Raiders Cruise To Another Easy Victory

Alliance, OH- The Mount Union Purple Raiders are no strangers to explosive plays or dominant victories. With the Wilmington Quakers visiting Kehres Stadium on Saturday, the Purple Raiders looked to keep up this trend as they headed into the stretch run of the season, and the Raiders did just that. The second ranked Purple Raiders cruised to a 63-3 victory over the Wilmington Quakers on Saturday afternoon. 

Early in the first quarter, the Raiders scored with a 21-yard touchdown run from running back DeAndre Parker. After the offense got the Raiders onto the scoreboard, it was the defense’s turn to come up with a big play. Cornerback Josh Jones came away with a pick six from 28 yards out to make the score 14-0. To wrap up the first quarter for Mount Union, Parker scored once more from 7 yards out. A familiar duo got the scoring going in the second quarter for Mount Union via the passing game. Braxton Plunk connected with Wayne Ruby Jr. from 44 yards out to extend the lead to 28-0. Déjà vu later struck in the quarter as Plunk once again found Ruby from 44-yards out for another score. Capping off the first half scoring was Parker once more to complete his first half hat trick from 46 yards, which gave the Raiders a 42-0 halftime lead. 

At the start of the second half, the Raiders continued to lay it on the Quakers. Braxton Plunk connected with Tyrell Sanders from 11 yards out and extended the Raider lead, giving Sanders his first receiving touchdown of the season. Backup quarterback Noah Beaudrie kept it himself from 4 yards out for another Raider touchdown to extend Mount Union’s lead to 56-0, and to end the third quarter. Opening the fourth quarter, the Quakers got onto the scoreboard via a 30-yard field goal from kicker Seth Best. Finishing off the scoring for the Raiders was running back Lance Mitchell on a 24-yard score to make the final score 63-3 in favor of the Raiders. 

While the Raiders usually dominate the passing game, the run game powered the offense today, finishing with 300 rushing yards and 214 passing yards. DeAndre Parker led the Raider rushing attack with 12 carries for 124-yards and 3 touchdowns for the second straight week. Lance Mitchell added 6 carries for 51 yards and a touchdown. Braxton Plunk finished 12-18 for 196-yards and 3 touchdowns. As always, Wayne Ruby Jr. was the leading receiver for the Raiders with 5 receptions for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns all in the first half. With his 153 receiving yards, Ruby has now surpassed the 1,000 receiving yard mark for the season just seven games into the season. Ruby now also has a Division 3 best 18 receiving touchdowns on the season. 

Defensively, the Raiders once again had another strong showing led by Josh Jones’s pick six. For his big play, Jones was named the Traps Sports Player of the Game as he collected his second career pick six. Jones now leads the team with 3 interceptions this season. The Raiders were once again led in tackles by Mason McMillen who finished with 7 tackles in the afternoon. Fellow linebacker Kaleb Detellem forced a fumble for the Raiders and finished with a team-high two sacks. As a team, the Raiders sacked the quarterback five times and allowed just 59 yards rushing and 109 yards passing. The Quakers continued their offensive struggles after being shutout in each of their last two games. The Quakers have now been outscored 156-3 in their last three outings. 

With the loss, the Quakers now drop to 3-4 on their season and 2-4 in OAC. They will play host to the Heidelberg Student Princes next week in an OAC battle. Meanwhile, with this victory, the second ranked Purple Raiders improved to an undefeated 7-0 record on the season. They will travel to Otterbein to take on the Cardinals next week.