DeKalb ends Marmion's season

DeKALB - Marmion coach Dan Thorpe's third quarter gamble backfired.

After holding a potent DeKalb squad to just 7 points and 87 total yards in the first half of Friday night's Class 6A opening round playoff game, Thorpe elected to kick off against a 20-plus mile per hour wind to start the third quarter.

Barbs' standout senior wide receiver Cole Tucker spoiled the plan by racing 88 yards untouched for a touchdown on the kickoff to ignite a 28-point DeKalb third quarter barrage.

Marmion rallied for a pair of fourth quarter scores and nearly made it a one-score game late, but a pair of turnovers sealed No. 7 seed DeKalb's 35-20 victory.

The Barbs (8-2) will travel to face No. 2 seed Antioch (10-0) in the second round while Marmion closed out its season 6-4.

"I cost the kids by taking the wind for the fourth quarter," Thorpe said. "We talked about not flinching and whoever has the wind is going to score points, and just hang in there, but they just scored too many obviously."

"Field position was going to play a big part in this and we had to get some scores in the third quarter," said DeKalb coach Matt Weckler. "Also we got some stops to make them punt into the wind."

Despite outgaining DeKalb 2-to-1 in the opening half, Marmion still trailed 7-6 at halftime.

Jett Haas gained 36 yards on the Cadets' first two plays, but a fumble gave DeKalb possession at midfield.

After a DeKalb 3-and-out Marmion scored the only touchdown of the game against the wind on an impressive 13-play, 80-yard drive that chewed up nearly 7 minutes.

Marmion quarterback Brandon McPherson scrambled for 8 yards on 4th-and-5 from the Barbs' 39 and Zach Urwiler scored on a 6-yard run around the right side. However, the Cadets missed the extra point.

DeKalb answered as quarterback Derek Kyler completed 4 passes for 67 yards as part of an 80-yard drive for a 7-6 lead with 36 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Marmion failed to score with the wind in the second quarter, missing a 35-yard field goal with 2:52 left in the half.

"We were doing really well early on with the sweeps, but they started shutting it down," Haas said.

Marmion mustered just one first down and lost a fumble in the third quarter.

DeKalb capitalized as Kyler went 7-for-9 for 136 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter with Jelante Young also scoring on a 1-yard plunge.

McPherson (14-for-22, 217 yards) connected with Urwiler on a 40-yard touchdown strike and followed with a 66-yard bomb to Haas to close the gap to 35-20 with 7:50 remaining.

After a defensive stop, the Cadets drove down to the Barbs' 29, but McPherson was hit from behind and DeKalb recovered the loose ball with 4:28 left, then intercepted a pass in the end zone on the Cadets final drive.

"I always have confidence in our team," Haas said. "I've never been on a team with so much heart."

"I know with the platoon they wore us down," Thorpe said. "We have seven kids going both ways and we have great heart and great guts."

The frantic finish reminded Weckler of Marmion's late comeback attempt in DeKalb's 21-20 win in a first round game two years ago, where Marmion recovered an onside kick and missed a game-winning field goal attempt in the final seconds.

"It was almost déjà vu all over again, but luckily we made a couple of stops at the end to take that out of the picture," Weckler said.