No. 16 Ohio Northern holds off Marietta 14-7 in defensive battle

By Tim Glon

MARIETTA — No. 16-ranked Ohio Northern held off a determined Marietta squad to post a 14-7 victory during Homecoming festivities at Marietta in an Ohio Athletic Conference football contest Saturday afternoon at Don Drumm Stadium.

The Polar Bears improve to 5-2 overall (4-2 OAC), while the Pioneers fall to 1-6, 1-5.

The ONU defense was stellar, led by junior safety Chane Porter's 12-tackle, two-sack performance. Sophomore linebacker Gabe Washington also had 12 tackles and added .5 of a TFL.

Northern out-gained MC 302-221 in total offense, marking the 17th time in the last 19 games that the Polar Bear defense has held its opponents under 300 yards of total offense.

Offensively, senior Adam Bogner ran 21 times for 80 yards, junior R.J. Meadows ran 11 times for 65 yards and freshman Sam Amidon caught a career-high six passes for a career-best 109 yards and a touchdown for ONU.

Northern scored first when freshman Kyle Simmons hit Amidon on a nifty 15-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter. Northern drove 69 yards in nine plays for the score.

Marietta answered with a eight-play, 60-yard touchdown drive and tied the game at 7-7 with 10:59 left in the half when Dexter Hughes hit Garrett Banks on a 12-yard TD pass.

After an exchange of possessions, Simmons hit Amidon on a 64-yard pass to set the Polar Bears up at the MC 5-yard line. Simmons then snuck in from a yard out to give ONU a 14-7 lead with 3:33 left in the half.

Simmons was 8-of-11 passing for 141 yards and a score.

Northern's defense held twice in the fourth quarter to protect the 14-7 lead.

Marietta marched to the ONU 1-yard line, but the Polar Bears held on downs with 5:41 left in the game.

Sophomore Jake Heaphy punted the Bears out of trouble and the defense forced a four-and-out, capped by a sack by Porter at the MC44-yard line on a fourth-and-9 play.

Junior Jeff Pankratz hit freshman Michael Busch to convert a third down and the Bears ran out the clock to wrap up the game.

"The best part of the game today was that we found a way to win," ONU head coach Dean Paul. "We had some big plays and had a few chances to put some distance in the score early. But give Marietta credit, they played hard and stayed in it. We made some plays at the end of the game to put it away. We need to build on this win and get ready for a big challenge next week."

Hughes completed 17-of-28 passes for 169 yards for MC.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday when they play host to Baldwin-Wallace at 1:30 pm at Dial-Roberson Stadium.