Game Notes
WESTERVILLE, Ohio—The Otterbein University football team squares off against top-ranked University of Mount Union, 1:30 p.m., Saturday in Alliance. It will be homecoming on the Mount Union campus.
The Purple Raiders will mark the fourth team currently ranked in the Top 25 that Otterbein has faced this season. In addition to Heidelberg last week, the Cardinals have played 25th-ranked St. John Fisher and 16th-ranked John Carroll.
"The main goal right now is to have a winning season—7-3 or 6-4," said Otterbein head coach Tim Doup, who is in his second season at his alma mater. "That's our number-one goal no matter what."
The Cardinals, 3-3 overall and 3-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), share fourth place with Baldwin Wallace University in the league standings. Mount Union, John Carroll University and Heidelberg University share the top spot, each 6-0 overall and 5-0 in OAC play.
Otterbein heads into the game off a 35-17 loss to 11th-ranked Heidelberg last Saturday in Westerville. Senior quarterback Ben Sizemore threw for a career-high 354 yards and two touchdowns in the game, completing 30 of 50 pass attempts. The team racked up a season-high 433 yards of total offense against the Berg, but could not capitalize on drives which ended at the Heidelberg 8-, 14-, and 10-yard lines.
"If someone told me we were going to have 433 yards of offense and be able to move the ball like that against a very good team I would not have believed him," Doup said about the Heidelberg game. "I was really pleased with that. We had our chances. We had a couple shots there to make it even closer and take the lead a couple of times."
Mount Union, meanwhile, forced six turnovers and held Capital University to 144 total yards in a 58-3 win last week in Bexley. Sophomore safety Alex Kocheff forced two fumbles and recovered two fumbles in the victory.
The Purple Raiders, under first-year head coach Vince Kehres, who took over the football program from his father, Larry, are shooting for their 22nd-consecutive OAC championship. Larry Kehres led his team to 23 OAC and 11 NCAA Division III championships over his 27 seasons as head coach.
Following the Purple Raiders, the Cardinals return home Nov. 2 to take on cross-town rival Capital at 1:30 p.m. Senior Day follows with Marietta coming to Westerville Nov. 9. Otterbein travels to Ohio Northern Nov. 16 for the final game of the regular season.
