Marmion’s Morton-Collins combo strikes St. Francis

For nearly 40 minutes, St. Francis was even with Marmion in Tuesday’s Suburban Christian Conference opener at Fichtel Field in Aurora.

Then, Flynn Collins and Conor Morton took over.

A shot attempt from Collins was denied, but Morton recovered the rebound, showed poise by dribbling a bit and then blasted a shot past sophomore Jonathan Burke with just 2:43 left before halftime to give the Cadets a 1-0 advantage.

Collins and Morton would collaborate twice in the second half, with each netting a goal, and Gavin Sanchez added a goal via a penalty kick to pace the Cadets to a 4-0 victory.

“We both are getting better because of each other,” Morton said. “We communicate well and had some good connections.”

Morton delivered a high-lofting pass beyond the St. Francis defense to give Flynn a great opportunity with only Burke to beat. Burke didn’t come out of the goal and Flynn put the Cadets ahead 2-0 with 37:06 left in the second half.

The two were at it again with 19:48 left, but this time they switched roles and Flynn sent a cross to Morton who simply flicked it past Burke for a 3-0 advantage.

“We missed some of our chances, but we kept getting chances and that’s what you have to do,” Collins said. “We probably should have won 7-0, but overall we got the result that we wanted and that’s what’s most important.”

Marmion (3-3-1, 1-0-0) scored its final goal of the evening on Sanchez’s penalty kick with 7:28 remaining.

St. Francis (1-4-2, 0-1-0) had a few scoring opportunities but those chances dissipated for the most part in the final 40 minutes.

“What we’re capable of here is where we can keep a 3A team that is very, very good scoreless until the last five minutes of the half,” Spartans coach Kristin Keigley said. “They continually go out and fight and were dangerous to them and made them have to work. (They proved) it’s not going to be just an easy laid back game for (Marmion).”

Sophomore Matt Fletcher recorded the shutout for the Cadets who won their third straight contest, all shutouts.

“I think the thing that I’m most pleased with is that this was our third shutout in a row,” Marmion coach Ricky Del Toro said. “We gave up 11 goals in our first four games and had to sit down and re-evaluate. We’ve stepped up big since then.”