Second half surge leads Capital over the Pioneers 43-7 on Marietta's Homecoming

Oct. 9, 2004
MARIETTA, Ohio - The Marietta College football team suffered a disheartening 43-7 loss at the hands of No. 12 Capital Saturday (Oct. 9) at Don Drumm Stadium.

Saturday was Homecoming for the Pioneers (3-2, 2-2 OAC) as well as the first game on Don Drumm since the devastating flood earlier in the season. The Crusaders (4-1, 3-1 OAC) casted a temporary shadow on the festivities with a 36-point second-half outburst to run away with the victory.

Marietta put a scare into the Crusaders with its first half performance, entering intermission tied 7-7.

Senior defensive back Brett Munn (Newbury) gave the Navy Blue & White a 7-0 lead with 19:38 to play in the second frame when he returned a Rocky Pentello (Columbus/Westerville South) fumble 51 yards for a touchdown. Anthony Huffman (Lowell/Marietta) forced the fumble, while registering the sack.

Capital responded with a 60-yard kickoff return by Thom Hausler (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson), which set up a six-play, 36-yard touchdown drive. Pentello capped the game-tying drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Shafer(Eaton).

The score remained tied until Capital's opening drive of the second half. Jason Bainum (Williamsburg) punched it in from five yards to put the Crusaders ahead 14-7.

Capital recovered the ensuing kickoff after a short kick caused chaos among the Pioneers' special teams. The Crusaders went on to score in all six of their final possessions in route the win.

Pentello finished the afternoon 25-of-29 for 307 yards and one touchdown. He also gained 28 yards on the ground.

Jason Vrable (South Park, PA) completed 10-of-16 passes for 104 yards in the loss. Jeremy Thorton (Madison, WI/East Senior) finished 3-of-8 for 25 yards in a back-up role.

Steven Wagner (Harwick, PA/Fox Chapel) was held to 52 yards on 18 carries Saturday. Colin O'Reilly (Bexley) led Capital's rushing attack with nine carries for 63 yards and one score.

Matt Friesner (Lancaster) pulled in a game-high eight catches for 100 yard, while Rankin (five catches for 51 yards) and Kive Kraft (Amanda/Clearcreek) (three catches for 50 yards) also had big games in the win.

Jason Curry (Akron/Springfield) led Marietta's receivers with three grabs for 46 yards, while Chris Sidick (Cecil, PA/Canon McMillan) finished with three catches for 37 yards.)

Tyler Kazee (Columbus/Eastmoor) finished the day 3-of-5 in field goals, hitting from 21, 31 and 24 yards. He missed from 42 and 33 yards.

Capital finished with 482 yards of total offense, while Marietta collected 201. The Pioneers fumbled three times, losing all three, while Capital fumbled twice, but recovered one of them.

The defensive standouts for Marietta, in addition to Munn, were Thadd Sharrett (Circleville) with 17 tackles and Nate Brownrigg (Zanesvile/Philo) with 13 stops, including one sack.

Sam Abdullah (Worthington/Thomas Worthington) led Capital with nine tackles.

The challenges for Marietta do not get any easier next week, as it travels to Alliance to play top-ranked Mount Union at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 16).