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WESTERVILLE, Ohio—The Otterbein University football team kept on track for back-to-back winning seasons, holding off Marietta, 29-21, Saturday afternoon on Senior Day in Westerville.

Otterbein sophomore running back Drew Ervin scored twice on runs of three and six yards, and the Otterbein special team units chipped in eight points—which turned out to be the margin of victory.

With the win, Otterbein improved to 5-4 overall and 5-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) and will close out the season at Ohio Northern University next Saturday. Marietta dropped to 1-8 overall and 1-7 in the OAC.

Marietta was the first team to score, taking the opening kickoff and mounting a 13 play, 81-yard drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown run from junior running back Tim Connor.

Then Ervin took over for the Cardinals. Otterbein put together back-to-back scoring drives of 84 and 70 yards, each ending in an Ervin rushing touchdown, and the Cardinals led, 14-7, with 3:50 to play in the first half.

On the following series, Marietta drove to the Otterbein 27-yard line where it faced fourth-and-9, and settled for a 44-yard field-goal attempt as time was running out in the half. Otterbein senior defensive end Zack Grieves blocked the kick and junior defensive back Jordan Bonifas ran it back 65 yards for a touchdown to give Otterbein a 20-7 lead at intermission.

Otterbein extended its lead to 22-7 with a safety at the start of the second half. Otterbein sophomore punter Jordan Keaton hit a 61-yard punt which was fielded by Marietta junior Charles Dixon. Dixon, in an attempt to evade Otterbein's punt coverage, circled back from his own 3-yard line into the end zone where he was tackled by junior Cole Benner for the safety.

The two teams traded touchdowns from there. Marietta freshman running back Roger Bush scored on a 2-yard run and the Pioneers converted a 2-point pass play to pull within seven, trailing 22-15 with 3:21 to play in the third quarter.

Otterbein responded on the very next series. Senior quarterback Ben Sizemore hit senior receiver Steven Carpenter with an 18-yard scoring strike to put the Cardinals back up by 14 with 13:50 to play in the game.

Marietta scored late on another 2-yard run from Connor with 4:00 left to play in the game. The Cardinals used up the final four minutes of the game on the next series. Otterbein drove to the Marietta 4-yard line where Sizemore took a knee three times to run out the clock.

Otterbein held a slight edge in total offense, 375 to 366 yards. This marked only the second time this season that Otterbein has rushed for more than 200 yards, tallying 204 yards today.

Ervin just missed the 100-yard mark, rushing for 95 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. Freshman running back Reid Hutchison rushed for 60 yards on seven carries.

Sizemore finished the game with 171 passing yards, completing 15 of 22 attempts. Carpenter made seven receptions for 79 yards, including the 18-yard touchdown.

Freshman inside linebacker Austin Jones made 13 tackles, including two for loss, to lead the Cardinals on defense. Senior outside linebacker Wes McKeever made 12 stops.