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Pios win shrine game

Marietta College beats rival Muskingum, 46-20

JORDAN HOLLAND The Marietta Times Marietta College’s Maguire Morris, left, gets hit by Muskingum’s Jakob Yost during a college football game Saturday at McConagha Stadium in New Concord.

NEW CONCORD — Marietta College is off to its first 3-0 start since 1972.

The Pioneers defeated Muskingum, 46-20, to retain the Shrine Trophy Saturday at McConagha Stadium. It’s the first time Marietta’s beaten the Fighting Muskies in back-to-back years since 2007 and 2008.

“It feels great to get the W, especially coming out of Muskingum with a W,” said MC quarterback Darrien Fields.

Fields threw for 311 yards on 22-of-34 passing and three touchdowns. He found his roommate Andrew Barker five times for 134 yards and two touchdowns (31 and 24 yards) and hooked up with Maguire Morris nine times for 93 yards. Ryan VanMeter added five catches for 51 yards, including a 7-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

“I thought Darrien played well,” said Pioneers head coach Andy Waddle. “I think we threw the ball better than we’ve thrown the ball in the past. Really excited for him to get that opportunity. I think that’s what we want to be offensively is balanced. Some days we’re going to rely on the run game like we did last week (vs. Capital) and some days we’re going to rely on the pass a little bit more like we did today.”

After a monster performance that included 300-plus yards and six touchdowns last week, Tanner Clark got Marietta jumpstarted by returning the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown against the Muskies. Muskingum held Clark mostly in check on the ground in the first half, but the junior running back finished strong with 80 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.

“Tanner’s a beast,” Waddle said.

But Muskingum (1-2) responded on its second possession and capped the drive with a Marvis Hood 3-yard touchdown run. The point-after attempt was missed as Marietta held onto a 7-6 lead.

The Pioneers were quick to answer, though, as Fields hit VanMeter on a slant for a TD with 5:12 left in the opening period.

A 46-yard completion to Barker got Marietta deep into Muskingum territory.

“Barker’s my roommate, so if I don’t throw it to him enough times he won’t buy toilet paper for us,” Fields joked. “I’ve been with those guys since I started as a sophomore and they were freshmen. It’s our third year together and all we do is go to each other. I know them in and out, they know me in and out, and we’re out there for each other.”

The Muskies looked to answer again, but on a completion from Brody Hahn to Nate Hall at the Pioneers’ 25-yard line, Marietta linebacker Chris Dowell forced a fumble to shut down the scoring opportunity.

It was the first of six Muskingum turnovers in the game. The other five were interceptions, four thrown by Hahn and the last thrown by Jordan Garrett. Khaleel Danzy had two picks for Marietta while Javi Zaragoza, Jake Tracewell and Tay Pryor had one each. Pryor’s was a 38-yard pick-six to give Marietta its final touchdown of the game.

“At times I thought we played well defensively,” said Waddle, whose defense did allow 467 total yards. “At times I thought we could’ve played better.”

MC made it a two-possession game with 12:57 left in the second quarter when Fields hit Barker for a 31-yard score. The Pios tacked on a Jimmy Embrescia 30-yard field goal to take a 23-6 lead into halftime.

A 1-yard TD plunge by Hood with 8:20 left in the third quarter got Muskingum within 26-13. Muskingum got the ball back after Marietta’s fake punt attempt failed, but Danzy’s first interception kept Muskingum from cutting into Marietta’s lead any further.

Clark’s 4-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds left in the third made it 30-13.

When Fields connected with Barker for a 24-yard score to make it 37-13 at the 11-minute mark in the fourth, the win was all but sealed for the Pioneers.

Muskingum tacked on an 8-yard TD pass from Barrett to Warren Wilson with 6:57 remaining, but the Pioneers added an Embrescia 23-yard field goal and Pryor’s pick-six to leave town with a victory.

“We brought it all together today,” Fields said. “When we get clicking, we’re going to be tough to stop.”

Things got chippy at times, especially down the stretch, but Waddle said that’s to be expected in a heated rivalry game.

“When you play a tough physical football team and there’s not a lot of love lost, sometimes it’s going to get heated,” Waddle said. “We certainly respect Muskingum and think they’re going to win some games in the OAC. We wish them nothing but the best.”

Hahn finished 17 for 36 with 247 yards and four picks. Garrett was the Muskies’ leading rusher with 56 yards on eight carries, while Amin Shaheed had a team-high 109 yards on five catches.

The Pioneers enter their bye week undefeated before taking on Ohio Northern at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 29 at Don Drumm Stadium.

“We wanted to have a fast start and get to this point,” Waddle said. “It hasn’t always been pretty and it hasn’t always been perfect. We’re where we are and we’ll give ourselves a chance to continue to move forward and compete at the top of the OAC.”

Added Fields, “That was one of our main goals this year. We wanted to start 3-0 going into the bye week. We accomplished that goal and now we just have to keep getting better.”

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