MARIETTA — Wilmington College hit an Ohio Athletic Conference highway pothole in a 31-6 loss at Marietta Saturday afternoon.

The Quakers are now 0-5 in the OAC, 0-6 overall. Marietta improves to 1-4 in the conference, 2-4 for the season.

For the second straight week, Wilmington missed chances and its opponent did not as the Pioneers scored 21 unanswered points to pull away from the Quakers.

Marietta built a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but Wilmington cut the deficit to 10-6 with a 54-yard drive that was capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Brandon Arehart (Wilmington) to Kyle Blakeman (Wilmington). The TD reception was Blakeman's fifth of the season.

Marietta extended its lead to 17-6 on its next possession. Wilmington responded by marching 54 yards to the Marietta 6-yard line, but Arehart was stopped for no gain on a fourth-and-1 rushing attempt.

Wilmington had the best chance of putting points on the board in a scoreless third quarter, but turned the ball over on downs at the Marietta 28-yard line.

The next scoring chance belonged to Marietta, and the Pioneers capitalized with an Andrew Keller touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Marietta put the game's final points up when cornerback Darious Williams scored on a 24-yard pick-6 with 6:01 to play.

The cloud's silver lining was provided by Wilmington's rushing attack, led by junior Tyrell Richardson (Columbus/Centennial). Richardson picked up 59 yards on 17 carries. As a team, Wilmington gained season-high 86 yards on the ground.

Arehart passed for 138 yards, completing five passes to Malcolm Heard II (Wilmington) and four each to Blakeman and Richardson.

Linebackers Matt McFadden (Sabina/East Clinton) and Antwoine Shelton (Dallas, Texas/Duncanville) led Wilmington's defense with 13 and 10 tackles, respectively. McFadden had a quarterback sack and three of Shelton's stops resulted in Marietta losses.

The Quakers will host Baldwin-Wallace 1:30 p.m. Oct. 22.