extra point to preserve Northern's 7-point advantage.
Price returned the ensuing kickoff 54 yards to the CU 43-yard line and Angle found Magazine on an 8-yard TD pass four player later to make it 38-24 with 5:30 left in the game.
Capital marched 65 yards in 12 plays and scored on a 10-yard run with 1:25 left to make it 38-31.
Freshman Terrance Jones recovered the ensuing onside kickoff at the ONU 49-yard line and the Polar Bears would run out the clock and seal the victory.
"We had chances to put Capital away earlier and that is something we need to improve on," Paul said. "But give Capital credit, they ruin the option well and played hard the entire game."
Angle had an opportunity to have had a much bigger passing day but three long touchdown passes were dropped by ONu receivers in the third period alone and the Polar Bears missed a short field goal at the end of the first half.
Despite these miscues, ONU rolled up 532 yards of total offense to 437 for Capital. ONU enjoyed a 398-65 advantage through the air, but CU finished with 372 yards rushing to 134 for ONU.
Brent Walton and Nick Iske led the Crusader offense, rushing for 144 and 115 yards, respectively.
Defensively, sophomore Mike Cunningham had nine tackles to lead the Ohio Northern defense.
The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday at home against Muskingum at 7 pm in the first night game in Dial-Roberson Stadium history and the first night game on campus in ONU history.
