MARIETTA, Ohio — Saturday (Oct. 1) morning the City of Marietta hosted its first-ever half marathon. Saturday afternoon the Marietta College offense tried its best to cover an equal amount of miles on the gridiron as the Pioneers amassed 624 yards of total offense in their 62-56 win over Baldwin Wallace at Don Drumm Stadium.
The win snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Yellow Jackets and makes Marietta 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Baldwin Wallace is also 1-3 overall, but falls to 0-3 in conference games.
Marietta's offensive fireworks were the best Pioneer fans have seen in a long time. The 62 points were the most for Marietta since scoring 69 against Capital in 1995, the 624 yards of total offense was MC's most since gaining 625 against Hiram in 1997.
In a game featuring the bottom two offenses in the OAC, Marietta was ranked ninth in total offense and Baldwin Wallace was tenth, nobody would have predicted the two schools would combine for over 1,000 yards of total offense and over 100 points on the scoreboard.
Pioneer freshman running back
Tanner Clark (Caldwell, Ohio/Caldwell) set the tone early returning the opening kickoff 63 yards to the BW 34-yard line. Six plays later Clark ran it in from three yards out for the first of his three rushing touchdowns on the day. Marietta's point after failed.
Baldwin Wallace answered with back-to-back scoring drives to take a 14-6 lead with 5:37 left in the first quarter. Sam Groff scored on a one-yard run and Austin Smith dove in from two yards out for the Yellow Jackets.
On the ensuing possession, Marietta quarterback
Darrien Fields (Aliquippa, Pa./Aliquippa) hit
Andrew Barker (Mogadore, Ohio/Mogadore) on a 23-yard scoring strike to get the Pioneers within a point, 14-13. Fields would go on to throw five touchdown passes in the game. He completed 27-of-35 passes for 364 yards, all career highs.
The two teams traded touchdowns like heavyweight boxers trade punches. In a stretch starting midway through the second quarter through the end of the third, nine straight possessions resulted in touchdowns.
Clark added scoring runs of 48 and 22 yards, while Fields threw touchdowns to
Alex Smith (Mansfield, Ohio/Mansfield) and two to
Ryan VanMeter (Maysville, W.Va./Petersburg). The scoring strike to Smith covered 27 yards and VanMeter scored on passes of nine and 55 yards.
During the nine-touchdown stretch, Baldwin Wallace quarterback Jake Hudson threw for one touchdown, ran for another and caught a TD pass for a third. Mix in an eight-yard touchdown run from Smith and an 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jordan Leverette and the game was tied 49-49 heading into the fourth quarter.
Baldwin Wallace grabbed the lead early in the fourth quarter when Marietta turned the ball over on its own 11-yard line. Hudson threw a seven-yard scoring strike to Ty Gallo and Joe Simonis added the point after for a 56-49 lead with 12:20 left in the game.
Hudson finished the day with 169 yards on 16-of-28 passing. He threw a pair of touchdowns and was picked off once.
Marietta answered right back as Clark once again gave the Pioneers good field position by returning the kickoff 31 yards to the Marietta 40-yard line. Clark finished with 323 all-purpose yards including 122 yards rushing on 14 carries and 201 yards on kick returns.
Roger Walker (Palm Bay, Fla./Bayside) capped a seven-play, 60-yard drive when he caught a seven-yard TD pass from Fields with 9:21 on the clock.
Jimmy Embrescia (Northfield, Ohio/Nordonia) tied the game at 56-56 with the point after. Walker had four catches for 39 yards to go along with 113 yards rushing on 17 carries.
With both offenses firing on all cylinders, the Pioneer defense stepped up when it counted most and forced BW to go 3-and-out on its next possession.
After calling for a fair catch on its own 20-yard line, Marietta took over with 7:37 on the clock. The Pioneers then executed the game's longest scoring drive moving 80 yards in 14 plays and eating up over seven minutes off the clock.
Fields finished off the drive with a 17-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds left on the clock for a 62-56 advantage. The point after failed leaving the door open for Baldwin Wallace.
Jakkar Bishop (Mansfield, OH/Mansfield) picked off the Yellow Jackets' last chance desperation pass as time expired.
Marietta travels to University Heights on Saturday (Oct. 8) for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff at John Carroll University. Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
