MARIETTA, Ohio — Conner Vierstra threw three touchdown passes leading Marietta College to an 18-0 win over rival Muskingum University Saturday (Sept. 18) evening at Don Drumm Stadium. The Pioneers retain possession of the Shrine Trophy for the fifth straight year as the Navy Blue and White won the 100th meeting between the two schools.
"I am very proud of our defense and the effort they put forward tonight," Marietta head coach Andy Waddle said. "Offensively it was not a perfect day, but we ran the ball well with Bryce (Agnew) and Aiden (Wardzinski) came in there in a really tough situation having hardly played all game and, with our backs against the wall, did a good job of fighting for some tough yards when we needed it."
The shutout was the first in the series since Marietta blanked the Muskies, 24-0, in 1995. Marietta improves to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Muskingum slips to 2-1 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.
After each team held one possession, Muskingum took the ball on an 8-play, 31-yard drive. The Marietta defense held strong in the red zone to force a Fighting Muskies field goal. The Pioneers got penetration into the backfield and Kyle Gallagher blocked the Muskingum field goal, to keep the scored deadlocked 0-0 with seven minutes to play in the opening quarter.
The Fighting Muskies started their ensuing drive with great field possession after Brian Brown intercepted a Connor Vierstra pass and returned it to the Pioneer 20-yard line. Once again, the Marietta defense held strong and forced a turnover on downs when Gallagher pressured Muskingum quarterback Jordan Garrett on a fourth down incompletion.
"The game of football really does start up front on the offensive and defensive line and I think Muskingum has a quality offensive line this year, but our defensive line was the difference today," Waddle said. "The pressure our front four put on Garrett, who is a really good football player, caused him to have a tough night statistically."
The Pioneer offense got on the board with 43 seconds to play in the first quarter. Marietta put together a 5-play, 78-yard drive, capped by a 43-yard Vierstra pass to Dawson Synder. The Pioneers missed the extra point and held a 6-0 lead.
Each team had the ball twice in the second quarter, but neither was able to put points on the board. Despite outgaining the Muskies 213-84 in the first half, Marietta entered halftime with a slim 6-0 lead.
Marietta received the opening kick of the second half and went three and out. The Pioneers punted the ball away, but regained possession when the Fighting Muskies muffed the punt. The loose ball was recovered by Aaron Alvarez. After a 2-yard run by Bryce Agnew, Marietta found the end zone when Vierstra connected with Clay Mastin for a 7-yard touchdown pass. The Pioneers went for the 2-point conversion, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
"Conner threw the ball well tonight and three touchdown passes is pretty good for a guy making just his second career start," Waddle said. "We want to get his completion percentage up, but we got the yards we needed."
Later in the quarter, with Muskingum starting to move the ball, Tay Pryor picked off a Garrett pass to cut the drive short. The interception was the first of two in the game for Pryor and the first of three second half interceptions for the Pioneers.
The Pioneers extended their lead 20 seconds into the fourth quarter on a 42-yard touchdown pass. Vierstra hit Maguire Morris on the sideline, and Morris finished the play in the end zone, to put Marietta on top 18-0.
Vierstra completed 14-of-37 passes in the game for 183 yards and three touchdowns. Morris finished with three receptions for 71 yards and a score. Bryce Agnew led the Marietta ground attack with 127 yards on 22 carries.
The Pioneer defense notched its fourth takeaway of the game in the fourth quarter with 6:48 to play in the game. Ty'reik Martin intercepted the Garrett pass. After two Marietta plays Vierstra threw his second interception of the game. The ball was picked off by Sean Andor and returned to the Pioneer 9-yard line. The Marietta defense stood tall and forced a turnover on downs, with 3:47 minutes remaining in the game.
The Pioneers sealed the 18-0 shutout win over the Fighting Muskies when Pryor notched his second interception of the game with less than two minutes to play in the game. Pryor had five tackles to go along with the two interceptions. Darius Hatch led Marietta with eight tackles.
Marietta travels to Columbus next Saturday (Sept. 25) for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff at Capital University.