Football defeats Oberlin, breaks school and NCAC records

By Jenna Rodcay
Transcript Reporter

OWU’s Battling Bishops football team took home their first conference win of the season against the Oberlin College Yeomen on Saturday at Savage Stadium with a final score of 29-17.

First year head coach Tom Watts said he was pleased with the way the team came together to get the win.

“Overall it was a great win,” said Watts. “We had guys play well in all three phases.”

Though the Yeomen were the first on the scoreboard with a field goal, the Bishops evened the score during their first possession with a 24-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Miles MacKenzie.

At the end of the first quarter, the Yeomen quarterback was sacked by sophomore linebacker Morgan McBride and junior defensive end Jonathan Valentine.
The quarterback’s next pass was intercepted by junior Rayce Risser.

Though OWU’s junior quarterback Mason Espinosa threw an interception during the second quarter, the Bishop defense did not allow the Yeomen to score.
During their next possession junior wide receiver Dave Mogilnicki, scored the first OWU touchdown.

Shortly after, senior linebacker Tyler Sheetz intercepted a pass from the Yeomen quarterback for a 15 yard drive keeping OWU in the lead at half time with a score of 16-10.

The Bishops didn’t put any points on the board during the third quarter but held the Yeomen offense until the end of the quarter when they scored a touchdown, bringing the Yeomen ahead of the Battling Bishops, 17-16.

During the fourth quarter McBride intercepted a Yeomen pass leading to a touchdown by sophomore runningback Kevin Herman.
Herman said the Bishop defense played a key role in the win.

“Our defense did a good job of giving us the opportunity to score with four interceptions,” Herman said. “The offense clicked as a whole and was motivated to score after [each interception].”

Junior cornerback Leonard Gleaves ended the game by intercepting another Yeomen pass and preventing them from scoring again.

Watts said he looks forward to the Battling Bishop’s first home game of the season.

“It’s good to be 2-0 and come home and play,” Watts said. “Hopefully we can come home to a big crowd and do it again.”

At the end of the game MacKenzie had a total of 5 field goals breaking an OWU record set by Pete Billington in 1968 and a North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) record of 4 field goals.

He also broke records with his points scored by kicking and was named OWU athlete of the week.

The OWU record had previously been set by Billington in 1968 with 13 and the NCAC record of 16 points.

MacKenzie said he did not believe his teammates when he was told that he had broken school records.

“Breaking some of the records was a nice surprise,” MacKenzie said. “I just hope we can use all of this energy to get ready for Case next week.”

The Bishops play Case Western Reserve University on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m. at Selby Stadium.