ALLIANCE, Ohio – Senior Taurice Scott (Alliance/Alliance) made his first career start at quarterback, threw for three scores and ran for 89 yards and a score to lead BR-2 Mount Union to a 47-0 season opening shutout of BR-137 Bethany (W.Va.) Saturday at Mount Union Stadium.
Scott, who was the backup quarterback two years ago and last year caught a team-high 82 passes as a receiver, completed 13-of-21 passes for 206 yards with three touchdowns through the air then led the Purple Raiders with 85 yards rushing on 11 carries with a 19-yard rushing touchdown.
His top target was fellow senior Roman Namdar (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) as the All-American had five catches for 125 yards with three touchdowns.
Bradley Mitchell (Detroit, Mich./South Lake) and Logan Nemeth (McBain, Mich./McBain) each ran for touchdown as the Raiders churned out 283 yards on the ground.
All of this was more than enough for a Mount Union defense that held Bethany to 69 total yards on 55 plays. The Raiders kept the Bison on their side of the 50-yard line until their final possession of the game and had 11 tackles for loss and six quarterback sacks.
Senior linebacker Jonathan Gonell (Pembroke Pines, Fla./University School) had nine tackles while senior defensive tackle Tom Lally (Fairview Park/Lakewood St. Edward) had 2.5 sacks.
Scott and Namdar connected for the first time on Mount Union’s first possession as a 16-yard pass and catch made it 6-0 as the only score in the first quarter.
The Raiders exploded for 28 points in the second quarter with Scott throwing a 37-yard pass to Namdar, Mitchell with a three-yard TD run, Scott hitting Namdar on a 60-yard bomb and Nemeth with a 19-yard scamper while the Mount Union defense held Bethany to 25 yards for the quarter.
Scott’s final play of the day was a nifty 19-yard touchdown run through traffic that made it 41-0 early in the third quarter.
Junior kicker Jake Antel (Lakewood/Lakewood) booted field goals from 44 and 22 yards to finish the scoring.
Mount Union opens Ohio Athletic Conference play at home in two weeks against Muskingum on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. at Mount Union Stadium.
