Marmion snaps St. Francis' 12-game win streak
It's one of Marmion coach Dan Thorpe's pet sayings:
"Most high school teams will beat themselves."
Marmion ably assisted St. Francis in that, recovering 2 Spartans fumbles and a muffed punt return and intercepting a pass to win the Suburban Christian Conference opener 20-7 on Friday in Wheaton.
Helping snap the defending Class 5A state champion's 12-game winning streak, Marmion junior Nick Scoliere recovered an early fumble to set up the first score, caught a 49-yard touchdown pass, and recovered the muffed return to cinch it for Marmion (2-1, 1-0).
"Our defense stepped up this week, trying to be the best defense in the conference," Scoliere said.
"We worked all week just reading our keys, and this week we trusted each other, read our keys and everyone was in the right place at the right time. It was a perfect team effort."
Scoliere was right there on the Spartans' first play from scrimmage. He recovered a blown handoff at the 5-yard line of St. Francis (2-1, 0-1). Bobby Winkel bulled in, and Chris Tydd's kick gave the Cadets a 7-0 lead at 9:45 of the first quarter.
"We beat ourselves on this one today," said St. Francis' Tony Vargyas, who led the Spartans with 37 yards rushing and 66 yards receiving.
Marmion took a 14-0 lead into halftime when quarterback Will Sterne surprised St. Francis with an outside keeper for a 50-yard touchdown after faking an inside handoff to Winkel.
"We were just trying to get a good fake because we had been running up the middle the whole time," said Sterne, whose 57 yards rushing followed Winkel's 76.
"Right when I pulled it out I saw open field. I just ran as fast as I could all the way to the end zone," Sterne said.
Sterne engineered a 9-play, 74-yard scoring drive for a 20-0 lead with 32 seconds left in the third quarter. He looked right then threw to Scoliere slanting in from the left. The receiver broke down the middle for a 49-yard touchdown.
St. Francis got on the board when quarterback Jake Butler, coming off the bench for injured starter Collin O'Donnell, drove the Spartans downfield. Fullback Colin Marshall's 1-yard dive and Mike Krese's kick cut the lead to 20-7 with 5:22 left.
A Winkel interception ended the Spartans' next possession. Marmion punted it away, but Scoliere was there to cover the muffed return that closed it out.
"Any time you turn the ball over it's going to kill you," said St. Francis coach Greg Purnell. "And we turned it over probably four times tonight. And that first one was very critical."