WESTERVILLE, OHIO—Otterbein travels to cross-town rival Capital Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Bernlohr Stadium.
Both teams come into the game off road losses last weekend and locked in a four-way tie for fourth place, each 2-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC). The Cardinals, 3-2 overall, dropped a 35-34 decision at Baldwin-Wallace while the Crusaders, 2-3 overall, fell 44-10 at Ohio Northern.
Otterbein, under head coach Joe Loth, who is in his eighth season at his alma mater, held a slim 34-28 lead late into the fourth quarter in Berea last Saturday. The Yellow Jackets, who tallied 21 first-half points on two kickoff returns and one interception, scored with two minutes to play to pull out the win. Otterbein senior running back Colton Coy, who is averaging 118 yards a game—second best in the OAC—scored three times at B-W on runs of 1, 14 and 3 yards.
“I think we are getting better,” Loth said. “The encouraging thing about last week is that even though we lost the game, we continued to improve on offense and defense. We obviously had some special teams’ issues that we need to correct and we think we corrected them this week.”
Capital, meanwhile, under first-year head coach Henry Stanford, trailed 13th-ranked Ohio Northern by just seven at the half, 10-3, before the Polar Bears caught fire and scored 24 straight to lead, 34-3, with 10:06 to play in the game.
The Crusaders own OAC wins over Wilmington, 10-7, and Heidelberg, 60-50, this season. Their other conference loss, 10-7, came at Baldwin-Wallace, who shares the top spot in the OAC with Mount Union, each 4-0 in league play.
“Capital has one of the most talented defenses we’ve faced so far this year,” Loth said. “Offensively, they have some great receivers. They score a lot of points and gain a lot of yards. They are very good on offense.”
Capital is averaging 381 yards a game on offense and rank third in the OAC. Defensively, the Crusaders are allowing 403 yards a game and rank last in the conference.
Otterbein sits fifth in the OAC in total offense, averaging 361 yards an outing, and fifth in total defense, yielding 313 yards a game. The Cardinals lead the OAC in time of possession, 32:42 per game, and hold down the second spot in kickoff returns, 28.5-yard average, punting, 34.2 net yards a punt, and red zone offense, scoring on 19 of 21 chances.
Nationally in NCAA Division III, junior defensive back Dominic Jones ranks fourth in kickoff returns, averaging 35.5 yards a return, senior place-kicker David Brewer shares 15th place for field goals, averaging 1.2 a game, and Coy ranks 21st in rushing at 118 yards per game.
Capital leads the all-time series, 41-40-3, which began with a 60-0 Otterbein win in 1894. Capital has the series at 41-39-3, however, since football was not recognized as an official varsity sport at Capital until 1923. Otterbein has won four of the last five meetings with the Crusaders, including a 35-34 victory at home in 2009.
Following Capital, Otterbein returns home for homecoming, hosting Muskingum Oct. 23. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Memorial Stadium.
