Marmion stymies Marian
The Marmion football team turned the ball over on its first two possessions in Friday's Suburban Christian Conference game at Marian.
After that, the Cadets turned Marian's Homecoming sour, winning in convincing fashion, 24-7.
"This was a huge boost for the program," Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said. "I think it's been 12 or 15 years since we've won here (in Woodstock)."
After only a 9-yard punt, Marmion (4-0, 2-0) received great field position at the Marian 42-yard line on its fourth possession of the evening. Nick Scoliere started the Cadets' first scoring drive with an 18-yard run and then Mitch Loehmann broke through the Hurricanes' defense for a 24-yard touchdown run with 2:30 remaining in the opening quarter.
"The offensive line has been stepping it up," Marmion senior T.J. Lally said. "We haven't been putting up as many points as we'd like, but they've been giving us big holes, now are backs are stepping up and tonight we we're able to put some points up."
Marian (2-1, 1-1) was unable to do much offensively against the Cadets. In the first half they had a touchdown called back on a penalty and also had a field goal attempt blocked by Marmion's Grant Wilson.
Marmion didn't have any trouble with a huge field goal by A.J. Friedman that ended the first half. The right-footed junior shrugged off a timeout by Marian to ice him in the waning seconds before hammering a career-best 47-yarder to put the Cadets ahead 10-0 at halftime.
"That was very huge and we know he's capable of that," Thorpe said. "He makes 42 (yarders) in practice all the time and he kept his head down and stayed focused, but also it was s nice job by the line, on the snap and the hold."
The Hurricanes howled back to open the second half to make things interesting. A 49-yard kickoff return by Andrew Stone got them started and Corey Cavitt finished things with a 7-yard run with 7:25 left in the third quarter to make it a 10-7 contest.
But, knowing that momentum was swinging the other way, the Cadets silenced the Hurricanes by scoring on their first drive of the second half. A couple of runs by Lally, playing with a broken hand, and Nick Scoliere (11 carries, 79 yards) combined with a 15-yard face mask penalty got the Cadets going before Lally took a pitch, moved left and took it in for a 35-yard score.
"We finally had our offense step up and do what they were expected to do," Thrope said. "We wanted to answer their score with a nice drive and I was with happy the offensive line and how hard the backs ran tonight."
Lally (8 carries, 143 yards) wasn't finished yet though, saving his best run to end the third quarter. Seemingly within the grasp of a couple of defenders, Lally kept his feet moving and somehow turned a minimal gain into a 58-yard touchdown run and a comfortable 24-7 advantage.
"I don't know exactly what happened but I just tried to keep my feet moving," he said. "They had nice pursuit and I just kept driving and was able to breakthrough."