Tiffin, Ohio – October 23, 2010 – Solid contributions on both sides of the ball led the Heidelberg University football team to a 49-26 victory over Marietta College in an Ohio Athletic Conference match up at Mayer Field, on the campus of Heidelberg. The win was the third straight for the Berg over the Pioneers. Overall Heidelberg stands at 3-4 and are 2-4 in the OAC, while Marietta is 2-5, 1-5.
On offense, Heidelberg’s line helped to assist with 12 different players racking up yards in the victory. For the game, the Berg finished with 511 yards of offense. Leading the way was freshman Germany Woods (Cleveland, Ohio / St. Edwards). Not only did Woods register his first 100-yard rushing game of his collegiate career, but he doubled up his effort and finished with 231 yards. Not to be outdone he reached the end zone on four occasions to mark a season-best. Woods’ four rushing touchdowns ties the Heidelberg single game record held by Paul Miletti, Jason Brown, Paul Yackey and Jeff Brock. For the day Woods carried the ball 21 times.
Backing up Woods was sophomore Brad Jones (Lorain, Ohio / Lorain Southview) with 12 carries for 64 yards and one touchdown.
Senior signal caller Andrew Miller (Dalton, Ohio / Dalton) finished with 141 yards after completing 9-of-15 passes. Miller threw two touchdown receptions to Mike Preston (Euclid, Ohio / Euclid). Preston finished with 70 yards on three catches.
Connecting on a 7-of-7 point after attempts was senior placekicker Jesse Hawkins (Georgetown, Ky. / Scott County).
Heidelberg’s defense gave up 328 yards to Marietta, but the line was resilient on the running backs. The line gave up just 60 yards on the ground, which marked a season-best. The defense combined for five sacks, led by 2.5 from sophomore Andy Lovins (Clinton Township, Mich. / Lake Shore). Lovins dropped his sacks for a total of 24 yards.
Senior linebacker Vaughn Klein (Galloway, Ohio / Central Crossing) led the defense with seven tackles and a forced fumble. Backing Klein was fellow linebacker sophomore Craig Sykes (Centerburg, Ohio / Centerburg) with six tackles. Sophomore Travis Coates (Columbus, Ohio / Beechcroft) and freshman Aaron Kapelka (Fostoria, Ohio / Hopewell Loudon) had five stops apiece.
Leading Marietta’s offense was wide receiver Cory Kriechbaum with 104 yards and one touchdown off of seven receptions. Quarterback Andrew Keller completed 17-of-40 passes for 268 yards.
Defensively the Pioneers were led by Rahkeem Caver with a game-high 13 tackles followed by Dan Starr with 11.
Heidelberg came out of the gates strong, scoring on three of its four first quarter possessions en route to outscoring Marietta 21-6. Woods racked up a 17-yard TD followed by a Preston 39-yard TD reception from Miller to make its 14-0 Heidelberg before Keller ran one in from 11 yards out to put Marietta on the scoreboard. The Berg closed out the opening quarter with a five-yard rushing TD from Jones.
The second quarter was played to a 7-7 tie. Heidelberg scored first at the 5:01 mark when Woods ran one in from eight yards out. On its ensuing possession, Marietta answered on a fourth down with a 25-yard TD reception from Jahmaal Jones to pull Marietta within 28-13 at the half.
Heidelberg returned to its first quarter form after the intermission. The Berg scored a touchdown on all three of its possessions in the quarter, while Marietta added one of its own to trail the Berg 49-26 after three quarters of play. Scoring for the Berg was Woods with a three and 16-yard runs, while Preston hauled in a 24-yard TD reception.
Marietta added a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but failed on the point after to push the final score to 49-26.