Muskies fall to No. 16 Capital on senior day

The final home game for eight Muskie Seniors didn’t go as planned as the nationally ranked Capital Crusaders rolled past Muskingum 35-7.

Coming off of a home victory against Marietta the Muskies were trying to attain back to back wins for the first time all season but dug themselves a hole early and couldn’t work their way out.

On just the second play of the opening drive for the Muskie offense sophomore runningback Palmer Smith was stripped of the football and Capital Senior Jake Nickle recovered the fumble for the Crusaders.

With the ball on the Muskingum 24 Junior running back Dominic D’Andrea covered the distance with five straight carries, ending with a 2 yard touchdown run and a quick 7-0 Capital lead after the successful point after.

D’Andrea found the end zone again late in the second quarter for another 2 yard score that capped off an 11 play 73 yard drive for Capital. The Muskies appeared to have escaped further damage with Capital pinned on their own 14 yard line and just over a minute to play in the half. However the Crusaders were not conent with the two touchdown lead and came out slinging.

Senior Quarterback Marty Assmann led his team on an 8 play 86 yard drive capped off by a 15 yard touchdown toss to Senior wideout Amando Ancona. The Muskie’s have struggled to close out the half all season long and this game was no different, allowing 14 points in the final 2 minutes of play to trail 21-0 at halftime.

As the story has been all year long the Muskie’s refused to fold as Senior Dwight Sutton caught a short pass from Quarterback Jake Burns and turned it into a 62 yard touchdown reception to put the Muskie’s on the board late in the 3rd quarter.

Capital wasted no time shutting down a potential Muskie rally and scored on the ensuing possession to push the lead back up to 28-7. Again it was Assmann finding Ancona, this time for a 7 yard pass and catch ending an 8 play 57 yard drive.

With both teams playing their reserves late in the 4th quarter Capital’s freshman running back Dan Ridenout found the end zone for a 7 yard score on a broken play to inflate the Crusader lead to 35-7, which would be the final.

With the loss the Muskies dropped to 2-6 overall and 2-5 in the OAC. Capital, who came into the contest off of a tough 1 point loss to Otterbein, moves ahead to 6-2 overall and 5-2 in the conference.

For the Muskie’s Jake Burns finished 17 of 27 for 177 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Dwight Sutton led the receiving core with 78 yards on 4 catches and one score. Defensively it was Sophomore Linebacker Alex Thomas who led all tacklers with 16 stops. Also keeping busy on the defensive end was Senior O.J. Diomedi who racked up 14 tackles of his own in the contest.

Capital’s Dom D’Andrea led all rushers with 160 yards on 34 carries and two touchdowns.Marty Assmann completed 17 of his 29 passes for 236 yards and two scores. His favorite target on the day, Armando Ancona hauled in 6 catches for 93 yards and two touchdown receptions to aid the Crusader offensive attack.

Prior to the game, seniors Dwight Sutton, Bill Rini, Terry Holbert, Cody Carlson, O.J. Diomedi, Steve Emmert, Rick Wagner and Cory Swinderman were all honored for the hard work they have put into the Muskie football program over the years. Head Coach Al Logan expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the job
his seniors have done in helping to build the Muskie football program.

“My hat goes off to the eight seniors, to play college football takes a lot year round,” said Logan.

The seniors may be done at home but two games remain on the schedule, a Nov. 7th meeting at John Carroll University and a trip to Heidelberg on the 14th to close out the year. Kickoff for the JCU match up is scheduled for 1:30 pm as the Muskie’s look to get back on track.