BEREA, OHIO -- The Baldwin-Wallace College football team beat Ohio Athletic Conference foe Ohio Northern University, 10-7, today (Saturday, November 1, 2008) on the Tressel Field turf at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea before 3,248 fans.
With its win, B-W improved to 4-4 overall and 4-3 in the OAC. With their loss, the Polar Bears are now 3-5 overall and 3-4 in the OAC.
B-W led 3-0 after one quarter and at halftime and 10-0 after three quarters.
B-W opened the scoring at the 4:20 mark of the first quarter when sophomore placekicker Brad Pollock (Broadview Heights/ Brecksville-Broadview Hts.) kicked a 25-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. It was Pollock's first career field goal. The B-W drive spanned 56 yards in 11 plays.
In the first half, the Yellow Jacket defense was dominant as ONU had six possessions that yielded just five first downs and 88 yards of total offense, including just four passing yards. Equally effective was the ONU defense which allowed just 100 yards of offense and seven first downs.
In the third quarter, B-W took the kickoff and traveled 64 yards in 11 plays for the first touchdown of the game at the 9:04 mark when junior quarterback Anthony Gardner (Rocky River/ Lakewood St. Edward) passed 17 yards to freshman wide receiver Devon Jennings (Euclid). Pollock's point-after-TD kick gave the Yellow Jackets a 10-0 advantage.
In the fourth quarter, ONU closed to within 10-7 when sophomore QB Kyle Simmons threw a four-yard TD pass to junior WR Brook Crawford to cap a 10-play, 72-yard drive in 4:27. Junior PK Jake Heaphy kicked the PAT.
ONU had one more opportunity to tie or win. The Polar Bears reached as far as the BW 31-yard line. On a fourth-and-20 play, sophomore cornerback Ryan Dugan (Mentor) intercepted a Simmons pass to seal the win.
Offensively, B-W was led by Gardner who completed 16-of-27 passes for 199 yards with one TD and one interception. Junior running back Kyrell Crook (Columbus/ St. Francis deSales) was the top runner with 43 yards in 21 attempts. Jennings was the top receiver with five catches for 75 yards and a TD. On defense, senior All-OAC defensive tackle Joe Kowalski (Macedonia/ Nordonia) led the way with a game-high 11 tackles, senior safety Lee Yoder (West Libert/ West Liberty-Salem) had 10 and junior All-OAC middle linebacker Paul Burger (Mentor) had nine stops.
For ONU, Simmons completed eight-of-24 passes for 49 yards with one TD and one interception. Sophomore RB Brett Donley was the top runner with 72 yards in 15 attempts. On defense, senior defensive tackle Jake Fallis had nine tackles, including five for loss and one QB sack. Senior linebacker Josh Lokai-Owens also had three QB sacks.
Next Saturday, November 8, the Yellow Jackets are back in action when they travel to Wilmington, Ohio to play the Wilmington College Quakers at Williams Stadium at 1:30 p.m. 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.
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
