MARIETTA, Ohio — Bryce Agnew ran for 131 yards and four touchdowns leading Marietta College to a lopsided 56-7 win over Otterbein University Saturday (Nov. 6) afternoon at Don Drumm Stadium. The 56 points was the most for the Navy Blue and White since the 2018 season.
The Pioneers improve to 4-5 overall and 4-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Marietta will close out the season next week when No. 4 ranked Mount Union visits Don Drumm Stadium for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.
"Early in the game we continued to find ways to play from behind the sticks and get off schedule with a penalty or a negative play," Marietta head coach Andy Waddle said. "They kept us buried on our side of the field. But credit to our defensive guys for keeping them out of the endzone when they started each drive near midfield in the first half."
Drake Neuberger and the Pioneer defense set the tone early. Neuberger, the OAC sack leader, dropped Otterbein quarterback Bryce Hall on the first play from scrimmage. Neuberger finished the game with 1.5 sacks giving him 13.0 on the season, a new Marietta College single season record.
"There may be guys out there across the country that play as hard as Drake. But no one plays harder," Waddle said. "He is always moving and trying to find his way to the ball and doesn't take plays off."
Otterbein (1-8 overall, 1-7 OAC) was forced to punt on its first possession and the Pioneers took over at its own 46-yard line. After two rushes from Agnew gained 15 yards and then Connor Vierstra connected with Maguire Morris for 37 more down to the Cardinal 2-yard line. Agnew ran it in on the next play. Jake Bolyard hit the extra point for a 7-0 MC lead.
"Offensively we came out and looked great on the first series," Waddle said. "We thought the post would be there and we hit Maguire on it to get the ball inside the five and then Bryce finished it off."
Marietta spent the rest of the first quarter and most of the second deep in its own territory as Otterbein punter Adyn Snyder kept the Pioneers pinned.
The Pioneers doubled its lead with an 11-play, 80-yard drive midway through the second quarter. Vierstra completed two passes to Morris for 9 yards and two to Logan Ranft for 38 yards and Agnew had four carries for 14 yards. Vierstra capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown strike to Gage Giovengo. Bolyard's kick made it 14-0 at halftime.
Marietta broke the game open with 28 points in the third quarter. Agnew scored on runs of 1 and 9 yards, backup quarterback Logyn Ratliff scored on a 25-yard run and Malik Grier picked off a Cardinal pass and returned it 56 yards for a touchdown.
Otterbein got on the board when Bryce Hall hit Robert Jordan on a 36-yard touchdown pass with 8:36 left in the third quarter.
Agnew added an exclamation point to his performance when he broke a 45-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter. Freshman Aiden Wardzinski scored on a 1-yard run to finish the Pioneer scoring.
"The thing that is impressive about Bryce is people know what we are going to do, but every game he still finds a way to break a big play," Waddle said. "Today it was the 45-yard run. Last week it was the long catch and run for a touchdown."
Vierstra completed 16-of-23 passes for 203 yards and one touchdown. He was picked off once. Morris had seven catches for 79 yards, while Ranft caught three passes for 48 yards.
Agnew carried the ball 20 times for 131 yards and four touchdowns. Ratliff had four carries for 33 yards. Ratliff also completed 3-of-4 passes for 54 yards.
Hall was 14-of-29 passing for 145 yards and one touchdown. He threw two interceptions. Eason Hardouin completed 4-of-9 passes for 17 yards. Jeb Jones caught four passes for 40 yards. Siraj Muhammad had 15 carries for 41 yards to lead the Cardinal ground game.
Marietta will honor the seniors from the cheer and dance teams, as well as the football team, prior to next week's game against Mount Union.