NEW CONCORD, Ohio — Marietta College running back Bryce Agnew was nearly unstoppable as the senior carried the ball 37 times for 221 yards and five touchdowns in the Pioneers' 38-23 win over Muskingum University Saturday (Nov. 12) afternoon in the annual Shrine Trophy game.
The combination of Agnew's running game and timely passing from quarterback Connor Vierstra led Marietta to its sixth straight win over the Muskies. Viertsra completed 10-of-13 passes for 190 yards. Dawson Snyder caught six of those passes for 142 yards.
"It was an awesome game for our team and a great way to cap off the season on a three-game win streak and with a winning record," Marietta head coach Andy Waddle said. "I can't speak enough about the game Bryce and our offensive line put together. Connor had a really efficient day throwing the ball and made some big plays."
Marietta took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field. Viertsra hit Snyder for 26 yards on the first play from scrimmage and then connected with him again for 25 more yards on the drive. Agnew carried the ball five times for 25 yards, including a five-yard touchdown to give the Pioneers a 7-0 lead.
After trading punts, the Muskies went on an eight-play, 51-yard scoring drive. With a nonexistent running game, Muskingum quarterback Jordan Garrett completed five passes on the drive accounting for 49 yards. Carl Collins dove in from the one-yard line for the touchdown. The extra point attempt was no good making the score 7-6 with 2:23 left in the opening period.
The Pioneers put together a pair of sustained scoring drives pushing the lead to 21-6 with 1:48 left in the first half. Agnew capped both scoring drives with touchdown runs of six and five yards, respectively.
Muskingum got a 24-yard kickoff return from Ja'Lin Goodman to their own 45-yard line. Garrett took over from their completing passes of 17, 20 and 15 yards moving the ball to the Pioneer three. Two Garrett rushes resulted in a loss of two yards to the five. On third down, Garrett found Goodman open in the endzone for the touchdown. Aaron Meyers added the extra point and the teams headed to halftime with Marietta leading 21-13.
"Defensively, we gave up that touchdown right before the half, but our guys responded well in the second half and really limited them," Waddle said. "(Jordan) Garrett is a really good player, and our defensive line did a great job of getting pressure on him. That makes the game challenging on the quarterback."
Lucas Shepherd hit a 27-yard field goal to open the second half scoring for the Pioneers. Agnew's fourth touchdown of the afternoon early in the fourth quarter extended Marietta's lead to 31-13.
The Muskies refused to go away quietly. A bad snap on a punt resulted in a safety for the Muskies. The Garrett engineered another scoring drive culminating in a three-yard touchdown pass to Goodman. Zuri Edmondson caught the two-point conversion to get within eight points, 31-23, with 6:48 left in the game.
Any hopes of a Muskingum comeback were dashed by an eight-play, 59-yard drive that took 5:16 off the clock and resulted in Agnew's fifth touchdown of the game.
Garrett completed 20-of-36 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns. Edmondson caught 10 passes for 101 yards.
Agnew's five touchdowns leads Marietta over Muskingum 38-23
/seasons/2022/boxscores/20221112_1o7s.xml
2022
Marietta
38
Muskingum
23
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marietta (6-4) | 7 | 14 | 3 | 14 | 38 |
| Muskingum (5-5) | 6 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 23 |
Nov 12, 2022