ALLIANCE, Ohio—Top-ranked University of Mount Union defeated Otterbein University, 48-0, on a cold and blustery Saturday afternoon at homecoming in Alliance.

With the win, Mount Union improved to 7-0 and maintained its share of first place in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) with a 6-0 mark. Otterbein slipped to 3-4 overall and 3-3 in the OAC.

Mount Union struck fast. Junior wide receiver Luc Meacham caught a 67-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Kevin Burke and the Purple Raiders led 7-0 with 14:17 to play in the first quarter. Before the first half ended, the Purple Raiders scored five more times and led 41-0 at intermission. Mount Union blocked two Otterbein punt attempts in the half, which led to two of those scores.

The Purple Raider defense shut down Otterbein's offense. The Cardinals, playing three different quarterbacks, managed but 37 yards of total offense in the game. Senior Ben Sizemore, and juniors Brick Davis and Ryan Thombs combined to complete 3 of 12 pass attempts for 32 yards. Otterbein netted just five yards rushing.

Once again, freshman inside linebacker Austin Jones led Otterbein with 11 tackles, including two for a loss of eight yards. All 11 tackles were unassisted. Senior inside linebacker Eric Mitchell and senior outside linebacker Wes McKeever tallied seven tackles each.

Despite the loss, Otterbein still remains in the hunt for back-to-back winning seasons. The Cardinals host cross-town rival Capital University next Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Otterbein is scheduled to play Marietta College Nov. 9 and Ohio Northern University Nov. 16 to close out the regular season.