The Wilmington College football team has a huge task this week as top-ranked Mount Union rolls into town 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
However, for the Fightin' Quakers, it's not about the team donning the purple helmets looking for their 100th straight regular season victory.
"The task for this week is the same as every single week," said Wilmington College football coach Stacey Hairston. "It's not about our opponents. We know where we are at as a program, and our goal is to continue getting better. We have so many areas that we can approve, and we need to start improving on those areas. Our focus, like every single week, is to get better regardless of our opponent."
Mount Union, which boasts the best scoring defense nationally, started the season with four straight shutouts. The Purple Raiders have allowed 31 points all season long, and more than half of them came last week in their 59-17 win over Heidelberg.
Not to be outdone by its stingy defense, the Mount Union offense is second nationally in scoring, and no Ohio Athletic Conference team has held them under 50 points this season.
"They are the No. 1 team in the nation, and have been one of the premier teams for the past 20-plus years," said Hairston. "They are who they are; they are well-coached, efficient and they don't make a whole lot of mistakes."
Senior quarterback Taurice Scott, who was an all-conference receiver last season, has taken over the reigns of the offense. He is completing nearly 60 percent of his passes (83-of-141) for 1,249 yards with 11 touchdowns and just one interception.
Scott's favorite target, Roman Namdar, has hauled in eight of Scott's 11 scores, and has 23 catches for 462 yards on the season.
When Mount Union goes to the ground, the combination of seniors Bradley Mitchell and Logan Nemeth do most of the damage. The pair combines for 141 carries for 1,091 yards and 22 touchdowns. Nemeth leads the OAC with 14 rushing touchdowns.
For a defense that rarely plays into the fourth quarter, senior Tom Lally leads the OAC with six sacks and is second in the league with nine tackles for loss. Seniors Jonathan Gonell, Alex Kocheff and Lally are the top three tacklers on the team with 36, 32, and 32, respectively.
