Football: Mount Union Takes Care of Business at Heidelberg

10/7/2023 | Football | Box Score

TIFFIN, Ohio - The No. 2-ranked Mount Union football team won, 41-3, at Heidelberg to remain undefeated at 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) on Saturday.

Mount Union scored a touchdown on three of its first four drives. Senior Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla./Plant City) capped off the Purple Raiders' opening drive with a 14-yard touchdown run - his 10th career rushing touchdown. Senior cornerback Josh Jones (Twinsburg, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) picked off his team-high third pass of the season, setting up Mount's second touchdown, this time Plunk connecting with graduate student running back DeAndre Parker (Crystal River, Fla./Crystal River) for 14 yards. Jones now has 11 career interceptions, three away from tying ninth all-time in program history. Junior Tyler Echeverry (Naples, Fla./Barron Collier) added a 1-yard touchdown run and the Raiders led 20-0 after one quarter of play. Heidelberg's Branden Steckel made a 48-yard field goal late in the second quarter and Mount had a 20-3 halftime lead.

The Raiders scored three more times in the second half, all rushes by three different runners; Parker from 27 yards, junior Darnell Williams (Cleveland, Ohio/John Adams) from 58 yards, and Echeverry from three yards.

Mount's defense continued its dominance with another seven-sack performance. Junior Rossy Moore (Lima, Ohio/Lima Central Catholic) led the sack attack with two, now with 21 career sacks - tying 10th-most in school history. Also earning a sack for the Raiders were senior Duke Hill (Memphis, Tenn./Germantown), junior Marcus Jackson (Dallas, Tex./Richardson), sophomore Kaleb Brown (La Plata, Md./La Plata), junior Dozie Okpala (Loganville, Ga./Loganville), and junior Von Factor (Fair Haven, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven). In total, Moore had a game-high 5.0 tackles for a loss. The Purple Raider defense continued its streak of not allowing a red zone score this season

Mount outgained Heidelberg, 438-106, in total yards including 270-7 on the ground. Parker led with 91 yards rushing and 52 yards receiving.

The Student Princes fell to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in the league.

The Purple Raiders are back home Saturday, Oct. 14 against Capital. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.