COLUMBUS, Ohio – Behind several stellar special teams plays and a balanced offensive attack, Ohio Dominican's football team downed Saint Joseph's (Ind.) College 32-20 in the season opener Saturday at Panther Field.

The Panthers racked up 447 yards of offense, including 254 rushing and 193 through the air, and Mike Noffsinger (West Branch, Mich.) ran for 58 of his 117 yards in the fourth quarter, setting the school's career rushing record. He broke Nathan Clark's mark of 1,567 yards and now has 1,589 in his career.

Senior punter/kicker Chris Vortkamp (Cincinnati, Ohio) authored a superlative performance, drilling three field goals and averaging 52.5 yards per punt. Three of his four punts went for longer than 50 yards, including a 67 yard boot, and the fourth punt was a 39 yarder downed at SJC one yard line.

Defensively, ODU limited the Pumas to just 72 yards on the ground (2.8 yards per rush), though Saint Joesph's did finish with 409 yards of offense. Junior Eisen Hardy (Pickerington, Ohio) had a team-high 11 tackles and a pick, senior linebacker Ricardo Thompson (Cincinnati, Ohio) had 10 tackles in his first action with the Panthers, and junior safety Jeff White (Gahanna, Ohio) had seven tackles and an interception as well.

"We did some things really well and our special teams was particularly outstanding," Bill Conley, head coach, said. "We won every phase of the special teams, be it coverage, returns, protection and blocking a punt. Vortkamp had one of the most phenomenal individual performances I've seen from a specialist."

ODU took the opening kickoff and moved 44 yards in seven plays. Senior quarterback Jeremy Fudge (Eaton, Ohio) rolled to his right and connected with senior Tyler Purcell (Franklin, Ohio) on a 27 yard gain, but the drive stalled and Vortkamp hit a 35 yard field goal to make it 3-0.

SJC answered though with a scoring drive on the ensuing possession, as the Pumas went 71 yards, capped off by a touchdown toss from Billy VandeMerkt to Alphonso Hines, the first of three TD passes for the Pumas on the afternoon.

ODU punted and the defense held on the ensuing possession, forcing an SJC punt. Three Panthers broke through the front line and redshirt freshman Cody Culbertson (Galloway, Ohio) got a hand on it, resulting in a three yard punt and setting up ODU deep in Puma territory. Vortkamp booted his second field goal to bring the Panthers to within a point at 7-6 with 3:50 left in the first quarter.

Saint Joseph's came up short on a 44 yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, and both defenses settled in for the majority of the frame. ODU took over possession on its own eight with less than 5:30 to play and finally came alive. Fudge connected with Noffsinger for 13 yards on a third down pass, and a personal foul penalty on the end of the play took the Panthers to their own 40. Fudge kept the ball himself twice for 18 yards and found freshman Brandon Ojikutu (Cleveland, Ohio) on the far sideline for a 13 yard gain. Then, Fudge hooked up again with Ojikutu, and the redshirt freshman spun free of a would-be tackler and raced down the sideline for a 21 yard TD.

The Panthers had a chance to score again before intermission, as senior Brandon Robinson (Eaton, Ohio) had a 28 yard punt return and Noffsinger a 13 yard reception. But ODU ran out of timeouts and couldn't spike the ball in time from the SJC 12 as time ran out, so the Panthers took a 13-7 lead into the break.

White ended SJC's opening drive of the second half by making a diving interception of a deflected pass at the SJC 30, and five plays later sophomore Ronnel Spates (Cleveland, Ohio) crashed through the goal line to make it 20-7.

The Panthers took over again on their own eight yard and engineered another 92 yard scoring drive. ODU moved out to its own 41, and Purcell took a handoff around the right end and broke loose into the SJC secondary and raced to the end zone 59 yards, the fourth longest run in school history.

"We were winning the battle of conditioning, and had the opportunity to stretch their defense out on that play," Conley said. "Tyler did a great job getting through and getting north and south to the end zone."

That made the score 27-7 with 3:28 to play in the third, but SJC came right back and needed just three plays – all passes – to move 68 yards for a touchdown and cut the score to 27-14.

Hardy ended SJC's next drive with a diving interception at the Panther three, and ODU again had another long scoring drive, working the ball 87 yards in nine plays. Freshman Casey Williams (Nashport, Ohio) made his first collegiate reception on the drive, running a streak down the near sideline and dragging a defender over 20 yards down the field before finally being brought down at the Puma 21 yard line. The Panthers settled for Vortkamp's 27 yard field goal to take a 30-14 lead with 11:49 left.

Again, the Pumas answered right back, scoring a touchdown after a 60 yard drive to make it 30-20. SJC went for two but VandeMerkt, facing heavy pressure from ODU's front four, had to hurry a throw that was off target.

The Panthers' ensuing drive stalled, but Vortkamp pinned SJC on the Puma goal line, and four plays later SJC took an intentional safety as sophomore Garrett Wilcox (Streetsboro, Ohio) chased VandeMerkt out of the back of the end zone with 3:20 left. ODU took the free kick and ran out the clock behind the legs of Noffsinger.

"Mike is just a reliable runner," Conley said. "When he needs to get yards, he gets them. We have 100 percent trust in him to make the right play. He has great quickness and can make guys miss."

Fudge finished 13-of-23 for 193 yards and a touchdown and ran the ball 13 times for 67 yards, and the offensive line did not yield a sack. Ojikutu (three catches, 40 yards) and Noffsinger (three catches, 38 yards) led the way in receptions, while Williams' 67 yard grab – the ninth-longest in school history – led the way in terms of yardage.

On defense, freshman Tyrone Patel (Cincinnati, Ohio) made eight tackles in his first contest, and Kevin Guthrie (Gahanna, Ohio) finished with seven stops.

The Panthers kick off GLIAC play next Saturday as ODU travels to Midland, Mich. to take on Northwood for a noon kickoff. Northwood defeated Findlay 14-10 earlier this afternoon in its opener.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu