#1 Football Travels to Marietta for Regular Season Finale
Mount Union College Football
#1 Mount Union College Purple Raiders (9-0, 8-0 OAC)
vs. Marietta College Pioneers (2-7, 1-7 OAC)
Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008, 1:30 p.m. – Don Drumm Stadium (7,000) - Marietta, OH
Radio: WDPN 1310 AM (Alliance), WRMU 91.1 FM (Alliance)
THE GAME
No. 1 ranked Mount Union College closes out the regular season Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against Marietta College in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup at Don Drumm Stadium in Marietta, Ohio.
The Purple Raiders won a share of their 20th overall and 17th straight OAC title and the conference’s automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division III Football Championship with a 49-20 when at then No. 12 ranked Otterbein College.
Senior running back Nate Kmic (Delta/Delta) and junior wide receiver Cecil Shorts III (Cleveland/Collinwood) each had three touchdowns and made some history of their own. Kmic became college football’s all-time touchdown leader with 111 total touchdowns and all-time leading scorer with 666 points, while Shorts tied the Mount Union single-season record with 19 receiving touchdowns. As for the game, the Raiders held a 21-13 lead early in the second quarter then tacked on two scores for a 35-13 halftime lead ... then the defense took over holding Otterbein to minus-one yard of offense in the third quarter and just 41 total yards in the second half.
Marietta suffered a heartbreaking 42-40 loss to Heidelberg last Saturday. The Pioneers held a 40-23 lead with just seven minutes left in the game before Heidelberg rallied to score 21 unanswered points to get the win. In just his second career start, freshman quarterback Andrew Keller was a bright spot for Marietta as he completed 17-of-22 passes for 214 yards with one touchdown and also ran eight times for 50 yards and another score.
MOUNT UNION FOOTBALL ON THE RADIO AND ONLINE
All Mount Union football games will be broadcast on the radio on WDPN 1310 AM and WRMU 91.1 FM and simulcast online at www.muc.edu/athletics, while the website will also feature a live statistics game tracker at home games.
MOUNT UNION FOOTBALL PLAYOFF GAMES ON TV
PURPLE RAIDERS PARTNER WITH SPORTSTIME OHIO
Mount Union football games in the NCAA Playoffs will be shown on television via tape delay on cable channel SportsTime Ohio, WIVM TV52 (Stark County), WIVN TV29 (New Philadelphia), Time Warner Cable (ch. 365-Stark County, ch. 99-Tuscarawas County), Massillon Cable (ch. 21) and Clear Picture Cable (ch. 21-Wayne County).
Image Video produces the broadcasts with Joe Tait, who enters his 37th season as the voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers, doing the play-by-play and Harry Paidas will handle the color commentary. Mount Union has a new broadcast agreement with SportsTime Ohio. SportsTime Ohio is a regional cable sports network that reaches more than 4-million homes nationwide on cable and satellite. For complete channel listings for your area go on the Internet to www.sportstimeohio.com.
PLAYOFFS ... TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS
For the fourth year the NCAA Division III Football Championship will consist of a 32-team field with four eight-team regions. For perspective, in Mount Union’s first appearance in the playoffs in 1985, the field was 16 teams. This year’s field breaks down like this: Automatic bids will be given to 23 conference champions, three spots are reserved for teams that are independents or in conference not granted automatic bids and the final six spots are national at-large bids. This year marks Mount Union’s 20th appearance in the NCAA Playoffs.
THE COACHES
Larry Kehres (Mount Union ‘71) is 269-21-3 (.923) in his 23rd season at his Alma mater. Kehres is one of the most successful coaches in all of college football, as under his tenure, the Purple Raiders have claimed 19 Ohio Athletic Conference championships, including the last 17 in a row and nine of the last 15 NCAA Division III National Championships.
Jeff Filkovski (Allegheny, PA ‘91) is 2-7 (.222) in his first season as head coach at Marietta. A year ago as the offensive coordinator at Heidelberg College he won OAC Assistant Coach of the Year honors. Filkovski does have a win against Mount Union, as a quarterback for Allegheny (PA) College, he scored a 28-15 win in the 1990 NCAA Playoffs as he led the Gators to the 1990 NCAA Division III Championship.
THE SERIES
This is the 47th meeting between the teams with Mount Union holding a 37-8-1 lead in the series dating back to a 20-0 Mount Union win on September 23, 1933 in Alliance. The teams have met every year since 1981 and Mount Union has won all 28 of those meetings. The last Pioneer win was a 20-6 decision in 1977 in Marietta.
LAST MEETING
#1 Mount Union 57, Marietta 0
November 10, 2007 - Mount Union Stadium - Alliance, OH
The defense held Marietta to minus-35 yards rushing and 45 total yards with six sacks and three interceptions from Daryl Ely as the unit posted its seventh shutout of the season. All of this was more than enough for the Mount Union offense as Greg Micheli tossed four touchdowns as he went 13-of-17 for 290 yards. Nate Kmic had 11 rushes and scored touchdowns on three of them.
2008 MOUNT UNION CAPTAINS
Seniors in defensive back Daryl Ely (Winter Springs, FL/Winter Springs), running back Nate Kmic (Delta/Delta), quarterback Greg Micheli (Upper Sandusky/Upper Sandusky) and linebacker Chas Yoder (Martins Ferry/Martins Ferry) have been selected by their teammates as captains for the 2008 season.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Of all the numbers that may tell you where Marietta is at this season, the most telling is turnover margin as the Pioneers are minus-21 this season.
Marietta has turned the offense over to freshman quarterback Andrew Keller. Last week against Heidelberg, Keller made his second career start and had a solid outing as he completed 17-of-22 passes for 214 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also ran eight times for 50 yards and another score. Junior Lamar Hunter is top running back averaging 4.1 yards per carry, while sophomore Craig Kriechbaum is the top receiver with 41 catches for 407 yards on the season.
Junior defensive back George Davis with 60 tackles, senior linebacker Grant Cowell with 57 tackles and junior defensive back Clinton Thompson with 50 stops tops a defense that has 15 sacks and three interceptions on the season.
STREAKS
Mount Union has the best winning percentage and most wins in all of college football since 1990 (239-11-1/.954). The Raiders also hold the NCAA’s two longest consecutive college football win streaks -- 55 games from 2000-2003 and 54 games from 1996-99. Mount Union currently holds the nation’s longest active regular season win streak at 32 games.
UP NEXT ...
Mount Union will find out Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. on ESPNews who will be their first round opponent and where the game will be played in the 2008 NCAA Divsion III Football Playoffs.
TURNOVER IMPORTANCE
Since 1996, the Raiders are 94-0 when winning the turnover battle. Since 1990, Mount Union is 139-1 when winning the turnover battle with that lone loss coming in the 1995 NCAA Playoff semifinals in a 20-17 loss to Wisconsin-LaCrosse. In that game, the Raiders had a +1 turnover margin.
KMIC SETS TOUCHDOWN AND SCORING RECORDS
Nate Kmic has more touchdowns (111) and scored more points (666) than any other player at any level in college football history. He got the record after his 31st career 100-yard rushing performance last week with 166 yards on 25 carries against John Carroll. Kmic moved up to No. 2 on the NCAA Division III career rushing yards list with 6,723 yards and is 630 yards from NCAA Division III career leader R.J. Bowers of Grove City (Pa.) College, who tops the list with 7,353 yards.
NCAA DIVISION III CAREER RUSHING YARDS
Carries Yards
1. R.J. Bowers, Grove City (PA), 1997-2000 1,188........ 7,353
2. Nate Kmic, Mount Union, 2005-present... 1,015........ 6,723
3. Justin Beaver, UW-Whitewater, 2004-2007 1,188........ 6,584
MICHELI, McCLAIN, CROWL AND CARPENTER EARN ACADEMIC AWARDS
Senior quarterback Greg Micheli and juniors in defensive back Drew McClain, offensive lineman Caleb Crowl and punter Jay Carpenter (Fairmont, WV/Fairmont) all earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV First Team honors. Each of the four will also be on the Academic All-American ballot. Micheli is also one of 15 finalists for the Draddy Trophy, which is known as the Academic Heisman. Just being one of the 15 finalists gets Micheli an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship and a trip to the National Football Foundation Awards Dinner, Dec. 9 in New York City. Micheli is the nation’s highest rated passer (216.0) and has an OAC-best 26 touchdown passes this season.
SHORTS TIES RECEIVING TD RECORD
Junior wide receiver Cecil Shorts III (Cleveland/Collinwood) caught three touchdown passes against Otterbein to tie Adam Marino’s (1999) single-season school record of 19 TD catches on the season. 11 of those scores are from 20 yards or more, as he had a 22-yard score at Otterbein, a 41-yard score at Wilmington, 69 and 40 yard scores against Capital, 68 and 27-yard scores at B-W, 55 and 40 yard scores at Muskingum, a 20-yarder against Ohio Northern and a 35 and 36-yard scores against St. John Fisher. He also had a 38-yard catch that did not go for a score against Otterbein.
SIX IN A ROW FOR DEFENSE
For the sixth-straight week, the Mount Union defense held an opponent under 200 yards of total offense limiting Otterbein to 190 yards. The streak looked in jeopardy at halftime as the Cardinals had 149 yards, but Otterbein had minus-one yard in third quarter and 41 yards in the second half.
Sophomore linebacker Sam Kershaw (West Jefferson/West Jefferson) and junior defensive end James Herbert (Sagamore Hills/Nordonia) each had a team-high eight tackles and a sack against Otterbein.
On the season, senior defensive end Joe Millings (Copley/Copley) leads the team with 48 stops. The Raiders lead the OAC and the nation with 37 quarterback sacks as Herbert leads the unit with 10.5 sacks.
PIERRE CATCHING ON WITH COLTS
Former Mount Union wide receiver Pierre Garcon had his first catch in a pro game as had a two-yard reception from Peyton Manning as the Indianapolis Colts knocked off the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-20 this past Sunday. Garcon, a sixth round draft pick (No. 205), also had five kickoff returns for 85 yards and a special teams tackle in the game. On the season he ranks sixth among NFL rookies in kickoff return yards. He also has eight special teams tackles this season. On the Colts bye week, Pierre returned to Alliance and autographed a Colts helmet that is on display in the Gulling Training Center trophy case. He also visited an elementary school where he read to the students.
DID YOU KNOW?
Nate Kmic’s 6,723 rushing yards is the seventh highest career total in college football history. Danny Woodhead of Chardon State (CO) is college football’s all-time rushing leader with 7,962 yards.
Cecil Shorts has tied the Mount Union single-season record for receiving touchdowns in a season with 19. The OAC record is 20 that Ohio Northern’s Steve Vagedes had in 1998.
Mount Union has won 86-straight regular season road games dating back to a 21-18 loss at Baldwin-Wallace on Sept. 28, 1991.
Mount Union tops NCAA Division III with a 32-game regular season winning streak. Grand Valley State (MI) University, the No. 1 ranked NCAA Division II team, has college football’s top active regular season win-streak at 42 games.