WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Seven different Pioneers scored touchdowns as Marietta College easily dispatched Otterbein University by the score of 51-14 Saturday (Sept. 21) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference football action. The Pioneers improve to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the OAC. Otterbein falls to 0-3 overall and 0-2 in conference games.
"It's always good to go out and go 1-0 on the week especially as we get into conference play and know how hard it is to get wins in our league," Marietta head coach
Andy Waddle said. "We had a great running day with Taz (Morris) going over 100 yards for the first time in his career and getting a rushing touchdown from five different players. It was good to see us go out and win the line of scrimmage."
The Pioneers set the tone early. Otterbein had the first possession of the game and was forced to punt. Marietta answered with a 13-play, 84-yard drive that took over seven minutes off the clock.
Pioneer quarterback
Connor Vierstra (Thornville, Ohio/Lakewood) dove in from a yard out to cap the drive.
Derek Cline (De Graff, Ohio/Indian Lake) added the point after for a 7-0 Marietta lead.
Marietta added three more scores in the second quarter and led 27-0 at halftime.
Jake Visnic (St. Clairsville, Ohio/Shadyside) recovered a fumble at the Otterbein 5-yard line setting up the Pioneers' second touchdown. Vierstra connected with
Logan Brookover (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) on a 1-yard scoring strike. The extra point attempt failed.
MC's third score was set up by a 44-yard run from
Zion Jackson-Wilborn (Whitehall, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) that gave the Pioneers a first and goal at the Otterbein 3-yard line.
Dawson Snyder (Pittsburgh, Pa./Moon Area) ran it in on the next play. Cline added the extra point for a 20-0 Marietta lead.
After forcing a Cardinal punt, Marietta took over on its own 20-yard line with 1:07 left on the clock. A 13-yard pass to Snyder and an 8-yard run by Vierstra moved the ball to the Pioneer 41-yard line. Vierstra then connected with Morris on a 55-yard completion to the Otterbein 4-yard line. Jackson-Wilborn ran it to the 1-yard line and then dove in for the touchdown.
Vierstra completed 14 of 22 passes for 220 yards and one touchdown. Morris had 16 carries for 131 yards and a score on the ground and had two catches for 60 yards. Jackson-Wilborn finished with 65 yards rushing on nine carries and added one touchdown.
Vante' Hodges (Horn Lake, Miss./Horn Lake) had 10 carries for 45 yards with one touchdown.
Larson Brown (Mason, Ohio/Mason) completed all three of his pass attempts for 30 yards and one touchdown. Snyder had seven receptions for 94 yards. Brookover caught two passes for six yards and a score, while
Payton Newman (Ringgold, Ga./Heritage) added one catch for 20 yards and a touchdown.
While the Pioneer offense was clicking on all cylinders, the defense was smothering the Cardinals. Otterbein gained just 50 yards rushing on 28 carries. Cayden Lassiter completed 10-of-18 passes for 125 yards.
"I'm pleased with Chance (Knight) and Harley (Hopkins) both being able to come up with big plays on defense. I thought Brady (McManaway) played a good game as well," Waddle said. "We continue to have some issues with our kicking game. Those are things we are going to focus on in practice so that it doesn't come back to haunt us in a game that's a little bit tighter."
Morris opened the scoring in the second half with a 43-yard touchdown run. Otterbein answered with an 87-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Zyaire Lewis.
Marietta added a 38-yard field goal from Cline, a 1-yard touchdown run from Hodges and the Brown to Newman touchdown pass.
Harley Hopkins (Zanesville, Ohio/West Muskingum) led the Pioneer defense with 10 tackles, including 1.0 sack and 1.5 tackles for a loss.
Chance Knight (Bridgeport, Ohio/Linsly School) added five tackles and 1.0 sack.
Marietta hosts Capital University next Saturday (Sept. 28). Kickoff is set for 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 X and Instagram.
