MARIETTA, Ohio — Senior defensive end Luke Riemenschneider intercepted a pass and returned it 26 yards for the winning touchdown as Baldwin Wallace University rallied to defeat Marietta College 40-33 Saturday (Oct. 11) afternoon on Homecoming at Don Drumm Stadium. Marietta falls to 2-3 on the season and 1-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. BW improves to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in the OAC.
The Yellow Jackets outscored Marietta 23-6 in the fourth quarter, including the final 16 points of the game. The Pioneers led 21-17 at halftime.
Marietta had a balanced attack on offense with 162 yards rushing and 250 yards through the air. Freshman running back
Nick O'Neal (Mont Belvieu, Texas/Barbers Hill) carried the ball 45 times for 167 yards and four touchdowns. O'Neal has scored nine touchdowns in the last two games.
Sophomore
Akil Young (Pittsburgh, Pa./University Prep) completed 17-of-30 passes for 250 yards and one touchdown. He was picked off twice. Senior
Josh Llaneza (Westerville/South) caught six aerials for 93 yards.
Baldwin Wallace tallied 255 yards rushing as junior quarterback Tyler Moeglin ran for 116 yards and one score, while junior running back Issac Reed finished with 112 yards and one TD.
Moeglin threw for 93 yards on 10-of-17 passing. He had one touchdown and one interception.
The Yellow Jackets took the opening kickoff and marched to the Marietta seven-yard line before the drive stalled. Joe Simonis hit a 24-yard field goal for the early 3-0 lead.
Marietta responded with a pair of scoring drives to take the lead, 13-3, at the end of the first quarter. O'Neal scored on runs of one yard and three yards in the opening period.
In the second quarter, BW got a big break to make the game 13-10 at 11:41. A low snap on a Marietta punt attempt caused punter
Thomas Hinkle (Fredericktown/Fredericktown) to hurry and squib a 13-yard punt that Yellow Jacket senior cornerback Kevin Krakora caught and returned 30 yards for a TD.
Marietta gained a 21-10 lead at 7:30 when O'Neal ran two yards for his third rushing TD of the contest. O'Neal also caught a 2-point conversion pass from Young to cap a 9-play and 71-yard drive in 4:11.
BW closed the gap to 21-17 at 2:43 when Moeglin threw a 21-yard strike to freshman wide receiver Joe Kijaukas. The scoring play capped a 10-play and 62-yard drive in 4:47. The game remained 21-17 at the intermission.
Marietta scored the only points of the third quarter as Young hit freshman
Tim Durkin (Boardman/Cardinal Mooney) on a 24-yard scoring strike. The Pioneers missed the point after for the second time in the game.
Baldwin Wallace responded with an eight-play, 80-yard drive to cut the Pioneer lead to 27-24, with 14:29 left in the game. Moeglin finished the drive with a 21-yard run down to the MC two and then dove in on the next play for the touchdown.
Playing in front of a large Homecoming crowd, the Pioneers answered right back. Marietta took nearly six minutes off the clock with a 12-play, 68-yard scoring drive. O'Neal scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the afternoon on a one-yard run. The two-point conversion failed and MC held a 33-24 lead with 8:40 remaining.
The Yellow Jackets put the ball in play at their own 39-yard line. Two carries from Reed and one from Moeglin gained 12 yards and set up BW at the Pioneer 49-yard line. On the fourth play of the drive, Reed broke loose and scampered into the endzone to cut the deficit to two points, 33-13.
BW tied the game, 33-33, with 3:45 on another special teams miscue by the Pioneers. Marietta's punt snap went over the head of punter
Thomas Hinkle (Fredericktown/Fredericktown). Hinkle scooped up the ball and attempted to get the punt off but BW's Austin Cordova blocked it through the back of the end zone for a safety.
Marietta dodged a bullet on the ensuing possession as Baldwin Wallaced turned the ball over on downs at the Pioneer 26-yard line. MC gained nine yards on two plays and faced a third-and-one. Young's screen pass was picked off by Riemenschneider and returned 26-yards to pay dirt giving BW its first lead, 40-33, since the opening drive with 1:22 left on the clock.
Freshman
Masai McDaniel (Cleveland Heights/Lake Catholic) reenergized the Pioneer faithful when he took the kickoff and returned it 59 yards to the Yellow jacket 36-yard line. McDaniel broke loose and had just the BW kicker to beat to the end zone. Simonis made a great open field tackle to save the TD.
Young hit
Josh Llaneza (Westerville/South) for 17 yards on a third-and-10 giving Marietta the ball on the 19-yard line with 23 seconds left in the game. Following a Marietta timeout, BW freshman Theodore Washington picked off a Young pass in the end zone to seal the victory for the Yellow Jackets.
Marietta travels to University Heights next Saturday (Oct. 18) to take on nationally ranked John Carroll University. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
