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Early breakdowns dashed Wilmington College’s upset thoughts as the Quakers fell to No. 13 Ohio Northern, 52-14, at Williams Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The loss ends Wilmington’s season at 1-8 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, 1-9 overall. Ohio Northern ends its season at 7-2 in  OAC play and 8-2 overall.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t give our seniors a chance to go out with a win, but those kids all fought hard and made plays today. I’m proud of them,” Wilmington head coach Barry Wulf said. “We made some silly plays and things got out of hand.”

Big plays killed the Quakers. Ohio Northern scored touchdowns on its first two possessions via the long ball as Kyle Simmons fired 51- and 69-yard scoring strikes to Ryan Fleming on third-and-long situations.

The Polar Bears returned a blocked punt for a touchdown to go up, 21-0, and stretched the lead to 28-0 when Brent Donley bolted 64 yards for a score at 3:04 of the first quarter.

“It was four plays that were just explosions. I thought we were doing some things well early, but you can’t make mistakes like we made against a team that talented,” Wulf said.

After an 80-yard scoring drive put ONU up, 35-0, the Polar Bears turned another blocked punt into seven points and led, 42-0, at the break.

“We challenged our kids at halftime, and they came roaring out of the locker room and made plays. I’m glad they responded and refused to give in,” Wulf said.

Jeremy Stuckey (Springfield/Shawnee) — one of 13 Quakers honored prior to the Senior Day game — got Wilmington on the board with a 54-yard punt return early in the third quarter.

“That was just sheer joy. For all the ups and downs he has had, it was great to have him make a big play like that. It was super exciting,” Wulf said.

Wilmington’s punt return team put more points on the board when Joshua Cobb (Cincinnati/Taft) blocked a punt and Kostas Koyfis (Kristianstad, Sweden/Soderportgymnasiet) scooped up the ball and raced 13 yards for a touchdown at 6:20 of the third quarter.

Ohio Northern added a field goal and a touchdown down the stretch.

Billy Blackburn (New Vienna/East Clinton) closed his quarterbacking career with 94 passing yards, with three tosses going to Darren Howard (New Vienna/East Clinton), and two finding Josh Richardson (Cincinnati/North College), Luke Green (Wilmington) and Astin Laury (Dayton/Belmont). Laury led WC’s rushing attack with 49 yards on 16 carries.

Bryce Martin (Wilmington), who will graduate in May 2010 and forego his senior year of eligibility, led the Quakers defense with 10 tackles. The junior linebacker led the OAC with 123 stops. He ends his three-year career at Wilmington with 303 tackles, sixth best on the team’s all-time list.

“Bryce made some great plays today. He sure played Bryce Martin football today. He is an all-league player,” Wulf said. “I don’t care what the record is and what the defensive stats are, if you’re the leading tackler in the OAC, you are a pretty good football player.”