Muskingum vs Wilmington (11/04/23)
On Senior Day at the Bullock Health & Wellness Complex, the Fighting Muskies were in top form as they took the field. Thanks to a 17-yard kickoff return by Muskingum’s wide receiver Travis Roberson, the Fighting Muskies started their offensive drive at their own 40-yard line. In a 12-play series quarterback, Doug Crawford pushed his squad up the field on a quest that ended with Crawford taking the final 3-yard jaunt to paydirt for the game’s first points, taking a 7-point lead after the extra point kick by Hunter Albers.
Wilmington’s offense after the kickoff was stunted to just 30 total yards in 3 plays before kicking the ball back to their hosts. It took Muskingum just 49 seconds on the clock to capitalize on the opportunity with a 66-yard pass from Crawford to wide receiver Zuri Edmondson for a touchdown followed by a kick by Albers to raise the Muskie’s lead to 14 – 0 over Wilmington with 7:26 left in the first quarter.
Wilmington was not ready to give up just yet as they pushed downfield in an 8-play drive that put quarterback Derek Larimer in position to land a 14-yard pass to Lathan Jones for a touchdown, dropping Muskingum’s lead to 7 points going into the second quarter.
Two minutes into the second quarter Larimer finds another opening to pass the ball to Najee Dade for a 7-yard touchdown tying up the game at 14 points after the PAT.
The Muskies determined to win the game pushed on with a new drive that through a series of short-gain plays allowed Donald Francis to rush 4 yards across the end zone to renew the Muskingum lead at 21 to 14 after the Albers kick.
Wilmington fumbled the ball just six seconds after getting it back and Muskingum’s own Ashton Harris recovered it, but, the jubilation was short-lived as the Quakers grabbed a pass out of the air that Crawford intended for a Muskies receiver and used the momentum to push forward for a touchdown off of the final play of the drive when Larimer connected an 8-yard pass to Jenkins tying the game once again at 21 points.
Getting the ball back on their own 35-yard line with just over six minutes left in the first half of the game, the Muskies knew what they needed to do. They gained yard-by-yard as they rushed down the field on the backs of Gannon Unger, Donald Francis, and Crawford himself to finally have Unger push his way into the endzone on a 1-yard plunge to give the lead back to Muskingum once again with a score of 28 – 21 after the successful extra point with just over two minutes on the clock.
The Quakers leaned heavily on their passing game to take advantage of the two minutes they had left until the half was over, passing a total of 70 yards to make a last-minute touchdown on a pass from Larimer to Bryan Kearse for a 7-yard touchdown with a good kick tying the game one more time at 28 points going into the half-time intermission.
Wilmington was on the receiving end of the kickoff after half-time and narrowly missed handing the ball back over to the Muskies several times before taking the lead for the first time in the game with a 6-yard touchdown pass from Larimer to Muhammed putting them up 35 to 28.
It was Muskingum’s turn to tie things up, and they spent the next 13 plays making it happen with a final 11-yard pass from Crawford to Ja’Lin Goodman to square up the points at 35 with just six and a half minutes left in the third quarter.
Larimer was ramping up his efforts with several long passes to key receivers getting multiple first-down plays and pushing his team forward, he finalized the drive with a pass to Kaleb Easley for a 1-yard dive into the endzone to put the lead back in Wilmington’s hands with a score of 42 – 35.
With just 3:35 left in the quarter, Muskingum jumped into action as Crawford threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Edmondson to tie the game once more after Albers’s kick right at the end of the third quarter. (42 – 42)
It took the Quakers just under two minutes to recover the kickoff at the beginning of the fourth quarter and push downfield thanks to a big 42-yard run by Jenkins to get them into range for an 11-yard touchdown pass from Larimer to Lathan Jones to jump ahead to 49 points over Muskingum’s 42.
Due to an unfortunate interception on a Crawford pass with just 10 minutes left in the game, Wilmington was back in possession of the ball and the duo of Jenkins and Larimer grabbed one first down after another to get back to scoring position. Larimer found Jones again for a 34-yard touchdown pass to pad the Quaker’s lead at 56 – 42.
Two key passes, a 22-yard shot from Crawford to Edmondson, and a 45-yard rocket from Crawford to Goodman did most of the heavy lifting to get Muskingum in good shape for a short 3-yard pass from Crawford to Goodman for a touchdown followed by Albers coming in to add the extra point and narrow the gap to 56 – 49 Wilmington.
Aaron Myers’s on-side kick was recovered by Muskingum and Crawford jumped at the occasion to throw a 51-yard bomb to Travis Roberson for the 56-point game-tying touchdown after Albers performed his magic.
Jenkins and Larimer teamed up again to carry the ball from Wilmington’s own five-yard line covering an impressive 95 yards in just over two minutes with a final 32-yard throw from Larimer to Muhammed that hit paydirt and gave the lead back to the Quakers at 63 – 56 with just over 4 minutes left in the game.
There was no doubt that Crawford was out for a win for the Muskies and with just 2:28 left on the clock he ran the ball 18 yards through defenders to grab what could have been the tying touchdown, but thanks to some quick footwork by Donald Francis Muskingum picked up the win with his successful two-point conversion run to end the game Muskingum 64 – Wilmington 63.
The senior day game saw Muskingum set the school record for first downs in a game with 37. The previous record of 34 was established in 1999 against Hiram.
Senior quarterback Doug Crawford set the record for passing yards in a game (511) and total offense in a game with 578 (511 pass/ 67 rush). The previous records were held by Jordan Garrett, who had 482 yards passing and 492 yards of total offense against Capital in 2021.
Senior kicker Hunter Albers tied the school record for extra points made in a game with eight. He tied the mark held by Kevin Smith set in 1999 against Hiram.
Muskingum narrowly missed the school record for total offense in a game with its 679-yard outburst. The school record of 693 was set in 1957 against Marietta.
The Fighting Muskie’s 64 points are the most in a game since 1960 when Muskingum beat Waynesburg 66-7
Muskingum vs Marietta (11/11/23)
The Muskies wrapped up their season on the road on Saturday with a visit to Don Drumm Stadium in Marietta, Ohio. The Pioneers were geared up and ready to face Muskingum in the annual Shriner Game, a series that began in 2009.
The two teams were gridlocked as the first quarter came and went without a score, but just five minutes into the second quarter Doug Crawford found his receiver Zuri Edmondson in the backfield and landed a 39-yard pass ending in a touchdown for the Muskies. Hunter Albers stepped up to kick the extra point through the uprights and the game was off and running with Muskingum up 7 – 0.
The possibility of taking the lead into the halftime break was looking more and more promising for the Fighting Muskies until Marietta’s Connor Vierstra completed a drive and short pass to J. Sierputowski for a 2-yard touchdown followed by a successful PAT by kicker Derek Cline leaving the game tied up as they headed off the field at 7 – 7.
The intermission reset both defenses as they came out on the field and almost repeated the first quarter holding each other scoreless until there was only 1:20 left in the period and Marietta College’s Bryce Agnew was handed the ball at the 6-yard line to punch through the defense for a touchdown putting Marietta up 14 – 7 to end the third quarter.
The Muskies were already in the middle of a drive for the goal as the fourth quarter started. Gannon Unger and Doug Crawford worked hard to get the ball into range for an 11-yard touchdown pass from Crawford to Edmondson to tie up the game at 14 points.
The Pioneers grabbed the lead once again with a short-yard touchdown with 8:48 left on the clock leaving the Muskies at a 21 – 14 deficit.
Crawford worked his team back to the Marietta 3-yard-line bit by bit and with just 3:32 left in the game was able to complete a short pass to Gannon Unger for what could have been the tying score, but the Muskies wanted the win and pushed for the two-point conversion that fell just short, leaving 1 point hanging over them. Unfortunately, they were not able to recover that point and Marietta took the lead on the Shriner series 8 – 7 with the victory.
The game was the 102nd meeting between the two teams and Muskingum leads the all-time series, 52-48-2.
