Box Score
The College of Mount St. Joseph Lions football team used a punishing ground attack and got a solid defensive effort on Saturday evening at Scheuler Field, as they rolled to a season-opening 37-14 win over Wilmington College. The Mount, which claimed their 10th straight win in the all-time series over the Quakers, is back in action on Sept. 15 when they play at Hanover College in their HCAC season opener.
The Mount stopped the Quakers on their first possession of the game, and then came out with their offense determined to establish the running game early on. Lions' senior James Clay (Louisville, KY/duPont Manual) ran the ball six straight times for the Mount, getting the ball down to the Wilmington one-yard line, but was stopped two plays later on fourth-and-goal from the one. Tyler Elrod (Harrison, OH/Harrison) would get the ball back right away for the Mount, intercepting Brandon Arehart on the Quakers next possession, at the the Wilmington 20. Five plays later the Lions would score the first TD of the game when Clay raced in from a yard out. Daniel Dripps (Wapakoneta, OH/Wapakoneta) added the PAT kick for a 7-0 lead. The Lions would add a safety on the next possession of Wilmington, when the Quakers snapped the ball past the punter and out of the end zone.
Clay would add his second TD of the game later in the first quarter - and Dripps would tack on the PAT kick - to give the Mount a 16-0 advantage. The Lions got a two-yard Clay TD run and a Brian Pitzer (South Salem, OH/McClain) to John Peters (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) eight-yard TD scoring pass right before the half to giving them a 30-8 lead before the intermission.
With the Lions substituing freely in the second half, and the Quakers working to get back in the game, both teams were able to only produce one score each the remainder of the game, as Clay added his fourth and final TD of the game on a five yard score in the fourth quarter. Wilmington ended the game's scoring with 21 seconds to play on a 63-yard pass play.
The Lions offense produced 364 yards of total offense to the Quakers' 251 yards. The Mount out-gained Wilmington on the ground, 312-52 as Clay racked up 240 yards rushing on 24 carries. Cody Meade (Paintsville, KY/Pike County Central) added 36 yards rushing while Nick Kaminsky (Hamilton, OH/Fairfield)Â paced the Mount with two receptions for 21 yards. The Lions collected 19 first downs to Wilmington's 10 first down, and had four sacks in the game.
Tim Bowman (Liberty Township, OH/Lakota East) and Garrett Breiner (Louisville, KY/Male) led the defense with six tackles each. The Mount was six-for-15 on third down and held Wilmington to four-of-14 on third down.
