Kyle Simmons runs No. 17 Football to 31-21 victory at No. 13 Capital

Kyle Simmons

By Tim Glon

| Box Score |

BEXLEY -- Kyle Simmons ran for a career-high 113 yards and three touchdowns, leading No. 17 Ohio Northern to a 31-21 victory at No. 13 Capital Saturday afternoon at Bernlohr Stadium.

The Polar Bears improve to 7-2 overall after their sixth consecutive victory and are 6-2 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Crusaders fall to 6-3, 5-3.

Simmons completed 19 of 26 passes for 163 yards to go with his career-high 113 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Polar Bears.

Brent Donley added 92 yards on 25 attempts, Jay Priest caught eight passes for 59 yards and Justin Linzy caught six passes for 48 yards for ONU.

Chad Coward led the Polar Bear defense with a career-high 11 tackles, two sacks and 3.0 TFL.

CU was led by Marty Assmann, who completed 14 of 30 passes for 138 yards and two TDs, and by Dom D'Andrea, who ran 16 times for 77 yards and a score

The Polar Bears got on the board first when Simmons scrambled in from seven yards out on the first play of the second quarter.

Jake Heaphy's extra point gave ONU a 7-0 lead with 14:53 left in the half.

The Crusaders answered, marching 65 yards in eight plays to tie the game at 7-7 on a 6-yard TD pass from Assmann to Michael Zag with 11:27 left in the half.

Simmons swept in from 11 yards out on Northern's ensuing possession, capping a 9-play, 57-yard scoring drive to make it 14-7 ONU with 6:27 left in the half.

Simmons made it TDs on three consecutive drives when he dove in from 3 yards out on Northern's next possession. The drive went 69 yards in 10 plays and gave the Polar Bears a 21-7 lead with 43 seconds left before intermission.

"Getting off to the 21-7 start was huge," ONU head coach Dean Paul said. "Kyle Simmons did a great job of scrambling and keeping plays alive. Our O-Line did a nice job, but Kyle did a great job with his legs. Our defense did a great job of keeping a very good offense in check for most of the day. I'm proud of our team - coming from a 1-2 start and winning six straight games in this league and giving ourselves an opportunity for an 8-win season is not an easy task." 

After a scoreless third period, the Crusaders scored on a 1-yard run by D'Andrea, capping a 10-play, 76-yard drive, to make it 21-14 with 12:35 left in the game.

Northern answered in its next possession as Heaphy drilled a 49-yard field goal to give the Polar Bears a 24-14 lead with 8:19 left to play.

Donley iced the game when he scored from 15 yards out on a third and 3 play. Heaphy's PAT gave the Bears a 31-14 advantage with 3:19 remaining.

The drive covered 40 plays and consisted of five Donley runs covering 5, 12, 2, 6 and 15 yards.

Assmann connected on a 12-yard TD pass to Zag to pull the Crusaders within 31-21 with 2:19 left in the game.

The Polar Bears will wrap up their regular season next Saturday with a 1:30 pm contest at Wilmington.