MARIETTA, Ohio – The Capital University football team took their last road trip of the year on Saturday, with the destination being the campus of Marietta College for a mid-afternoon matchup with the Pioneers. The Comets struggled to find yards offensively which led to a lopsided look on the scoreboard, 50-14 in favor of MC.
The scoring for Capital came in the second quarter as the Comets special teams unit again made a big play. This time, instead of recovering a muffed punt like they have done twice already this season,
Jaylan Anderson broke through and blocked Aidan Bailey's punt attempt. There,
Dom Glenn – a Marietta transfer to Capital – recovered the punt and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown – his second with the Comets.
Tyler Terrell's PAT was good for his 16th successful try this season.
Digging into the records, the blocked punt by Anderson was the first time that feat had been accomplished by a Capital player since Bryant Bokovitz vs. Mount Union on October 19, 2013. The return for a touchdown on the blocked punt by Glenn was the first since Antoine Roberts returned a blocked punt at Wilmington on November 10, 2012 – nearly 10 years ago to the day.
Capital did get their offense moving a bit in the fourth quarter as quarterback
Ben Everson led the team downfield on an 11-play, 60-yard drive that was capped off with a 10-yard pass to freshman tight end
Zach Combs. Big plays to set up the touchdown were an 11-yard rush from
Troi McClary, a 10-yard pass to
Sam Pickett and an eight-yard pass to Combs among other short yardage plays. The touchdown catch for Combs was the first of his career.
Another highlight of the game proved to be yet another special teams play as
Diamonte Salley got a hand on the Pioneer's final PAT try of the day. His PAT block was the first by a Comet since Kole Carter blocked one at Otterbein on October 27, 2018.
THE NUMBERS
In the end, Capital's offense managed just 89 yards of offense on the day. Those yards were compiled by 60 passing yards and 29 rushing yards.
Through the air, Everson threw for 32 yards, while
Trevor Harrison-Rawn passed for 28 yards. The majority of the catches went the way of Combs (2), Pickett (2), and McCarly (2). Others to haul in a reception were
Jamal Wiggins,
Bennett Zerby,
Lance Matthews and
Eddie Thomas.
On the ground, McClary rushed for a team-high 23 yards, while
Drew Engle and
Jonathan Williams combined for 20 yards between the two of them.
Defensively, the freshmen linebacker duo of
Griffin McKinney and
Quentin Gehm made 10 tackles each to lead the way. The next two in tackles were
James Curtis and
Louie Hoersten with six each.
Another freshman linebacker had a solid day as
Braden Jehn recorded three tackles and picked off his second pass of the season.
Tyler Terrell punted six times for an average of 32 yards per punt. He also was perfect on his two PATs, making him 17-for-17 this season.
Eric Noble also bombed a 43-yard punt.
In the return game,
Aralius Walters Jr. took two kickoff returns for 52 yards, including a long of 41 yards.
THE OPPONENT
Connor Vierstra passed for 237 yards and three touchdowns. Gabe Tingle threw for one score on 54 yards of passing. The touchdowns went in the direction of Dawson Snyder (3) and D. Witsberger.
Bryce Agnew rushed for 114 yards and two other touchdowns.
Jackson Wilborn picked up 74 yards and a score for himself as well.
Drake Neuberger made 10 tackles, which included 5.0 TFLs and 2.5 sacks on defense.
UP NEXT
Capital will play their final game of the 2022 season next Saturday on November 12th at Bernlohr Stadium. Approximately 30 minutes before kickoff, the football team and cheerleading squad will recognize the seniors within their respective programs.
