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BEXLEY, Ohio – The Cardinal defense had two fourth quarter interceptions for touchdowns and led the way in their 23-9 victory over crosstown rival Capital University.
The win improves Otterbein University to 6-2 overall, 5-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), and snaps a two-game losing streak to the Crusaders. The win also clinches the Cardinals fourth winning season since 2008. Meanwhile, Capital falls to 1-6 in the OAC, 1-7 overall.
With the score 10-9, Capital took over possession on their own 24-yard line after an Otterbein punt with 3:52 left in the game. On the first play, junior Patrick Seesholtz intercepted a pass at the line of scrimmage and took it in for a touchdown. The point after try was blocked making the score 16-9.
On their next possession, Capital was aided by two personal foul penalties that put the Crusaders at the Otterbein 33-yard line with under three minutes left in the fourth quarter. On fourth down and six, sophomore Zachary Guillozet intercepted the Capital pass and took it 92 yards for a touchdown to seal the Cardinal victory.
The Otterbein defense held Capital to just 34 yards rushing on 28 carries, intercepted three passes, and held the Crusaders to just 2-of-17 third down conversions. In addition to his interception for a touchdown, Seesholtz had two sacks to lead the defense. His counterpart on the defensive line, junior defensive end Zack Grieves, finished with a career-high 12 tackles.
On the other side of the ball, sophomore quarterback Brick Davis was thrust into his first career start with injuries to both senior Aaron Kingcade and junior Ben Sizemore. The Chillicothe native finished the game with 130 yards passing on 14-of-23 attempts.
On the ground, sophomore Joey Robertson led the Cardinals with 55 yards on nine carries while junior Steven Carpenter paced the Otterbein receivers with seven catches, a career-high, for 69 yards.
The Cards opened up the scoring with a 21-yard touchdown run by Robertson with 4:06 remaining in the first quarter. The score snapped Otterbein’s scoreless streak that reached 153 minutes.
After a Capital field goal that made the score 7-3, sophomore Nick Ganus connected on a career-long 43-yard field goal to put Otterbein up 10-7 with 7:53 left in the third quarter.
Capital tightened the game up when junior Alex Coleman hauled in a 51-yard touchdown pass. But Otterbein held onto the lead when the point after try was blocked, making the score 10-9 with 14:14 remaining in the game. Otterbein never trailed in the contest.
The victory for Otterbein makes Head Coach Tim Doup the first Cardinal football coach since George Novotny in 1946 to have a winning record in his first season at the helm.
Otterbein returns to action next week when they travel to Marietta College (0-8, 0-7 OAC) for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.
