Box Score

TIFFIN, Ohio – The Otterbein football team narrowly fell Saturday night in one of the best Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) football games that will be played this season, coming up on the short end of a 48-45 overtime contest at Heidelberg University.

Heidelberg, hosting just its second night game in school history, improves to 5-1 on the season and 4-1 against the league as a result of the wild victory. The game featured a fireworks display, cannons being fired off and glow-sticks throughout the crowd.

Otterbein (4-2, 3-2 OAC) unfortunately relinquishes the Rhine River Cup for a year after earning it last season in Westerville. The Cards will regroup and be back in action next Saturday with another night game, hosting Baldwin Wallace at 7 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium. It will be Hall of Fame weekend.

The Student Princes went right down the field for a touchdown on their opening possession, and then held Otterbein on the very next series. The Cardinals looked to have caught a break when a Heidelberg returner accidentally tipped a bouncing punt and it rolled into the end zone, but it was ultimately ruled untouched despite the Cards recovering it.

Freshman Brandon Paschal helped his defense get off the field with his fourth interception of the year during Heidelberg's next possession, which ultimately led to a nine-yard rushing TD from Christian Johnson.

Both sides began trading scores from there, with quarterback Logan Stepp busting a 54-yard yard run, Julian Lowe housing a 95-yard kickoff return and the duo then connecting on a 39-yard aerial score for the Cardinal side of things. It was Otterbein's first kickoff return for a touchdown since All-American Dominic Jones in 2010.

Paschal's second interception gave Otterbein the ball back around midfield with 1:11 to play before halftime, but a field goal attempt by freshman David Hoyle was blocked and Heidelberg went into halftime ahead 35-28.

Otterbein began with the ball around midfield to launch the second half, but elected to punt on 4th-and-1 and pinned the hosts at their own half-yard line. The Berg' embarked on a 99-plus yard scoring drive to take a 42-28 lead, but the Cards promptly responded to tie the game with an 11-yard rushing score from Stepp and then watching him hit Lowe on a short pop pass during 4th-and-goal.

The Cardinal defense bent but didn't break later in the fourth, stopping Heidelberg at the goal line to force a short field goal attempt and only trail 45-42 with 4:48 left on the clock. Included in the timely hold was a second-down tackle for loss by safety Fred Hardgrove, which moved the ball from the one to the three-yard line.

Stepp threw an interception but the defense then came up with a key stop, exhausting all timeouts to regain possession after a punt trickled inside the 10. Otterbein went 59 yards in 1:42, tying the game on a clutch 49-yard field goal from Hoyle (second-longest in program history) with :08 left to force overtime. The drive had reached Heidelberg's 22-yard line with 28 seconds left before it was pushed back on an unusual intentional-grounding penalty called against Stepp, in which he stepped back in what looked like a possible fake spike before tossing the ball near Johnson.

The Cards unfortunately came up empty on the initial possession of overtime, with Stepp getting sacked twice and then a pass falling incomplete on 4th-and-32 from the 37-yard line. Heidelberg escaped victorious on its chance, converting a 34-yard field goal to erupt its home crowd and bring their student section onto the field.

Stepp finished with 461 yards of total offense after going for 477 last year against Heidelberg. This time around, he threw for 315, rushed for 146 and registered four total touchdowns while absorbing multiple hits throughout . Lowe was magnificent, hauling in 11 catches for a career-high 178 yards and a pair of TD's.

Junior Payton Vanderkooi stepped up admirably in the second-half absence of fellow wideout Hunter Joseph, who did not return after taking a bit hit prior to intermission. Vanderkooi caught five for 56 yards, including two critical catches on the game-tying drive.

Johnson ran 15 times for 71 yards as the two teams combined for 167 plays … 85 for Heidelberg and 82 for Otterbein. The Student Princes finished with a wild 647-527 edge in total offense.

Hardgrove, the OAC's leading tackler, posted a game-high 13 stops while Paschal was right there with 11. He now leads the conference with five picks, as Hardgrove sits right behind at four.

Heidelberg quarterback Tyler Stoyle was 37 of 49 for 489 yards through the air while Demetrius Magee, the reigning OAC Wide Receiver of the Year, matched Lowe with a similar stat line of 11 catches for 166 yards. Running mate Tony Morris snagged 10 for 113 while Cameron Vocke had 99 yards and three scores.