TIFFIN, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's football team claimed its second straight GLIAC South Division title with a 41-9 win over Tiffin on Saturday in the regular season finale.

The Panthers, ranked No. 11 in both national polls and number four in the region, now await its NCAA postseason fate. The selection show airs Sunday at 5 p.m. and can be viewed here: http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule/2014/11/16

ODU (9-1, 9-1 GLIAC) scored on each of its first six possessions of the game, and the defense limited Tiffin's top-ranked passing offense to 161 yards on 17-of-40 passing to complete the victory.

Overall, the Panthers outgained Tiffin 485-324 and held on to the football for 34:50 in the game.

Senior quarterback Mark Miller (Cincinnati, Ohio) completed 17-of-24 passes for 239 yards, targeting junior Dez Stewart (Cincinnati, Ohio) four times for 86 yards. Senior Ronald McCloud had four grabs for 52 yards as well.

Junior Brandon Schoen (Lewis Center, Ohio) carried the ball 17 times for 90 yards and freshman Aaron Everson (Bartlett, Ill.) had 11 carries for 52 yards.

Junior Austin Osborne (Jackson, Ohio) led the defense with 10 tackles, junior Cody Culbertson (Galloway, Ohio) made seven tackles and junior Sydney Omameh (Columbus, Ohio) had six tackles, a sack and 2.0 tackles for loss.

Facing a third-and-one at the Dragon 35 on ODU's opening possession, Schoen took a handoff off the left side, stepped out of a would-be tackler and outran the Tiffin secondary for the touchdown to give ODU a 7-0 lead five minutes into the game.

Junior Brent Wahle (Pataskala, Ohio) hit a 49 yard field goal on the Panthers' next drive to give ODU a 10-0 lead, but the Dragons answered with a 17-yard TD pass on the last play of the quarter to carve the lead to 10-7.

Another Wahle field goal, this from 24 yards out, extended the lead to 13-7 early in the second. After the defense came up with a three-and-out, the Panthers marched down the field and capped a nine play, 55 yard drive with a one-yard score from freshman Darryl Johnson (Mason, Ohio), his first collegiate touchdown.

After another defensive stop, Miller connected with Stewart on pass plays of 45 and 24 yards down to the Tiffin one, and Everson took an end around into the end zone from the one yard line to give the Panthers a 27-7 lead into the break.

ODU had a 283-128 edge in yards in the first half and had the ball for 19:36 in the frame.

The Panthers forced their third straight three-and-out on Tiffin's first drive of the second half, and ODU needed just one play to score. Stewart took an end around and picked up blocks by Miller and McKnight to spring him loose for an 80 yard touchdown, the third longest run in ODU history.

The Panthers capped the scoring on a short touchdown toss by freshman Austin Ernst (Cincinnati, Ohio) to JT McFarland (Zanesville, Ohio) with 1:56 left to make it 41-9.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu