OU Dominated Bethel College

The Ottawa University Braves defeated the Bethel College Threshers 69-34 on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Peoples Bank Field.

The Braves took an early lead after their defense forced a series of turnovers. Junior Michael Behr threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to senior Jon Hilliger and after junior Jeff Stamp's extra point was good, OU led 7-0.

The Braves’ attack continued after a Bethel punt, when OU put together a 57-yard drive that finished with junior Dexter Hayes scoring from 14 yards out. Stamp kicked the extra conversion again to put the score 14-0 with a minute to go in the first quarter.

OU’s defense continued to hold the Threashers, forcing a fourth and seven from the braves’ 42-yard line, giving the offensive line the opportunity to extend the lead.

After seven plays, the Braves got to the end zone again. Behr found Stangby open and OU led 21-0.

An interception by junior Coltin Ghumm gave the ball back to the Braves and Behr ran the ball in from 52 yards out and OU had a 28-0 lead after the Stamp extra point.

The Threshers scored for the first time when there were 8 minutes and 39 seconds left in the second quarter. Bethel scored when Cody Peterson passed to Tommy Alexander for a touchdown. Maxwell Wren’s extra point was good and OU's lead was cut to 28-7.

The Braves answered with a three-yard touchdown run by junior Luke Lundy. Then Stamp’s extra point was good and the Braves led 35-7.

Bethel scored on a touchdown pass from Peterson to Tommy Alexander with almost two minutes left in the first half. After the extra point, the Braves' lead now was 35-14.

However, OU scored one more time before halftime. The Braves pushed the ball down the field and Stamp attempted a 31-yard field goal as the clock ran out. The field goal gave the Braves a 38-14 lead at the half.

Right after halftime, a 37-yard field goal gave the Braves a 41-14 lead.

Bethel, on the other hand, went for it on fourth and five from the OU 48-yard line, but junior Erik Brown stopped it up, giving OU the ball.

Dexter Hayes ran the ball in one more time to give OU a 55-14 lead with less than five minutes to play in the third quarter. Bethel answered scoring with a Stephen Scott touchdown run around a minute later.

OU brought in back up quarterback freshman Marshall Wethington, who led the Braves down to the Threshers 20-yard line, where his next pass was intercepted.

Bethel scored minutes later when Stephen Scott ran the ball in from 44 yards out. Wren kicked the extra point to cut the Braves’ lead to 55-28.

Dexter Hayes found the end zone once again and with Stamp’s extra point, OU led 62-28 with almost nine minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

Bethel scored its last touchdown of the game with 2 minutes and 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter, when Michael Freeman ran the ball in from 3 yards out. The extra point attempt was not good, so the score stayed 62-34.

The Braves answered with another touchdown on their next offensive possession. Sophomore Tanner Staats ran the ball in from 14 yards out. Stamp's kick gave the Braves the final lead and the game 69-34.

The Braves had a total of 655 yards of total offense, fourth all-time in the OU record book for a single game. OU also threw for 189 yards and rushed for a school record 466 yards. The 73 rushing attempts by the OU offense was a school record as well.

However, even though the Braves set some new records, some of the players were not completely happy with their performance. Junior Kellan Hernandez said he doesn’t think they played to their full potential but that still got a lot of good out of the game. “We still have a lot to work on, but it seems like we're improving each week,” he said. “We ran the ball really well and the offensive line looked great, but our special teams aren't quite all shored up yet. We still have a lot of work to do on those.”

Junior Taylor Bodine said playing discipline and advancing deep into the playoffs are a couple of their goals. “We still need to improve in some areas if we want to be able to reach our goals for this season,” he said. “We ran the ball very well and came up with stops on defense when we needed them. However, we had a few mental break downs during the game.” 12