MOUNT UNION ADVANCES IN NCAA'S WITH 59-7 WIN OVER TCNJ
Saturday, November 24, 2007
FINAL SCORE:
Mount Union College 59; The College of New Jersey 7
Mount Union College
(12-0) vs. The College of New Jersey (9-3)
November 24, 2007; Mount Union
Stadium, Alliance, OH
Alliance, OH (11/24/07) - The two-time defending
NCAA Division III
Champions Mount Union College used a 59-7 win over The
College of New
Jersey on Saturday in Mount Union Stadium before a crowd of
2,593 fans to
advance to the NCAA Division III Quarterfinals. With the win,
the Purple
Raiders are now 12-0 and improve their win streak to 35 games,
while
TCNJ's season comes to an end with a 9-3 mark.
Mount Union will
now face St. John Fisher College, which also advanced on
Saturday with a 38-7
win over Curry. Mount Union will continue play as
they will be looking to
sew up their third straight NCAA Division III
Championship title and the
program's 10th overall when play continues next
week with a Noon contest at
Mount Union Stadium on December 1. The win by
MUC marks the 16th consecutive
year the Purple Raiders have advanced to
the NCAA Quarterfinals
(1992-2007).
Mount Union's offense would finish with 59 points, 508 yards
and seven
touchdowns, while the Purple Raiders' defense held TCNJ to only
seven
points and 46 yards. TCNJ did manage to record a season best six sacks
and
forced Mount Union to punt four times on the day, while also scoring on
a
defense that posted seven shutouts in 12 contests thus far in
2007.
For the game, junior quarterback Greg Micheli (Upper Sandusky, OH)
threw
for four TD's and 354 passing yards, while junior running back Nate
Kmic
(Delta, OH) picked up only 68 rushing yards and added two scores on
14
carries. Senior receiver Bryson Davis (Copley, OH) led his team with
six
catches for 188 yards and three scores on the day.
TCNJ's defense
forced Mount Union to punt on their first possession of the
game as both
senior Joe King (Mountainside, NJ/Governor Livingston) and
sophomore Paul
Mychalczuk (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) recorded sacks
of junior
quarterback Greg Micheli (Upper Sandusky, OH), but junior Zach
Rinaldi
(Burlington, NJ/Florence) was stripped of the ball on the play and
Mount
Union's junior Daryl Ely (Winter Springs, FL) picked the ball up on
the
fumble and returned it 28 yards for the Purple Raiders' first score of
the
game at 11:39, marking his first tally of the year as well.
MUC added to
the scoring as the Purple Raiders junior running back Nate
Kmic capped a
six-play 51 yard drive with a one yard rush at 9:11 pushing
the score to
14-0, marking his 180th point on the year.
MUC's senior kicker Mike
Zimmerman (Archbold, OH) missed a 39-yard field
goal at 3:19 in the first as
his attempt was wide and to the left.
Forced to punt in the final minute
of the first quarter, TCNJ was able to
come up with the ball when sophomore
Craig Meyer (Far Hills, NJ) recovered
the ball on a fumble on the punt
return, giving TCNJ the ball at the
Purple Raiders' 12-yard line. The Lions
would strike as senior running
back Dan Dornacker (Jersey City, NJ/Brick
Township) would push it in from
one yard out and put TCNJ on the score board
at 14:29 in the second
quarter and capped a 5-play, 12 yard
drive.
Junior defensive back Anthony Cortina (Hamilton, NJ/Steinert)
added a sack
at 10:30 in the second quarter forcing a fourth down and marking
the most
sacks allowed by Mount Union in a contest this fall. With fourth
down and
19 yards to go, TCNJ forced the Purple Raiders to go for it and a
dropped
pass in the end zone game the Lions the ball at the MUC 27 yard line
with
10:22 left in the half. Ely picked off James to halt the Lions'
drive,
marking his fourth pick off of the year. Kmic would make the most on
the
drive, punching the ball in from 16-yards out and giving his team a
20-7
lead and a PAT by Zimmerman gave MUC a 21-7 lead with 8:53 left in
the
first half.
Mount Union started the next drive at NJ's 22 yard
line after Pierre
Garcon (West Palm Beach, FL) returned the punt 30 yards and
would score on
a drive that took just one play from scrimmage and saw Micheli
find senior
Bryson Davis (Copley, OH) for a 22-yard TD pass at
6:26.
Garcon scored again at 5:03 on a 13 yard run before Micheli hit
Davis from
71 yards out for another touchdown as Mount Union built a 42-7
halftime
lead. At the half, Micheli had thrown for 232 yards on a 13-for 20
effort
with one interception.
Sophomore quarterback Chris James
(Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) was held to
18 passing yards in the first half of
play as he was 7-for 18 with an
interception. Mount Union racked up 302 first
half yards of total offense
on 38 plays, while holding TCNJ to 42 net yards
on 37 plays. TCNJ held a
16:32 to 13:28 advantage in time of possession. By
game's end, James was
8-for 23 with only 22 passing yards, while sophomore
quarterback Bill
Picatagi (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton West) added five passing
yards on a 2-3
effort while netting a team-high 23 rushing yards on 13
carries.
To open the second half, MUC's Garcon recorded with his 43rd
career touch
down pass, a 22 yard catch for the score and broke the OAC's
career TD
mark previously held by Ohio Northern's Steve Vagedes (1996-1999)
with 43.
Davis would eclipse his personal best performance as he added
his third
touchdown pass to help build MUC's lead to 56-7 with 6:55 left to
play
after adding a 45-yard TD catch at 6:55 in the third
quarter.
King suffered an injury in the late minute of the third quarter
and left
the game, but not before recording three tackles, including a sack.
King
wraps his stellar career having earned 2007 NJAC Defensive Player of
the
Year honors, while netting 34.5 sacks, 142 tackles, and 57 tackles for
a
loss.
Senior punter and defensive back Jeff Struble (Toms River,
NJ/Manchester
Township) would finish with a career-best 74 yard punt in the
opening
minutes of the fourth quarter for the Lions. He surpassed his
season-high
72 yard punt in the contest and bested last year's 73-yard punt
in his
final contest as a Lion.
Senior linebacker Nicholas Steffner
(Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater) and
sophomore linebacker Joe Spahn (Burlington,
NJ/Florence) finished with a
game-high 11 stops each. Steffner added a pass
break up with a half sack.
Sophomore defensive back Paul Mychalczuk
(Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough)
added four tackles with 1.5 sacks (-9 yards)
and an interception, while
junior Frank Schultheis (Absecon, NJ/Holy Spirit)
added 10 stops with a
sack (-13 yards), a quarterback hurry.
MUC's
sophomore Troy Chaffin (Collins, OH) added a team-best six stops for
the
Purple Raiders, while Jonathan Andrews (North Canton, OH) added five
tackles
with 1.5 for a loss.
TCNJ is now 4-5 lifetime in the NCAA's since first
appearing in 1990,
while MUC is now 54-9 all-time in the NCAA's.