MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College used the big play to defeat Ohio Northern University by the score of 27-10 Saturday (Oct. 29) afternoon at Don Drumm Stadium. The Pioneers improve to 4-4 overall and 3-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Ohio Northern slips to 1-7 on the season and 1-6 in the OAC.
"We're excited to get the win today and I am proud of the way the guys fought," Marietta head coach
Andy Waddle said. "It wasn't always the way we wanted it to go. But we made some timely plays."
Bryce Agnew (Cleveland, Ohio/Berea-Midpark) got the Pioneers on the board in the first quarter. The senior All-American broke free for an 89-yard touchdown run midway through the period.
Lucas Shepherd (Chesapeake, Ohio/Chesapeake) added the extra point for a 7-0 Marietta lead.
Ohio Northern answered with an 11-play drive that resulted in a 44-yard field goal from Dom DiFalco to make it 7-3 with 13:39 left in the first half.
Neither team could manufacture much offense the rest of the second quarter and the game appeared to be headed to halftime with the Pioneers leading by four after ONU missed a field goal and Marietta took over at its own 20-yard line with 2:36 left on the clock.
Pioneer quarterback
Connor Vierstra (Thornville, Ohio/Lakewood) was sacked for a loss moving the ball back to the 12-yard line. Agnew gave the MC drive new life when he broke a 27-yard run. A pair of short passes moved the ball to the Polar Bear 49-yard line with 37 seconds remaining.
Another sack, followed by a 10-yard Vierstra scramble left the Pioneers with third down at the ONU 48-yard line and nine seconds left on the clock. After a Marietta time out, Viersta hit
Dawson Snyder (Pittsburgh, Pa./Moon Area) on a quick out for six yards.
On fourth down Vierstra lofted a Hail Mary into the endzone as time ran out. Rader Eastep came down with the catch for a Pioneer touchdown. Shepherd's kick made it 14-3 at halftime.
"The biggest play of the day was Eastep's catch," waddle said. "It was a great ball from Connor (Vierstra) and a great job by Eastep to go up and get the ball."
Ohio Northern cut the lead to four points, 14-10, when Adan Figueroa hit L.J. Payton on a 15-yard touchdown pass to cap a 9-play, 63-yard drive. DiFalco added the point after.
Snyder grabbed the momentum right back for the Pioneers when he returned the kickoff 71 yards to the Ohio Northern 27-yard line. Three straight Agnew runs gained 11 yards giving Marietta a first down at the 16-yard line. Backup quarterback Gabe Tingle ran the ball in on the next play for the score. Shepherd's kick made it 21-10 with 1:30 left in the third quarter.
Marietta scored the lone touchdown of the fourth quarter.
Malik Grier (Huntington, W.Va./Huntington) intercepted a Figueroa pass and returned it to the Polar Bear 37-yard line. Agnew ran the ball four times moving the ball to the 7-yard line and an ONU offside penalty put the ball at the 3-yard line.
Vierstra capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Agnew. The point after attempt was blocked giving Marietta the 27-10 lead.
Agnew went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the second straight season with 164 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries. He also caught four passes for 44 yards and a touchdown.
Vierstra completed 8-of-15 passes for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Tingle completed 2-of-3 passes for eight yards.
Figueroa completed 16-of-32 passes for 148 yards and one score to lead Ohio Northern. Brock Martin carried the ball 11 times for 46 yards. Austin Eick gained 36 yards on three carries. Payton finished with five catches for 58 yards and one touchdown.
Marietta's defense spent a lot of the afternoon in the Ohio Northern backfield recording seven sacks in the game.
Chance Knight (Bridgeport, Ohio/The Linsly School) and
Brady McManaway (Pleasant City, Ohio/Meadowbrook) each had 2.0 sacks, while All-American defensive end
Drake Neuberger (Norwalk, Ohio/Norwalk) had 1.0 on the day.
"Any time you can put pressure on the quarterback it makes playing offensive football hard and we were able to do that today," Waddle said. "Figuerora is a really good athlete, and he is going to be a very good player."
Marietta hosts Capital University next Saturday (Nov. 5). Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. in Don Drumm Stadium.
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.
