MARIETTA, Ohio — 5 first half giveaways were too much to overcome Saturday (Oct. 3) afternoon at Don Drumm Stadium, as the Marietta College football team suffered a 37-13 loss to Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) rival #22 Capital University. The Crusaders improved to 4-0 overall and 3-0 in the league for the fourth straight season, while the Pioneers fell to 2-2 overall and 1-2 in the OAC. [Box Score]

Capital out gained Marietta in total yards 364-283. The Pioneers actually won the time of possession 31:56 to 28:04 and compiled 19 first downs compared to the Crusaders' 16. 17 of Capital's 27 first half points, however, came off turnovers, as Marietta fumbled on 4 of its first 6 possessions and threw an interception on its eighth.

The Pioneers were able to run the ball effectively from the start against the Crusaders, who entered ranked first in the OAC and fourth in NCAA Division III in rush defense after giving up just 33.3 yards per game over its first three contests. Marietta, who gained 152 yards on the ground and finished with a net of 126 yards rushing, however, could not hold onto the football.

A fumble on its first possession quickly led to a 43-yard touchdown pass from Marty Assmann to Ryan Gunnarson, the first of 4 touchdown strikes from Assmann, who finished 11-of-18 and threw for 202 yards.

After a Marietta three-and-out, Assmann made it 14-0 with a 54-yard connection to Evan Blake with 7:14 left to play in the first period. A second straight three-and-out from the Pioneers led to a 29-yard field goal from Garrett Bennington, giving the Crusaders a 17-0 advantage just 11-plus minutes into the game.

The Pioneers then fumbled on their next three possessions. The Crusaders finally took advantage of the third, adding a 23-yard field goal to take a 20-0 lead with 8:56 remaining in the half. Capital's defense then forced its fifth turnover of the half, this time an interception near the end of the half, and managed to increase its lead to 27-0 before intermission when Assmann hooked up with Blake for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 1 second left in the first half.

The Crusaders added to their advantage on their first drive of the second half. Assmann capped the series with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Armando Ancona to put Capital on top 34-0.

Marietta's offense did not give up and pieced together two touchdown scoring drives in the final period. Sophomore Andrew Keller (Cincinnati, Glen Este), who finished the afternoon 18-of-27 and threw for 157 yards, found classmate Jahmaal Jones (Valrico, Fla., Bloomingdale) open for a 12-yard touchdown with 13:01 left in the game to finish off a 7-play, 54-yard drive. The extra point attempt failed, making the score 34-6.

The Pioneers' defense then forced a three-and-out before Keller orchestrated a 12-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass to junior Cory Kriechbaum (Marietta, Marietta). Sophomore Kyle Cardwell (Uniontown, Green) hit the extra point to pull the Pioneers closer 34-13.

Marietta then attempted an onside kick, but Capital recovered. Minutes later, Bennington drilled his third field goal of the game, this time from 25 yards, to complete the scoring in a Crusaders' 37-13 win.

Marietta went to battle without leading rusher senior Lamar Hunter (South Euclid, Brush), who sat out with an injury, and turned to three freshmen to pick up the slack. Tevin Dones (Oakley, Calif., Antioch) finished with a team-high 16 carries for 69 yards, Alexander Fountain (Live Oak, Fla., Suwannee Senior) added 10 carries for 48 yards, while Nate Zills (Alma, W.Va., Tyler) had 8 carries for 28 yards.

Pioneer sophomore Chad Walker (Spring Hill, Fla., Central) pulled in a team-best four catches for 47 yards, while Jones and Kriechbaum added 3 receptions for 38 and 13 yards, respectively.

Matt Merritt (69 yards) and Dom D'Andrea (62 yards) paced Capital's rushing attack, while Gunnarson and Blake both pulled in 3 catches for 76 and 68 yards, respectively.

Marietta sophomore Dan Starr (Senecaville, Buckeye Trail) led all tacklers with a career-high 10 stops, while freshman George Grady (Willowick, Eastlake North) added 7 and five others Pioneers had 4. Capital was led by three players, Sam Jacobs, Matt Heagen and Brad Pickens, who all had 7 total hits.

The Pioneers return to action on Saturday (Oct. 10) afternoon when they visit John Carroll University. Kickoff in University Heights is slated for 2 p.m. WMRT-FM 88.3 will carry the game for Marietta fans both locally and online at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/stream.asx.