Football: #2 Mount
Union Dominates #13 John Carroll
for 34th OAC Title
11/4/2023
| Football | Box Score
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio - The No. 2 nationally ranked Mount
Union football team won convincingly, 49-14, at No. 13 John Carroll to claim
the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Championship for the 34th time in program
history.
The win clinches the league's automatic bid to the NCAA
Playoffs and will play in the NCAA Tournament for the 33rd time.
The 35-point win was the Purple Raiders' largest margin of
victory over the Blue Streaks since 2012 (W, 59-17). Mount extends its winning
streak over John Carroll to seven games.
Junior Tyler Echeverry (Naples,
Fla./Barron Collier) scored the first points of the game off a
1-yard touchdown, capping off a 10-play, 78-yard drive. After John Carroll
(7-2, 7-1 OAC) tied it at 7 with a rush by Evan McVay, senior Braxton Plunk
(Plant City, Fla./Plant City) ran it in from two yards out, capping off another
10-plus play drive, this time 11 plays and 75 yards. The score was Plunk's
third rushing touchdown this season.
In the second quarter, Plunk
connected with sophomore Nick Turner (Strongsville,
Ohio/Strongsville)
for a 13-yard touchdown pass, Turner's second receiving touchdown in the past three
games. The score was setup by a 52-yard punt return by senior Wayne Ruby
(Pines, Fla./Charles W. Flanagan), a career long on
his second career punt return. On the Blue Streaks' ensuing drive, senior Ian
Sexton (Dover, Ohio/Dover) picked off Joe Collins' pass and returned the
one-handed pick 19 yards for a touchdown, the first pick-six of his career.
Just like that, Mount led 28-7 with 4:53
left in the second quarter.
Near the end of the first half, the Blue Streaks were
threatening first and goal, however the Mount Union's defense showed why it is
one of the top defenses in the nation forcing a turnover on downs and John
Carroll's first 4th down fail on the season. The Blue Streaks entered the game
6 for 6 on fourth downs, leading NCAA Division III in fourth-down percentage,
and the Raider defense stopped them twice on fourth down.
After the Blue Streaks scored on a touchdown pass from
Collins, the Purple Raiders scored the last three touchdowns for the
exclamation point. Ruby scored on a 60-yard catch, graduate student DeAndre
Parker (Crystal River,
Fla./Crystal River) scored from five yards out on his
return from injury, and junior Ryan Eiden (Shavertown, Pa./Lake-Lehman) ran it
in from three yards out.
Parker led on the ground with 90 yards and a touchdown. Ruby
finished with 10 catches for 137 yards and a touchdown, his third-straight
100-yard receiving game and 25th of his illustrious career. Echeverry added 50
rushing yards with a score.
Senior John Roland (Livonia,
Mich./Northville) led the Raider defense with a career-high nine
tackles. Junior Rossy Moore (Lima, Ohio/Lima Central Catholic) had eight
tackles and a team-high two tackles for loss, extending his career total to
42.0 TFLs - just outside the Top-10 in the school's record books. Senior Duke
Hill (Memphis, Tenn./Germantown)
registered a team-high 1.5 sacks, followed by junior Von Factor (Fair Haven,
N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven) with a sack and sophomore Kaleb Brown (La
Plata, Md./La
Plata) with a half sack. Senior Josh Jones (Twinsburg,
Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) also had an
interception, now with five picks on the season - tying for the most in the
OAC. Jones' career interception total is 13, one shy of tying ninth-most in
program history.
The Purple Raiders close out the regular season Saturday,
Nov. 11 at home against Baldwin Wallace. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Kehres Stadium.