No. 16 Football holds off Muskingum 37-34 in shootout

Kyle Simmons

By Tim Glon

| Box Score |

NEW CONCORD -- Kyle Simmons and Brent Donley had outstanding games on offense and the Ohio Northern defense made three key plays late in the game to lift No. 16-ranked ONU past Muskingum 37-34 Saturday night at McGonagha Stadium.

The Polar Bears improve to 2-2 overall and are 1-2 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Muskies fall to 0-4, 0-3.

Donley ran 28 times for 102 yards and two TDs and caught four passes for 61 yards and another score. Simmons carried the ball 14 times for a career-high 93 yards and TD runs of 1 and 20 yards and completed 14 of 22 passes for 240 yards and a TD to Donley.

Jake Bruns completed 17 of 28 passes for 281 yards and two TDs and ran 32 times for 100 yards and a pair of scores to lead the MU offense.

But it was the Polar Bear defense that made the big plays down the stretch that were key in the ONU victory.

First, with Northern clinging to a 37-34 lead with 3:32 left in the game and the Muskies in possession at the ONU 20-yard line, J.J. Mihoci intercepted Burns at the ONU 5-yard line to thwart the scoring opportunity.

After two Donley plunges netted six yards, Simmons hit a huge 46-yard bomb to Ryan Fleming, their second 40-plus yard pass of the night, to put the ball on the MU 42-yard line with less than two minutes on the clock.

The Muskies then stopped Donley and Seadrick Marshall on three runs and Jake Heaphy punted MU deep at their own 13-yard line with 1:08 left in the game.

That's when the ONU defense came up big again, as David Rush sacked Burns for a 5-yard loss back to the 8-yard line on first down. Two incompletions later, Josh Horn ended the contest with another sack of Burns on the night on a 4th and 15 play.

Horn finished the game with a career-high 14 tackles and tied his career highs with 3.0 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.

“I’m proud of the way we battled for 60 minutes,” ONU head coach Dean Paul said. “It was not pretty at times, but we made plays down the stretch, on both sides of the ball, to get the win. Muskingum is a solid team and gave us some problems, but we stayed aggressive and were able to finish. Hopefully this will help us build some momentum as the season progresses.”

The Polar Bear offense was solid all night, finishing the game with 450 yards of total offense, with 210 coming on the ground and 240 through the air. The Polar Bear defense was solid at times, allowing MU 418 yards of total offense but registering a season-high eight quarterback sacks.

Extra points were a key part of the game as each team scored five touchdowns in the contest.

Muskingum missed a PAT on its first score and twice Simmons bobbled a snap on a Northern PAT attempts and converted them into 2-point conversion passes to account for the 3-point difference in scoring in the contest.

The Muskies got on the board first when Demetrius Bailey scored on a 3-yard run with 4:01 left in the first period. Bill Rini's PAT attempts sailed wide right and the hosts led 6-0.

Simmons swept in from a yard out to tie the game at 6-6 with 39 seconds left in the quarter.

The PAT was eventful, as Simmons bobbled the snap on the PAT try. But he regained his composure, rolled right and hit Jake Myers in the back of the end zone for a 2-point conversion and an 8-6 Polar Bear lead.

Muskingum regained the lead when Burns hit Blake Allen on a 6-yard TD pass with 10:51 left in the half. Bill Rini’s PAT was good and the Muskingum lead was 13-8.

Donley plowed in from two yards out on Northern’s next possession. Heaphy’s PAT split the uprights and the Polar Bears regained the lead at 15-13 with 7:11 left in the second period.

After an exchange of punts, Trygve Henrickson forced and recovered a fumble, giving the Polar Bears the ball at the MU 36-yard line. On the next play, Simmons hit Donley on a 36-yard TD pass down the left sideline. Heaphy’s PAT gave ONU a 22-13 lead with 3:28 left before intermission.

Burns and Allen hooked up again on the Muskies’ next possession. This time it was a 27-yard TD pass play with 1:47 left in the half to trim ONU’s advantage to 22-20.

The Polar Bears answered quickly, as Simmons capped a 57-yard drive with a 20-yard run one minute later to put ONU up 29-20 with 47 seconds left in the half.

The Muskies took the second half kickoff and marched 75 yards in 10 plays and scored when Burns kept it from 5 yards out to make it 29-27 with 10:51 left in the third.

Northern responded with a long drive of its own and went up 35-27 when Donley dove over from a yard out. Simmons bobbled the PAT snap for the second time, and for the second time he turned it into a 2-point conversion as he scrambled around long enough to find Evan Elliott in the end zone for the conversion and a 37-27 lead.

Burns swept in from 1 yard out on MU’s first possession of the fourth period, capping a 10-play, 80-yard drive, to make it 37-34 with 10:12 left in the game.

After forcing a Polar Bear punt, MU drove to the ONU 20, but Mihoci intercepted Burns at the 5-yard line on a crucial 3rd and 7 play, setting up the dramatic finish.

Donley's 100-yard rushing effort was the second of the season and the sixth of his career. Ryan Fleming also had a career day, catching three passes for a career-high 107 yards, catching passes of 49, 46 and 12 yards in the contest.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday when they play host to Heidelberg at 1:30 pm at Dial-Roberson Stadium as part of ONU’s Homecoming Weekend festivities.