Marietta Football Game Notes vs. #11 Ohio Northern (PDF)

THE RECORDS: Marietta enters week nine with an overall record of 2-5 and is 1-5 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. #11 Ohio Northern is 6-1 overall and 5-1 in the OAC.

GAME TIME: 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 30, Don Drumm Stadium in Marietta, 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. Ohio Northern's Dean Paul is in his seventh year as the Polar Bears' head football coach. The 1990 graduate of Mount Union has a 48-19 record at ONU and a 88-31 record in his 12 years as a head coach.

ALL-TIME SERIES: Saturday marks the 37th time that the two teams will meet on the gridiron. The series began in 1910 with Marietta winning 5-3. The Polar Bears lead 26-9-1 all-time and have won 13 of the last 14 meetings. Marietta's last win was in upset fashion as it defeated #20 Ohio Northern 16-6 in Ada in 2006.

LAST MEETING: A quick start propelled visiting #19 Ohio Northern to a 41-10 victory in Marietta's Homecoming Game on Oct. 17, 2009. Ohio Northern, who scored on its first four possessions, out gained Marietta 388-297 in total offense. The Polar Bears finished with 142 yards rushing and 246 yards passing. The Pioneers, who controlled the ball for nearly 35 minutes, had 160 yards on the ground and 137 yards through the air.

RADIO COVERAGE: Marietta College is scheduled to have WMRT-FM 88.3, its student radio station, and WMOA-AM 1490 broadcast the game for Pioneer fans. The broadcasts will take the air with a short pregame at 1:20 p.m. Ohio Northern 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 Nov. 6, Marietta returns to Don Drumm Stadium to play host to Otterbein University and Ohio Northern welcomes Wilmington College. Both games kickoff at 1:30 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 172-319-11 (.354) all-time in Conference play.

THIS WEEK IN THE OAC: All 10 OAC schools are in action in week nine. In addition to the Ohio Northern at Marietta game, Mount Union visits Otterbein, Baldwin-Wallace travels to Muskingum and Capital plays host to John Carroll at 1:30 p.m. Heidelberg also makes the trek to Wilmington at 6 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 votes.

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 been outscored 49-25 in the first quarter and 61-27 in the second quarter. In addition, the Pioneers trail 66-22 in third quarter scoring but lead 65-30 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 three 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 nine with a +3 turnover margin, which ranks fifth in the OAC.

SURE-HANDED SENIOR: Senior Cory Kriechbaum (Marietta/Marietta), who caught 10 passes for a career-high 145 yards against Wilmington, has pulled in 127 passes for 1,289 yards in 34 games as a Pioneer. He is now ranked fourth all-time in receptions, 24 catches shy of the Marietta record. He is also just 74 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: This weekend 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.

PUTNAM PUMPERS: On Saturday (Nov. 6), the Putnam Pumpers will be performing a jump roping routine at halftime of Marietta's Senior Day game with Otterbein.

SENIOR DAY: Nov. 6 will be Senior Day for the Marietta football team. The Pioneers will recognize its senior football players, cheerleaders and student athletic trainers before kickoff with Otterbein.