ADA, Ohio – The Otterbein football team opened a month-long road stretch Saturday evening at Ohio Northern, coming up on the low end of a 45-35 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) battle inside Dial-Roberson Stadium.

The Cardinals, now 0-4 overall and 0-3 within the league schedule, will be back in action next weekend up in Alliance at No. 2-ranked Mount Union. Ohio Northern, playing its first home game of the season, gets back to even on the fall at 2-2.


HOW IT HAPPENED:

Ohio Northern returned the game's opening kickoff 44 yards and needed just five plays to score. The Polar Bears converted a 4th-and-1 around midfield, and running back Christiaan Williams then broke a 42-yard touchdown run on the next play.

Otterbein went down the field on its first possession as well, thanks to a 50-yard reception from Jack Iannarino, but missed a 39-yard field goal. ONU countered with a 20-yard made kick of its own and the hosts led 10-0 after the opening period.

The Cards waltzed right back down into the red zone on their second drive, this time converting a 4th-and-1 at the six-yard line before Luke Schmeling punched in a short TD to open the second-quarter action. The extra point was missed wide left after a false start pushed it back slightly.

The second frame would feature a whopping 35 points in all, as Ohio Northern scored touchdowns on three-straight drives that included a 76-yard connection from Anthony McFadden to Austin Eick, who leads the conference in TD catches (8).

Otterbein's other touchdown in the second quarter came on a 4th-and-7 play from Ohio Northern's 12-yard line, where quarterback Bryce Hall found Reed Tucker for a key score.

No scoring took place in the third quarter before Otterbein tried to compile a late rally in the fourth, scoring 22 points but still unfortunately coming up short. The Cards recovered one onside kick and nearly fell on another before it popped away into the hands of a Polar Bear.


INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

Hall and freshman quarterback Logan Pharmer combined to go 21 of 37 for 300 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Neither team had a turnover for the second-straight game.

Otterbein was 6 of 7 on fourth down after going 7 of 17 all of last season. Schmeling had a rushing TD for the third-straight game.

The Cardinals had the ball for a season-best 35:47 of game time, and have finished with a longer time-of-possession in all four games this season. Otterbein ran 88 plays to just 53 for the Ohio Northern.

Safety Niall Lewison paced the defense once again with 10 tackles, marking the fourth-straight game this year he has led the Cards in total stops.

Senior punter Luke Green-Lauber averaged a healthy 48.3 yards per kick, ripping off four punts for a total of 193 yards.