By Tim Glon
Senior Tate Humphrey scored on a 2-yard run with 27 seconds left, but his 2-point conversion pass fell incomplete and No. 24 Baldwin Wallace held on for a thrilling 22-20 football victory over Ohio Northern on a muddy Saturday afternoon at Dial-Roberson Stadium.
The Polar Bears fall to 1-4 overall and 1-3 in Ohio Athletic Conference play, while the Yellow Jackets improve to 4-1, 3-1.
Humphrey's run capped a 10-play, 60-yard drive that saw ONU close a 22-14 deficit to 22-20.
But Humphrey was flushed out of the pocket on the 2-point conversion try and his desperation pass just as he was knocked out of bounds fell incomplete. BW then recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.
Humphrey completed 12 of 25 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns and ran 16 times for 44 yards and a third score to lead ONU.
Senior Carter Paul rushed 18 times for 85 yards for Northern as well.
Ryan O'Rourke completed 15 of 26 passes for 140 yards and a score and ran for another TD and Sebastian Zuluaga carried 18 times for 79 yards for the Yellow Jackets.
A bad snap from center on the first play of the game sailed over Humphjrey's head and was recovered by BW at the ONU 16-yard line, setting up a 2-yard run by Josiah Holt and it was 7-0 with just 2:59 gone in the contest.
But ONU rallied, tying the game on a 19-yard TD pass from Humphrey to senior Justin Wilson with 5:47 left in the first period.
Humphrey then hit Frank Thien on a 33-yard scoring pass on ONU's next possession and the Polar Bears led 14-7 with 2:24 left in the opening period.
After BW had pinned ONU at its 4-yard line on a 50-yard punt, Northern suffered another bad snap that skidded past Humphrey and out of the back of the end zone for a safety and the lead was cut to 14-9 with 3:36 left in the first half.
BW then marched 52 yards in nine plays on its ensuing possession and scored on a 4-yard pass from O'Rourke to Aaron Manders to go up 15-14 with just 20 seconds left in the half.
A short punt gave BW the ball at Northern's 31-yard line and it took the Yellow Jackets six plays to score on a 3-yard run by O'Rourke to go ahead 22-14 with 58 seconds left in the third period.
Northern drove to the BW 4-yard line, but the Yellow Jackets held on downs with 9:20 left in the game.
Sophomore Steven Kenny tied a career-high with 15 tackles to lead the Polar Bear defense.
BW out-gained ONU 276-260 and had the ball for 32:55.
The Polar Bears will be on the road for their next two games, playing at Marietta on Oct. 13 and at John Carroll on Oct. 20.
