MARIETTA, Ohio – No. 2 ranked Mount Union took advantage of six Marietta College turnovers en route to a 69-3 victory Saturday (Sept. 16) afternoon at Don Drumm Stadium. The loss drops Marietta to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Purple Raiders are 2-0, 1-0 in the OAC.
Five of Mount Union's nine touchdowns came after Pioneer turnovers, including a pair of second half pick-sixes from Richard Morris. The Purple Raiders intercepted four Marietta aerials and recovered a pair of MC fumbles in the game.
Marietta took the opening kickoff and drove to the Mount Union 14-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. The Pioneers went for it on fourth and one, but
Tanner Clark (Caldwell, Ohio/Caldwell) was stuffed for no gain ending the drive.
Mount Union took over on downs and on the third play of their first drive D'Angelo Fulford hit Jared Ruth on a 45-yard pass completion moving the ball to the Pioneer 30-yard line.
The Purple Raiders gained just two yards on the next three plays and settled for a 45-yard field goal from Alex Louthan for a 3-0 lead with 7:45 left in the first quarter.
It took a little more than three minutes on the clock for that lead to balloon to 17-0. Marietta was picked off on each of its next two possessions and Mount Union turned both into points. Josh Petruccelli ran one in from five yards out and Fulford threw a touchdown pass to Ruth after the second Marietta interception.
Jimmy Embrescia (Northfield, Ohio/Nordonia) got Marietta on the board with a 30-yard field goal in the final minutes of the first quarter to make it 17-3.
Three more scoring strikes from Fulford in the second quarter and a rushing touchdown from Braeden Friss made it 45-3 at halftime.
Mount Union extended its lead on the first possession of the second half. Fulford connected with Ruth on a 40-yard touchdown on the Raiders' second play of the drive for a 52-3 lead.
Louthan hit his second field goal of the game, a 21-yarder, pushing the lead to 55-3 with 6:30 left in the third quarter.
Morris intercepted a
Darrien Fields (Aliquippa, Pa./Aliquippa) pass at midfield and returned it to pay dirt in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Morris closed out the scoring when he picked off
Kyle McSweeny (Independence, Ohio/Trinity) and returned it 74-yards for his second touchdown of the game making it 69-3 with 8:29 left on the clock.
Roger Walker (Palm Bay, Fla./Bayside) led the Pioneer ground game with 68 yards on 12 carries. Fields completed 12-of-20 passes for 127 yards. He was intercepted three times. McSweeny completed 3-of-4 lasses for 29 yards and was picked off once.
Ryan Van Meter (Maysville, W.Va./Petersburg) caught six passes for 64 yards, while
Andrew Barker (Mogadore, Ohio/Mogadore) had three catches for 24 yards.
Fulford completed 12-of-18 passes for 275 yards and five touchdowns. Ruth had five receptions for 125 yards and three scores. Petruccelli rushed for 88 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries.
Defensively,
Garrett Davis (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) led the Pioneers with nine tackles, including 1.5 for a loss. Danny Robinson had a game-high 11 tackles for the Purple Raiders.
Marietta hosts rival Muskingum University in the annual Shrine Game next Saturday (Sept. 23) at 1:30 p.m.
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.
