MARIETTA, Ohio – The Otterbein University football team culminated its season with a bang Saturday afternoon, routing host Marietta College by a final score of 48-14 inside Don Drumm Stadium.
The victory places the Cardinals at 6-4 overall and 5-4 within the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), getting the program back above the .500 mark for the first time since 2012.
Otterbein wasted no time jumping ahead and never looking back, taking the opening kickoff and ultimately scoring on a two-yard pass from senior
Logan Stepp to classmate
Julian Lowe. The touchdown reception was Lowe's 30th of his career, officially breaking the program's all-time record of 29 held by former All-American tight end Jeff Gibbs (1998-2001).
"The ultimate goal was to win the game," Lowe said emphatically. "We played so well as a team today and always feel comfortable with our base goal-line plays. I knew the record was coming at some point if we continued to execute as a group."
The Cards began pulling away throughout, getting a one-handed TD grab from senior
Hunter Joseph later in the first quarter and then running the gap to 34-0 by halftime following two rushing scores from Stepp sandwiched around one from running back
Dakota Smith, who earned his first collegiate start at running back in place of the injured
Christian Johnson.
Stepp had 121 yards rushing in the first half, becoming the first player in OAC history to throw for 2,000 and run for 1,000 in the same season regular-season.
"This has been an amazing ride and I am so blessed to have played with these guys," said Stepp, who ends his year with 2,217 through the air, 1,033 on the ground and 35 total touchdowns. "The record is bigger than me. I had great wide receivers, a hard-working offensive and unselfish running backs that handled splitting carries with their quarterback. We always did everything together."
Stepp found Joseph on another connection early in the third quarter that ran the lead to 41-0, allowing the Cardinals to coast to victory. Freshman
Brandon Paschal put the exclamation mark on the day by housing a 42-yard interception return, his sixth takeaway of the fall.
Otterbein finished with a 483-402 edge in total offense, with Stepp completing 17 of 24 passes for 203 yards and then hustling 13 times for another 135 on the ground. He had four total touchdowns.
Smith had 17 carries for a career-high 98 yards while Joseph hauled in game-highs of eight catches and 105 yards. Lowe posted four for 42 and his record-breaking TD.
Linebacker
Jake Harper had 10 tackles to lead the defense while senior
Austin Jones had nine in his final collegiate outing. Safety
Fred Hardgrove had eight stops and his seventh interception of the season as he finished atop the league in both picks and total tackling (99).
The Cardinal defense bent but didn't break in the red zone despite dealing with Marietta running back Roger Walker, who toted 30 times for 214 yards in his finale.
Otterbein finishes in a three-way tie with Marietta and Baldwin Wallace for fifth in the league, one game back of three other schools in what was a highly-competitive season.
"This team has experienced ups and downs, so it's really great to go out with a win and achieve it amongst guys that have built lasting bonds with one another," Stepp added. "I'm extremely proud of this football team and the memories that we will carry with us forever."
