Mount Union football wins Ohio Athletic Conference championship game

ALLIANCE The opportunity to win a national championship was taken out of their hands a long time ago.

All the Mount Union Purple Raiders could do this spring was make the best of a challenging situation. They walked off the field Friday night knowing they did just that.

More:Braxton Plunk, defense lead Mount Union football team past Marietta

Mount Union beat Heidelberg 64-14 to win the Ohio Athletic Conference title for the 31st time. In past years the Purple Raiders celebrated this feat for a day or so, then set their sights on a much bigger goal.

COVID-19, small-college football’s move from fall to spring this school year and the NCAA’s decision to cancel Division III championships changed everything. The OAC title was the Purple Raiders’ goal this time.

They earned it.

“This has been a year coming,” Mount Union head coach Geoff Dartt said. “It has been almost 13 months to the day we were shut down. Our guys didn’t blink. Our coaches didn’t blink.

“We adapted, and I believe we overcame. There was never any complaining. There was grinding. I was proud of our players and coaches.”

This was the OAC’s first championship football game in 38 years. From 1972-83, the conference’s two division winners met for the title. After five schools left the OAC, a round-robin format was used to determine the champion.

The OAC brought the division format back for a five-game spring season. By winning their divisions, Mount Union and Heidelberg earned the right to meet for the title.

The Purple Raiders left little doubt who the OAC’s best team was … again.

“Coach Dartt says it’s never easy to win games,” Mount Union quarterback Braxton Plunk said. “You never want to take those for granted.

“This was our goal. We wanted to win a championship, and this was the only championship we could win.”

Plunk had a big hand in it against Heidelberg. He threw two first-quarter touchdown passes to Wayne Ruby Jr., including a 62-yarder on the second snap of the game.

Then Plunk almost entered his name in the record books.

Late in the first quarter, Plunk spotted Jaden Manley open near the Mount Union sideline. Manley caught Plunk’s pass, broke a tackle and raced 94 yards for a touchdown.

Plunk and Manley fell 1 yard short of tying the Mount Union record for longest touchdown completion. The quarterback who holds the record is former Purple Raiders head coach Larry Kehres.

“Last year we were both on second team and worked on some chemistry,” Plunk said of he and Manley. “You can definitely trust a playmaker like him.

“He has played great. Wayne Ruby has played great. DJ Harvey has played great. I couldn’t be more grateful and thankful for those guys.

Dartt hopes Mount Union’s unbeaten spring will be the catalyst to more great football in a few months. The Purple Raiders will kick off the 2021 fall season on Sept. 4 at Westminster. The NCAA Division III season will end 3 1/2 months later when Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium hosts the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.