WESTERVILLE, Ohio –The Baldwin Wallace University football team dropped a high scoring night Ohio Athletic Conference game to Otterbein University by a final score of 37-29 inside Memorial Stadium
Otterbein (5-2, 4-2 OAC) has now won two straight in the series and five of the last six meetings. BW (4-3, 3-3 OAC) had its three-game losing streak snapped while falling in its lone night contest of the season.
The Yellow Jacket offense was led by junior quarterback Jake Hudson (East Lake, Fla.) as completed 20 of 37 passes for 277 yards with one touchdowns and rushed for 52 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown. Junior wide out Chad Steinwachs (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) and junior wide receiver Rob Wolfington (Rapids City, Mich./Elk Rapids) led the receiving corps Steinwachs made eight catches for 96 yards and Wolfington had four grabs for 93 yards with a 45-yard touchdown. Defensively, senior All-OAC linebacker Sam Groff (Waynesburg/Sandy Valley) made a game-high 14 tackles.
The Otterbein offensive attack was led by senior quarterback Logan Stepp as he completed 17 of 30 passes for 185 yards with two touchdowns and rushed for 144 yards on 14 carries with one touchdown. Junior running back Christian Johnson led the ground game with a game-high 207 yards on 23 carries with one touchdown. Senior wide out Julian Lowe led the air attack with seven catches for 78 yards with two touchdowns. Defensively, senior linebacker Austin Jones made 10 stops.
In the first quarter, BW scored the only points of the opening stanza at 7-0 when Hudson scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper to cap off a six-play and 50-yard drive at the 11:53 mark. Freshman kicker Brandon Vollmer (Pickerington/Central), who is this week's OAC Special Teams Player of the Week, tacked on the extra point.
The Yellow Jackets added to its lead at 10-0 when Vollmer converted a 33-yard field goal at 12:19 of the second quarter to cap a 14-play and 51-yard drive. The boot was his sixth straight field goal in as many attempts in his initial season of collegiate football.
The Cardinals cut into the lead and scored its first points of the game to cut the lead to 10-7 when Stepp took a fourth and inches attempt and rushed 42-yards to pay dirt at the 6:16 mark. Freshman kicker David Hoyle added the extra point. Otterbein took the lead at 14-10 when junior running back Dakota Smith scored on a two-yard rush at 1:52. Hoyle added the point after.
The Cardinals added to their lead and opened the second half scoring at 12:45 when Stepp hit Lowe on a screen pass and Lowe went 11-yards for the score ato make it 20-10. Due to a high snap the extra point failed. Otterbein closed out the third quarter scoring at 27-10 when Stepp and Lowe hooked up on a 10-yard pass play at the 2:33 mark and Hoyle add the point after.
BW opened the fourth quarter scoring at the 13:08 mark when sophomore wide receiver Will Vance (Centerville) took a pitch from Hudson and threw it 45-yards to Wolfington for the score Vollmer's PAT kick made it 27-17. The Cardinals answered back to make it 34-17 with an eight-play and 73-yard drive capped off by a Johnson 14-yard run at the 9:53 mark. Hoyle tacked on the extra point.
The Yellow Jackets battled back to make it a 34-23 score when Hudson found junior wide receiver Ty Ramsier (Rittman) on a three-yard pass play at 6:16. The drive was kept alive when Hudson and Ramsier connected on a 42-yard pass play on fourth-and-15. The extra point was no good.
After an onside kick recovery by Ramsier, BW cut the lead to 34-29 when junior quarterback Matt Lowry (Rocky River) threw three yards to sophomore tight end Pat Orsini (East Amherst, N.Y.Williamsville East) at the 5:37 mark. It was Orsini's second TD catch of the season. The key play on the drive was a 46-yard pass from Hudson to junior track All-American and wide receiver Jordan Leverette (Cleveland John Adams) to put the ball on the six. A pass interference call moved the ball to the three and set the stage for Orsini's TD catch. The two-point conversion failed. Otterbein closed out the scoring when Hoyle hit a 31-yard field goal with 1:33 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets had one last chance to tie the game. After getting the ball at its own 40-yard line, Hudson drove his team down to the Cardinal 8-yard line, but a fourth-and-two pass fell incomplete.
BW is back in action on Saturday, October 22 when it hosts an OAC game against Capital University on Past Football Captains Day in the Finnie Stadium at 1:30 p.m. A reception at 11:30 am. in the Tressel Lounge inside the Lou Higgins Center will kickoff the program. Head Coach Jim Hilvert is expected tio address all Past Captains and guests at noon.
