Wilmington, Ohio -- The Wilmington College football team lost in a close game 49-45 against Ohio Northern University. It was a tale of two halves for the Wilmington Football team, where in the second half Wilmington amounted 33 unanswered points to make a great comeback. Ohio Northern sealed the game in the final minutes of the fourth quarter by scoring a touchdown to put them up 49-45.
Wilmington falls to 2-7 overall, 1-7 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Ohio Northern improves to a 6-3 record, 5-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.
In the loss, quarterback Luke Creditt threw for 444 yards and completed five touchdowns, all to PJ Meyer.
Wide receivers PJ Meyer and Ameer Jackson led the way for Wilmington totaling 26 catches and 308 yards combined.
CJ Thompson led the way for the Wilmington defense totaling four solo tackles along with six assisted tackles. Thompson also added one and a half sacks on the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a tale of two halves in the game against Ohio Northern today for Wilmington. The time of possession and scoring plays leaned towards the Ohio Northern Polar Bears in the first half. Their offensive attack was led by quarterback Anthony McFadden who totaled five touchdowns, with four of them coming in the first half. Ohio Northern was able to score on their first four possessions of the game with all of the points coming from touchdowns. Wilmington was unable to put it in the endzone for their first two possessions which resulted in two field goals. At the end of the first quarter Ohio Northern led 14-6, but with less than a minute into the second quarter, Ohio Northern was able to add another quick touchdown increasing their lead to 21-6. Wilmington was able to add a touchdown to their point total by the end of the half, but not before allowing three more touchdowns from Ohio Northern. The halftime score was 35-12.
The second half adjustments made by both the Wilmington offense and defense, were absolutely tremendous. During the first drive of the second half the Wilmington defense set the tone by causing a fumble from Ohio Northern. The defense recovered the fumble which started off the second half in a great direction. Creditt then led the offense to a 9 play and 95 yard drive to score the first points of the second half with a touchdown run by Eric Flynn Jr. The Wilmington defense answered the call again by getting another stop resulting in a punt for Ohio Northern. Wilmington again answered back offensivley led by a couple of great plays from Creditt, capped off with a touchdown pass to Meyer. The score quickly became 42-24 with a little over three minutes left in the third quarter.
Defensive stops became a theme in the fourth quarter as multiple Wilmington defensive players were able to get into the backfield recording five sacks against Ohio Northern's quarterback. During the fourth quarter Credit and Meyer's connection was very impressive. The two connected on three touchdowns in the fourth quarter that gave Wilmington an opportunity to complete the comeback. With 1:24 left on the clock Wilmington went with an onside kick that was almost perfect, but Wilmington was unable to recover the ball. Ohio Northern was able to run the ball after making one first down and that ultimately sealed the game for the Polar Bears.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Creditt totaled 444 yards throwing on the day, with recording five touchdown passes and adding another 48 yards on the ground.
PJ Meyer completed his record five touchdown performance with 208 yards receiving.
Ameer Jackson totaled 13 catches on 100 yards receiving.
CJ Thompson finished with ten total tackles on the afternoon, with adding 1.5 sacks and a pass break up.
Ryan Prince also added 4 total tackles with a sack and two tackles for loss.
UP NEXT
The Quakers travel to Muskingum University (1-8, 0-8 OAC) next Saturday. Kickoff in Wilmington is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
