BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College football team lost to Ohio Athletic Conference foe Heidelberg College, 37-34 in overtime, today (Saturday, October 25, 2008) on the Tressel Field turf at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea before 2,748 fans.
With its loss, B-W dropped to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the OAC. The Student Princes have now beaten B-W two straight times and improved to 2-5 overall and 1-5 in the OAC.
Heidelberg led 10-7 after one quarter, BW led 21-17 at halftime and 27-23 after three quarters.
Heidelberg opened the scoring at the 11:28 mark of the first quarter when sophomore placekicker Jesse Hawkins kicked a 32-yard field goal to cap a eight-play and 43-yard drive. The Yellow Jackets came right back and scored to take a 7-3 lead via a 10-play, 60-yard drive that took 4:45 and culminated when junior quarterback Anthony Gardner (Rocky River/ Lakewood St. Edward) threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to senior All-OAC wide receiver Matt Lepley (Bellevue) and senior PK Cory Ramos (Macedonia/ Nordonia)kicker the point-after-TD.
The Student Princes regained the lead at 10-7 at the 1:24 mark of the first stanza when junior running back Jemar Lewis scored on a three-yard run to cap a 10-play, 67-yard drive in 5:07. At the 9:00 mark of the second quarter, BW again regained the lead at 14-10 when freshman RB Tim Miker (Parma/ Senior) ran three yards to paydirt to cap a 10-play and 64-yard drive in 4:22 and Ramos tacked on the PAT.
Heidelberg then regained the lead at 17-14 when sophomore QB Andrew Miller connected on a 67-yard scoring strike with senior WR Dawond Roddy to cap a four-play and 77-yard drive in in1:16 and Hawkins added the PAT.
B-W regained the lead for the third time at 21-17 when junior RB Kyrell Crook (Columbus/ DeSales) scored on a two-yard run and Ramos made the PAT to culminate a 14-play, 67-yard drive in 4:41.
In the third quarter, B-W increased its lead to 27-17 at the 9:12 mark when Miker ran three yards for a score, but Ramos missed his first PAT kick of the season (in 26 attempts). The score capped a 13-play and 52 yard drive in 5:42. Miker also had a 29-yard kick return to begin the half.
Undaunted, the Student Princes closed to within 27-23 when Lewis ran 19 yards to paydirt but the PAT kick was blocked. The Heidelberg drive was eight plays and 70 yards in 3:20. The Yellow Jackets came right back to increase their lead to 34-23 at the 14:56 mark of the fourth quarter when Miker ran for his third score of the game on a two-yard run and Ramos added the PAT. The scoring play capped a 13-play and 66-yard drive in 5:48.
Heidelberg then closed to within 34-31 with 4:03 left when Miller connected on a 74-yard TD pass to senior WR Lucas Bauer on the first play of its drive and then Bauer scored on a two-point conversion run.
Following a successful onside kick, the Student Princes moved 48 yards in 12 plays to the BW two-yard line and Hawkins kicked a 19-yard field goal with two seconds left to tie the score at 34-34.
In overtime, Heidelberg received the ball first and took a 37-34 lead when Hawkins kicked a 37-yard field goal. B-W then drove to the Heidelberg one-yard line. On fourth down, Gardner dove for the endzone and had the ball clearly over the goal line but it was controversially determined by the referees that a Heidelberg player knocked the ball loose. The Student Princes recovered the disputed fumble to end the game.
Offensively, B-W was led by Gardner who completed 23-of-34 passes for 206 yards with a TD and no interceptions. The running game was led by Crook with a career-high 127 in 27 attempts with a TD and senior fullback Craig Lindsley (Huron) had a career-high 78 yards in 16 attempts. Lepley led all receivers with seven catches for 78 yards with a TD. The defense was led by junior All-OAC middle linebacker Paul Burger (Mentor) and junior LB Ryan Kish (Amherst/ Steele) with 12 tackles each.
For Heidelberg, Miller completed 10-of-20 passes for 239 yards with two TD and one interception. Lewis was the top runner with 151 yards on 28 attempts and two TD. Roddy led all receivers with six catches for 144 yards and a TD. On defense, freshman defensive tackle Wayne Lanum and junior linebacker led the way with 15 tackles each and senior LB Brian West had 14 stops.
Next Saturday, November 1, the Yellow Jackets are back in action when they host OAC-rival Ohio Northern University at Finnie Stadium at 1:30 p.m. on Professor Appreciation Day. Fans can listen to the game locally on campus radio station WBW, 88.3 FM, or via the WBW Internet Web site at www.wBW.com.
Next Saturday's game versus ONU also will be televised via tape delay by SportsTime Ohio. The game can be seen on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 8:00 p.m., on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 5:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon and on Monday, Nov. 3 again at 5:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact B-W Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach John Snell, please call 440-826-2069 or e-mail at jsnell@bw.edu. You can get all of the latest BW athletics information by visiting our Web site at www.bw.edu/athletics.
