MARIETTA, Ohio — Heidelberg University scored the final 27 points of the game to come from behind and defeat Marietta College, 58-32, Saturday (Oct. 12) afternoon at Don Drumm Stadium. The loss drops Marietta to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. The Student Princes improve to 4-1 on the season and 3-1 in the OAC.
"I thought we had our chances. We did some good things in the second quarter and early in the third quarter," Marietta head coach
Andy Waddle said. "They forced our hand by loading the box and really were committed to limiting Tanner (Clark). Kyle (McSweeney) was tremendous and certainly had his best outing. He was able to spread the ball around to a number of different receivers and it was all the more special wearing No. 38 in honor of Joel Wunnenberg.
The Student Princes scored the first 14 points of the game and held the lead until early in the third quarter.
Kyle McSweeney (Independence, Ohio/Trinity) hit
Gage Giovengo (Benwood, W.Va./The Linsly School) on a 20-yard touchdown pass and
Jacob Griffin (Wellington, Ohio/Norwalk St. Paul) kicked the point after to give Marietta its only lead of the day, 32-31, with 11:38 left in the third period.
Heidelberg wasted no time retaking the lead on the ensuing possession. The Student Princes needed just 2:36 and 11 plays to go 91 yards for the go ahead score. Jimmy Gephart connected with Dimitri Penick on a 12-yard touchdown. Branden Steckel added the point after for a 38-32 HU lead.
Gephart added two more touchdown passes and Jace Grossman scored on a 37-yard run accounting for the 58-32 final. Gephart finished 22-of-36 for 276 yards and five touchdowns. He was picked off once.
Heidelberg had a pair of 100-yard runners. Tayy Yearby rushed for 165 yards on 25 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns. Grossman finished with 131 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries.
Marietta did its damage through the air. McSweeney set the Marietta College single game record with 440 passing yards. The old mark of 414 yards was set last year by
Darrien Fields (Aliquippa, Pa./Aliquippa) against Otterbein. McSweeney completed 27-of-49 passes and tossed four touchdowns.
Gage Giovengo (Benwood, W.Va./The Linsly School) had seven catches for 124 yards and one touchdown.
Andrew Barker (Mogadore, Ohio/Mogadore) became Marietta career leader in touchdown receptions with the twentieth of his career. Barker had five receptions for 124 yards and a score. The old mark of 19 was held by Antonio Hutton who played from 1994-97.
Marietta plays at Wilmington College next Saturday (Oct. 19). Kick-off is set for 1:30 p.m.
Fans can follow all of 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.
