Prairie Ridge rolls by Cadets
Marmion could not have asked for a better start. Prairie Ridge enjoyed the finish
The Cadets built a 10-0 lead after the Wolves had run just one offensive play, but Prairie Ridge made the best of the remainder of the night, cruising to a 41-16 victory in the opening round of the Class 6A football playoffs in Crystal Lake.
Sam Campbell rushed for 183 yards and a pair of touchdowns and junior Kevin Keener scored 3 times and finished with 123 yards on the ground for the Wolves (10-0), who will play the winner of today's Lake Forest at Oswego game in the second round.
"The seniors really stepped up when we were down," Wolves' quarterback Bryan Bradshaw said. "They're confident. Our offense is confident. Our team is confident. We knew they were going to be pumped up for the game."
Trailing 10-0 after the first quarter, Prairie Ridge took control in the second quarter. Bradshaw (6 rushes, 50 yards) scored on a 1-yard run just 47 seconds into the second period to bring the fifth-seeded Wolves to 10-7.
After a Marmion turnover Campbell scored 2 plays later on a run of 19 yards.
Wolves linebacker Brad Young scooped up his first fumble recovery of the night to get the Wolves the ball back right before halftime. Keener added a touchdown of 6 yards with 1:28 left before the half to extend the Wolves' lead to 21-10.
Things got worse for Marmion as starting quarterback Ricky Bird was injured in the first half.
Bird, who completed 7 of his first 8 passes, finished the first half 11-of-21 for 134 yards. He added 51 yards on the ground. Junior Matt Milroy filled in for Bird. Milroy orchestrated the Cadets' lone scoring drive of the second half, but it was Bird who capped it off.
Bird plowed in from a yard out to bring Marmion back to 21-16 with 3:56 left in the third.
"His shoulder was bothering him," Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said. "He was dinged up."
The Wolves noticed Bird's pain.
"He took quite a few shots," Wolves' coach Chris Schremp said. "We saw it right away. We told the kids at halftime to keep pressuring him"
Bird's efforts were matched by Keener's 20-yard touchdown run 2 minutes later, putting Prairie Ridge up 28-16. Campbell and Keener each added 10-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
Marmion (5-5) got a 22-yard field goal from Alex Picini to go up 3-0. Bradshaw then fumbled the snap on Prairie Ridge's first offensive possession to set up first-and-10 on the Wolves' 20.
Marmion scored when Bird found Manny Juarez on a 20-yard pass to go up 10-0 with 5:35 left in the first quarter.
The Cadets' defense, Ryan Lutz in particular, gave Marmion's offense several opportunities. Lutz picked Bradshaw off twice and recovered a fumble in the loss.
"We kind of killed ourselves," Lutz said. "We got the turnovers. Then we took too long or we turned the ball over ourselves."