By Matt Florjancic
D3football.com

BEXLEY, Ohio -- Five minutes is an eternity in the world of sports.

For 12th-ranked Capital, a five-minute stretch during the second quarter cost the Crusaders a chance at upsetting the top-rated Purple Raiders of Mount Union. At the halfway point of the second period, neither Capital nor Mount Union put a scoring drive together. The closest either team came to scoring was a missed 51-yard field goal from Capital's Matt Spitz with 7:36 left in the first quarter.

Behind a stout effort from the defense and key plays by the special teams, the Purple Raiders reigned over Capital 37-0. It was the fourth consecutive shutout for Mount Union and its fifth in six games. Capital was held scoreless for the first time since the 1999 season opener at Thiel.

The Mount Union special teams unit blocked two Crusader punts in the second quarter. The first was blocked by freshman linebacker Sam Kershaw and the ball was recovered at the Capital 26-yard line. Three minutes later, junior Nate Kmic ran his 16th touchdown of 2007 across the goal line.

“Capital has an outstanding defense. It's been improving steadily,” Mount Union coach Larry Kehres said. “I know they've had excellent offense too, but you don't get to the top of the conference, then get in the playoffs and win without good defense and the kicking game.

“They're a well-balanced team,” he added. “Unfortunately, the injuries they've sustained have hurt them on offense. Their defense is fine, fine players, fine coaches. I can't complement them enough.”

Capital could not get the offense going on the ensuing drive. On first down, Wade Bartholomew was sacked. Then, an offensive lineman jumped offside, forcing the Crusaders into a second-and-19 situation. After an incomplete pass on third down, Capital coach Jim Collins called upon punter Tom Gantner to send the ball away.

Gantner had to hurry the punt and hit the ball off the side of his foot. The 21-yard kick gave Mount Union a first-and-10 at the Capital 39. The Purple Raiders went on to convert a fourth-and-4 to enter the red zone. Kmic responded by taking the handoff 20 yards down the sideline for the score.

Mount Union was not done making plays on special teams. Facing a fourth down at his 30-yard line, Collins aimed to continue the battle of field position, but Matt Williamson had other ideas. The sophomore beat the protection and blocked the second punt of the game. As the ball rolled into the end zone, Capital recovered, but the Purple Raiders earned a safety and a 16-0 lead.

“The two blocked punts [are] what turned the momentum,” said Collins. “We were playing a game of field position back and forth. We knew we were going to struggle moving the football. We were hoping we could stay in the game and win the battle of field position.

“They blocked the punt and that made things easy,” Collins added. “Then, they had the other blocked punt where they got the safety. That was the big key. The wind was a factor as well. They were going into the wind in the first quarter and we were going into the wind in the second quarter. Those two things I thought were big factors.”

Though Kmic gained 114 yards on 36 carries, he gave the credit for the victory to his teammates.

“In the first quarter, we were fighting the wind and we didn't have very good field position,” Kmic said. “Our defense really stepped up and got us the ball in good situations. That set us up for the big second quarter.

“We just drove the ball down and did what we needed to do,” added Kmic.

Mount Union returned the safety kick to its 47-yard-line. Junior quarterback Greg Micheli led the Raiders down the field with a mix of running and passing to Pierre Garcon. On third-and-5 from the Capital 23, Garcon hauled in a pass, stumbled over a defender and regained his balance in time to earn his sixth receiving touchdown of the season.

The Purple Raiders added two more rushing touchdowns, one in the third and the final score of the game in the fourth quarter. The third quarter score was set up by another big special teams play.

Mount Union running back Justin Wray dropped back to receive the Gantner punt of 26 yards. Wray caught the ball, got out of the initial tackle and followed a wall of Purple Raiders down the sideline for a 37-yard return. Six plays later, Kmic scored on an 8-yard run.

“It was another big play,” Kehres said of the return. “There were very few big plays by our offense. Most of the big plays in the game were by our defense or by our special teams.

The Raider defense held Capital to 92 yards of total offense. Bartholomew completed six passes for 32 yards. Running back Matt Merritt had 58 yards on 22 carries for the Crusaders.

“It's a combination of Mount applying pressure in terms of just getting up the field,” Collins said. “Mount's got real tall defensive linemen and [Wade Bartholomew's] not very tall. I think he had a tough time seeing over them.

“I can remember a lot of days where Mount Union has made great quarterbacks look not so great,” he added. “They're going to do some things on defense that are going to stop what you do on offense. Mount played a great game defensively.”

Capital closes the season with a trip to Muskingum next Saturday before hosting Baldwin-Wallace on Nov. 10. If they win out, they will be in the exact same situation they were in two years ago -- 8-2 with losses to Otterbein and Mount Union.

“For us, if we have any aspirations of going to the playoffs, the playoffs start today,” Collins said. “That's the bottom line. It's out of your hands. You've just got to win your games and then you wait for them to select the teams.”

Mount Union travels to John Carroll this coming Saturday before ending the regular season at home against the Marietta Pioneers.