WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Marietta College dominated every facet of the game as the Pioneers defeated Otterbein University, 42-7, Saturday (Sept. 26) afternoon spoiling Homecoming for the Cardinals. The Pioneer improve to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Otterbein falls to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the OAC.
"I was very happy with our ability to start off the game fast. This has been the message all week and our guys were focused and responded well," Marietta head coach
Tom Hinkle said. "Our defense is playing at a really high level. They are playing fast and confident and they have been the backbone of this team for the first 4 weeks."
Following a facemask penalty on the opening kickoff, Marietta put the ball in play at their own 40-yard line.
Joe Tenta (Palm Bay, Fla./Heritage) completed a 20-yard pass to
Chrys Taylor (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Pickerington Central) on the first play from scrimmage as the Pioneers quickly marched 60 yards for a touchdown.
Cayden Carroll (Lockbourne, Ohio/Grove City Christian) ran the ball in from a yard out for the score.
James Cornwell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller) added the extra point for a 7-0 MC lead.
"It's good to see our offense improving each week. We can spread the ball around to a lot of different guys and that's always a problem for opposing defenses," Hinkle said. "I still think we have the ability to tighten up in certain places, but the effort is never in question and I'm proud of that."
On the ensuing kickoff, the Pioneers pinned Otterbein deep tackling the return man at the Cardinal 10-yard line. Otterbein gained just two yards on the drive and was forced to punt.
Lukas Ratliff (New Lexington, Ohio/New Lexington) blocked the punt out of the endzone for a Pioneer safety. It was the third safety Marietta's defense has recorded in the last two games.
"Special teams was much better across the board. We were able to hit on a few field goals and building that confidence down the road is huge," Hinkle said. "Another blocked punt, big returns, and solid kickoff coverage was big for the momentum of the game. We have to play special teams at a high level if we want to win some big games down the road."
Tenta threw a pair of touchdown passes as Marietta extended its lead to 22-0 in the first quarter. He hit
Antwon Johnson (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley) on a 33-yard scoring strike and then hooked up with his favorite target,
Dalton Miller (Grove City, Ohio/Bishop Ready), on a 17-yard touchdown.
While the offense was clicking on all cylinders, Marietta's defense was impenetrable. The Pioneers held Otterbein to minus 15 yards of offense in the first quarter. In addition to the blocked punt, Ratliff forced a fumble deep in Cardinal territory when he sacked the Otterbein quarterback. EJ Dawson recovered the fumble at the Cardinal 17-yard line setting up the touchdown pass to Miller.
Marietta held the Cardinals to just 109 yards of total offense. Otterbein was limited to 10 yards rushing on 32 carries and 99 yards passing on 12-of-25 attempts.
Cornwell added a pair of field goals for the Pioneers. He hit a 30-yarder in the second quarter and then closed out the Marietta scoring with a 23-yard field goal in the fourth. Miller added a second touchdown scoring on a 26-yard pass from Tenta in the third quarter. Johnson had the final touchdown when he ran one in from the 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter.
Otterbein's lone points in the game came in the third quarter when quarterback Kace Kinnamon ran the ball in from 2-yards out.
Tenta completed 22-of-29 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns. He was picked off twice. Miller finished with six catches for 97 yards and two scores. Johnson had four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown, while Taylor caught four passes for 64 yards.
Zion Jackson-Wilborn (Whitehall, Ohio/Reynoldsburg) led the ground attack. He carried the ball 11 times for 107 yards, including a 55-yard run. Carroll added 32 yards on seven carries and scored once.
Marietta is off next week. The Pioneers next game is Saturday (Oct. 10) when they travel to the University of Mount Union for a 1:30 pm kickoff.
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.
