Marietta Football Notes vs. Heidelberg (PDF)

Listen to WMRT's Chris Miller's Interview with Coach Filkovski

THE RECORDS: Marietta and Heidelberg enter the eighth week of the season with identical 2-4 overall records and are 1-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

GAME TIME: 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 23, Mayer Field in Tiffin, Ohio.

THE COACHES: Marietta's Jeff Filkovski is in his third season as the leader of the Pioneers. He is the former signal caller for the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe. Filkovski, who earned his bachelor's degree from Allegheny College in 1991, led the Gators to a national championship in 1990. Heidelberg's Mike Hallett is in his fourth year as the Student Princes' head football coach. The 1994 graduate of Mount Union has a 14-22 record at Heidelberg and a 29-37 record in his seven years as a head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Saturday marks the 48th time that the two teams will meet on the gridiron. The series, which Heidelberg leads 27-20, began in 1917 with Marietta winning 3-0. Marietta has taken four of the last six meetings, but Heidelberg has won two straight.

LAST MEETING: Host Heidelberg rushed for a season-high 301 yards en route to a 42-14 victory over Marietta on the first game ever played at Mayer Field on Nov. 7, 2009. Lamar Hunter (South Euclid/Brush) ran for 158 yards, while George Grady and Rahkeem Caver (Hamilton/Hamilton) both had 11 stops in the loss.

RADIO COVERAGE: Marietta College is scheduled to have WMRT-FM 88.3, its student radio station, broadcast the game for Pioneer fans. The broadcast will take the air with a short pregame at 1:20 p.m. Heidelberg will also have a local station cover the game for its fans.

LISTEN ONLINE: Marietta College is proud to once again offer its fans on the World Wide Web a free opportunity to listen to all 10 Pioneer football games. For more information visit Marietta's athletic web site: http://pioneers.marietta.edu.

NEXT GAME: On Oct. 30, Marietta will return to Don Drumm Stadium to play host to Ohio Northern University on Homecoming at 1:30 p.m. Heidelberg visits Wilmington College for a kickoff at 6 p.m.

85TH SEASON OF OAC PLAY: Saturday's game will continue Marietta's 85th season of football in the OAC. The Pioneers, who joined the league in 1926, are 172-318-11 (.354) all-time in Conference play.

THIS WEEK IN THE OAC: All 10 OAC schools are in action in week eight. In addition to the Marietta at Heidelberg game, Baldwin-Wallace plays host to Wilmington and Capital visits Mount Union at 1:30 p.m., Muskingum kicks off at Otterbein at 2 p.m. and John Carroll welcomes Ohio Northern at 7 p.m.

STAY UP TO DATE: Visit http://pioneers.marietta.edu to stay up to date with all of the Marietta College athletics news.

SMS SCORES: Marietta fans can receive scores and alerts directly on their cell phone by signing up at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/member/sms_signup.aspx.

PIONEER NEWSLETTER: Want all of the latest athletics news sent directly to your e-mail? If so, sign up at http://pioneers.marietta.edu/subscribe.aspx. Fans can choose which sports they would like to follow.

PHOTOS NOW ON SALE: Marietta Athletics is now selling select photos on its website. To purchase photos visit http://pioneers.marietta.edu/photo_gallery.aspx.

MEDIA GUIDES NOW ON SALE: Pioneer fans can now purchase 2010 football media guides. They will be made available at all home contests and in the athletics office.

CAPTAINS ANNOUNCED: Marietta College will have four captains during the 2010 season: senior offensive lineman Cameron Kiger (Rockbridge/Logan), senior fullback Rich Klingel (Marion/River Valley), senior defensive lineman Pete Santagate (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) and senior defensive lineman Adam Tate (Chesterhill/Federal Hocking).

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT: The OAC has two teams ranked in the d3football.com Top 25: #2 Mount Union and #11 Ohio Northern. Baldwin-Wallace also received one vote.

NATIONAL REPRESENTATION: Marietta's roster currently features 92 total student-athletes—51 from Ohio, 12 from Florida, 8 from Pennsylvania, 4 from Texas, 3 from West Virginia, 2 from California, Maryland and South Carolina, 1 from Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

GETTING OFF TO A QUICK START: Marietta will look to get off to a fast start out of the locker room after struggling in the first half in recent years. The Pioneers were out scored 85-20 in the first quarter and 105-30 in the second quarter of 2009. In 2010, Marietta has out scored its opponent 29-28 in the first quarter but is getting out scored 54-20 in the second quarter. In addition, the Pioneers trail 45-15 in third quarter scoring but lead 59-30 in fourth quarter scoring.

CONTROLLING THE CLOCK: Marietta will look to dominate the time of possession in 2010. Last year, the Pioneers led in time of possession in five games. This year, Marietta will look improve that number and to turn that time into more points on the scoreboard. The Pioneers trailed in time of possession in their first four games this season but have won the clock battle the last two weeks.

TURNOVERS: Marietta has worked to improve its turnover margin after struggling in the category in recent years. In 2009, the Pioneers ranked 10th in the OAC and 222nd in NCAA Division III with a -14 turnover margin. Marietta enters week eight with a +3 turnover margin, which ranks fourth in the OAC.

OAC HONORS: Junior Andrew Keller (Cincinnati/Glen Este) was named OAC Offensive Co-Player of the Week after his four touchdown effort against Wilmington. Keller threw touchdown strikes of 17, 27 and 56 yards while adding a one-yard touchdown rush.

RUSHING ONTO THE SCENE: Freshman Josh Martin (Live Oak, Fla./Suwannee), who had not seen action on offense before coming off the bench early in the first quarter, ran for 167 yards on 32 carries. It was the highest rushing total for a Pioneer since Lamar Hunter (South Euclid/Brush) ran for 172 yards also against Wilmington in 2008.

SURE-HANDED SENIOR: Senior Cory Kriechbaum (Marietta/Marietta), who caught 10 passes for a career-high 145 yards against Wilmington, has pulled in 120 passes for 1,185 yards in 33 games as a Pioneer. He is now ranked fifth all-time in receptions, 31 catches shy of the Marietta record. He is also just 178 yards from fifth place on the list of career receiving yards.

DON DRUMM STADIUM PROJECT: For more information on the Don Drumm Stadium Project visit http://pioneers.marietta.edu/index.aspx?path=dds. The project is scheduled to be completed in August of 2011.

HOMECOMING: Mark your calendar for Oct. 29-31 when Marietta will celebrate Homecoming 2010. A full weekend of activities will be centered around the Pioneers' OAC battle with Ohio Northern University at 1:30 p.m.