BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University football team opened Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play Saturday afternoon with a 49-10 victory over the Capital University Comets. With the win, the Yellow Jackets improve to 3-0 on the season and begin OAC competition, 1-0.
Game Recap
Baldwin Wallace struck first after forcing a three-and-out on Capital's opening possession. The Yellow Jackets marched 47 yards on eight plays, capped by a one-yard touchdown run by George Linberger to take an early 7-0 lead.
Capital threatened to answer on its next possession, driving down to the BW 5-yard line, but the Yellow Jacket defense held strong and a Blayze Myers pass deflection helped force a turnover on downs.
After taking over, BW moved into Capital territory following a 10-yard gain on a defensive holding penalty and a 15-yard run by Charlie Bubonics that ended with a targeting penalty on the Comets. The drive unfortunately would end with a fumble, but the Yellow Jacket defense again came up with a fourth-down stop.
The back-and-forth action continued before Bubonics connected with Connor Awad for a 25-yard touchdown with just seconds remaining in the first quarter, extending the BW lead to 14-0.
Capital answered early in the second quarter with a 23-yard field goal before adding its first touchdown on a 62-yard play to cut the deficit to 14-10.
The Yellow Jackets responded immediately, with Linberger finding the end zone on another rushing touchdown to push the lead back to 21-10.
With just over a minute remaining in the half, defensive lineman Daniel Hopkins intercepted a Capital pass and nearly returned it for a touchdown. The interception set up the Yellow Jackets for another score, as Linberger punched in his third touchdown of the afternoon just before halftime to give BW a 28-10 advantage.
The third quarter was largely quiet offensively, with the lone score coming on Linberger's fourth touchdown of the afternoon at the 3:17 mark. The touchdown was Linberger's fourth of the game, tying the Baldwin Wallace single-game record for touchdowns and cementing his name in the Yellow Jackets' record book.
Holding a 35-10 lead, the Yellow Jackets added two more insurance touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Bubonics found the end zone on a rushing score before Zack Barnhart capped the scoring with a 20-yard touchdown run, giving BW the 49-10 victory.
Linberger led the Yellow Jackets offense with 166 rushing yards on 25 carries, while Nolan Hartsel paced the BW defense with a team-high six tackles, two tackles-for-loss, an interception and a quarterback hurry.
The Matchup
With the victory, Baldwin Wallace improves to 45-12 all-time against Capital. The Yellow Jackets have now won nine straight against the Comets and 12 of the last 13 meetings.
Looking Ahead
Baldwin Wallace hits the road next Saturday to face #22 Heidelberg in Tiffin, Ohio. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. The Yellow Jackets will then return home the following week to host Ohio Northern for Homecoming.
