2008 Marietta College football preview
Pioneers will look for daily improvement this fall

Aug. 4, 2008
MARIETTA, Ohio — The 2008 Marietta College football team will once again go to battle each week against some of the toughest Division III foes in the country. This fall, first-year Head Coach Jeff Filkovski will be leading the Pioneers’ plan of attack and his experience as both a player and coach has Marietta primed for a successful fight. Filkovski, who quarterbacked Allegheny College to the 1990 national title as a senior, spent time as an assistant with the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe and earned the OAC’s 2007 co-Assistant Coach of the Year while with Heidelberg College.

Filkovski enters the season with an array of returning weapons and is expecting some key newcomers to help provide an immediate impact on Marietta’s game plan. The Pioneers will welcome 70 players back from last year’s squad, which played arguably the toughest schedule in the nation. 13 seniors and 22 lettermen, will make up the core of the returnees.

2007 All-OAC honorable mention selection senior linebacker Grant Cowell, who has finished second on the team and in the top 10 of the OAC in total tackles in both of the last two seasons, returns to anchor the defense. Senior Joe Deppen, a fellow captain and linebacker, will assist Cowell with the leadership. Lineman Andrew Doerr and defensive back JR Gibson also return after earning starting jobs as sophomores.

Junior quarterback Dexter Hughes will lead the Pioneers’ aerial attack from under center again in 2008. He will be looking for help from sophomore wide out Cory Kriechbaum and sophomore tight end Zach Lashaway down the field. Senior captain Garrett Banks and juniors George Davis and Lamar Hunter will provide support and combine to carry the load out of the backfield.

Here is a look at the Pioneers by position:

Quarterback: Junior Dexter Hughes, who won the starting job in camp a year ago, will look to become more of a consistent passer in 2008. The lanky right-hander completed 128-of-256 (.500) passes while throwing for 1,604 yards and 12 touchdowns. He threw 13 interceptions but 10 of those game during the first six games on the year. Sophomores Josh Lyons and a group of freshman will push Hughes throughout the season.

Running back: Three tailbacks—senior Garrett Banks and juniors George Davis and Lamar Hunter—have seen action over their careers and should carry the ball this season. Banks is the leading returnee, having rushed for 152 yards in 2007. Davis added 150 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Hunter collected 143 yards and a team-high three scores on the ground.

Wide receiver: Marietta must replace its top two receivers from last year, which combined to catch 86 of the team’s 153 receptions. Senior running back Garrett Banks is the Pioneers’ top returning pass catcher; he pulled in 17 receptions for 261 yards and four touchdowns as a junior. Sophomore Cory Kriechbaum, who caught eight passes for 102 yards, as well as sophomore Marty Mueller, who had 11 receptions for 110 yards, will lead a young group of receivers.

Tight end: Sophomore Zach Lashaway started all seven of the games he played at tight end last year. Lashaway caught just two passes but they both went for over 26 yards. Sophomore Jared Dusky, as well as a group of newcomers, will give Marietta another option at tight end.

Offensive line: With the loss of four senior starters on the offensive line, the Pioneers will look for others to step into those vacant roles this fall. Junior George Frisch started the last nine games at left tackle and will be asked to anchor the line again in 2008. Seniors Tommy Daniel and Jesse Daubert as well as junior Justin Kidder and sophomore Michael Dean all saw time on the line a year ago. They, in addition to senior Will Ritter, juniors Chris Carter and Vlad Grecu and sophomore Anthony Santilli, will battle during camp for various roles on the line.

Defensive line: Junior tackle Andrew Doerr is the lone starter back from Marietta’s three-lineman set in 2007. He finished with 34 tackles as a sophomore. Senior David Loyer and junior Adam Tate also saw valuable time on the defensive line and should be ready for more of a load in 2008. Tate had 20 hits, including 1 ½ sacks, while Loyer finished off 13 hits and had three sacks last season. Depth will come from a host of other underclassmen.

Linebacker: One of the four starting linebackers return, All-OAC honorable mention selection Grant Cowell. The inside linebacker finished runner-up in total tackles with 86. In addition, seniors Joe Deppen and Jamie Schumacher both have experience in the middle of the defense. Sophomores Rich Klingel, Ryan Miller and Ben Sciambi will also be battling for time this season.

Defensive backfield: Sophomore safety JR Gibson is the only full-time starter back in the secondary this fall. He finished seventh on the team with 39 tackles as a freshman. In addition, sophomore Clinton Thompson, who had 48 stops, and junior Alan Tracewell, who finished with 27 hits and one interception, both gained starting experience in 2007. Sophomores Rob Williamson will look use his limited action to make a bigger impact in 2008.

Special teams: Senior Pat Lane, who held the place kicking job the last two years, and junior Corey Lemke, who was the junior varsity kicker in 2006 and 2007, will battle for the varsity role this fall. Sophomore Nick Perko is the leading candidate to take over the punting duties. Marietta is expecting to rotate a host of speedsters back to receive punts and kickoffs in 2008.

Schedule: The Pioneers will look begin the season on the right track for the eighth time in nine years when they visit Thiel (Sept. 6). After a bye in week two, Marietta will remain on the road and open OAC play at Wilmington (Sept. 20) before hosting Baldwin-Wallace (Sept. 27) in it home opener—the fourth annual River City Bowl. Sept. 27 is also Alumni Day. The Pioneers will return to the road for a week-five showdown at Capital (Oct. 4), play host to John Carroll (Oct. 11) and then visit Ohio Northern (Oct. 18). Rival Muskingum (Oct. 25) will be Marietta’s Homecoming opponent in 2008. After Homecoming, the Pioneers play their final road game at Otterbein (Nov. 1) before closing out the year at home against Heidelberg (Nov. 8)—Marietta’s annual Shrine Game—and Mount Union (Nov. 15), which is Senior Day.