ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Fifth year starting quarterback
Connor Vierstra (Thornville, Ohio/Lakewood) etched his name into the Marietta College record book setting the Pioneers' all-time mark for touchdown passes with 58 in his career. Vierstra threw four touchdown passes in Marietta's 55-0 win at Saint John Fisher Saturday (Sept. 7) afternoon.
"Today was a great start to the season. It was a clean game when you look at the stats with no penalty yards," Marietta head coach
Andy Waddle said. "We didn't give up any big plays and really controlled the line of scrimmage sacking their quarterback seven times and not giving up any sacks. There are a couple of things with our special teams that we need to get cleaned up but, all in all, it was a great start to the season."
Vierstra completed 20-of-23 passes for 337 yards and four touchdowns. His 58 career TD passes broke the record of 56 held by former Pioneer Darrien Fields. Next on Vierstra's list is the career record for passing yards. Fields holds the current record with 6,380 yards. Vierstra is close behind with 6,158 career yards.
The Marietta offense started with a bang as the Pioneers were backed up to their own one-yard line. On the first offensive play of the game for the Navy Blue and White, Vierstra connected with Jay Melchiori for 84 yards.
Taz Morris (Tampa, Fla./Wharton) capped the drive with a three-yard touchdown run.
Vierstar would go on to throw touchdown passes of five yards and 13 yards to
Dawson Snyder (Pittsburgh, Pa./Moon Area), 24 yards to
Logan Brookover (Newport, Ohio/Frontier), and 15 yards to
Zion Jackson-Wilborn (Whitehall, Ohio/Reynoldsburg). In addition, he ran one in from three yards out accounting for five of Marietta's eight touchdowns in the game.
While the Pioneer offense was firing on all cylinders, the defense was absolutely stifling. Marietta held Saint John Fisher to just six first downs and only 103 yards of total offense. The Pioneers limited the Cardinals to a paltry 35 yards rushing on 33 carries.
When the Cardinals tried to throw the ball, Marietta was just as stingy. The Pioneers intercepted a pair of SJFC passes and sacked the Cardinal quarterback seven times. Senior All-American defensive lineman
Chance Knight (Bridgeport, Ohio/Linsly School) led the Pioneer defense with 3.0 sacks.
Lukas Ratliff (New Lexington, Ohio/New Lexington) and Jason Salmon each had one interception.
Backup quarterback
Larson Brown (Mason, Ohio/Mason) completed 2-of-3 passes for 56 yards and one touchdown.
Morris got the start at running back and rushed for 41 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries. Freshman
Isaiah Mitchell (Hebron, Ohio/Lakewood) finished with 70 yards on four carries and scored his first career touchdown on a 65-yard run to finish the scoring for the Pioneers. Jackson-Wilborn had 10 carries for 44 yards.
Melchiori finished with 132 receiving yards on three catches. Snyder had seven catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns.
Evan Gandee (Vincent, Ohio/Warren) and
John Sierputowski (Mentor, Ohio/Mentor) each had three catches for 37 yards. Sierputowski had one touchdown reception.
After a week off, the Pioneers play at Otterbein University on Saturday (Sept. 21). Kickoff is set for 2:00 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.
