Rhine River Cup Remains in Westerville

By a score of 34-31, the Otterbein College Cardinals managed to retain the Rhine River Cup in Westerville, just out of reach for the Heidelberg College Student Princes. The win evens the Cardinals overall record at 3-3 and improves its Ohio Athletic Conference mark to 3-2, while the Berg falls to 2-4 on the year and 1-4 in league action.

Heidelberg and Otterbein played the first college football game in Germany, which ended in a 7-7 tie in Frankfurt in 1992. The two teams have been playing for possession of the cup ever since. The Cardinals hold a 10-5-1 lead in the Rhine River series, having won nine of the last ten meetings, including the last five.

Heidelberg scored first just over four minutes in the first quarter when Lucas Bauer (Huron, Ohio / Huron) received a pass from Steve West (Huron, Ohio / Huron) and ran it 32 yards into the endzone. The extra-point kick by Jesse Hawkins (Georgetown, Ky. / Scott County) was good, giving Heidelberg a 7-0 lead.

Otterbein scored its first touchdown three minutes later off a 12 yard run from Jack Rafferty, but Heidelberg soon answered with a two-yard touchdown pass from West to Kenny Sims (Garfield Hts., Ohio / Garfield Hts.). Even though Hawkins’ field goal attempt was blocked, the Student Princes still led 13-7 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter opened up with Otterbein’s Eric Yates rushing one yard for a touchdown just under a minute and a half into play. The Berg responded with a 27-yard field goal from Hawkins, which was shortly counteracted by a 34-yard field goal from Otterbein’s Alex Shirvanian. Otterbein would score one more time before the half, while Heidelberg’s Xavior Purnell (Springfield, Ohio / Springfield) managed to block Shirvanian’s extra-point kick attempt and allowed for Charlie Peffley (Hicksville, Ohio / Hicksville) to run it all the way back to the end zone for two points.

An Otterbein field goal and a one-yard rushing touchdown from Heidelberg’s Sims made up the third quarter, setting the score at 25-26 in favor of Otterbein as the fourth quarter began.

With 13:36 left in the game, West completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Bauer to put Heidelberg ahead 31-26. West’s pass attempt for a two-point conversion failed. The Berg would make two more drive attempts towards the end zone, but both ended in punts from Tyler Smith (Rittman, Ohio / Rittman).

It was on the Otterbein’s last drive of the game, which lasted just under two minutes that Rafferty completed a four-yard pass to Ryan Bowley and put the Cardinals ahead 32-31. The two-point conversion pass by Rafferty to Scott DeLong was good, and Otterbein would take the lead with 27 seconds left by a score of 34-21.

Heidelberg just could not make its way passed the 50-yard line on its last drive attempt of the game, and victory was sealed for Otterbein as West’s pass attempt to Bauer was ruled incomplete as the clock hit zero.

West finished the day at 19-35 passing for 265 yards and three touchdowns. West completed passes to five different receivers led by Bauer with a team-high nine receptions for 124 yards. Sims led the ground game for the Berg, finishing with 97 yards on 21 carries. Matt Nero (Cortland, Ohio / Lakeview) led the Berg defense with a game-high 11 tackles to go along with one sack for a loss of six yards.

For Otterbein, Rafferty finished 17-for-24 passing for 196 yards. DeLong led all receivers with 11 catches for 160 yards.

Heidelberg returns to action Saturday, Oct. 20 at Wilmington College, kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.