Marmion surges past St. Edward
When Davontae Elam fought across the goal line for a 2-yard touchdown run a minute into the second quarter, St. Edward led Marmion 10-0 in a battle of unbeaten football rivals Friday in Aurora. But while Marmion’s players were visibly frustrated over the Green Wave’s dominating start on the Cadets’ home field, Marmion coach Dan Thorpe provided a calming influence on the sidelines. Thorpe believed it was only a matter of time before his team’s advantages in size and depth took a toll on St. Edward’s 30-player roster.
Thorpe proved to be prophetic. Marmion rang up two second-quarter touchdowns to surge in front and pulled away after halftime, posting a 27-10 victory in the Suburban Christian Blue Division opener for both schools.
“St. Edward has an explosive offense, very diverse. They can be hard to slow down. We talked during practice this week about not panicking,” Thorpe said. “If things didn’t go well early, we just told the players to hang in there and keep battling. They have lots of two-way starters (seven in all). We knew we could wear them down.”
The Green Wave (2-1) certainly were explosive to open the game. St. Edward piled up 105 first-quarter yards of offense, 94 on the ground, using a variety of rushing plays, from sweeps and pitchouts to reverses and Wildcat formations. The Green Wave struck first on a 27-yard field goal by Joe French and stretched the lead on Elam’s touchdown.
But Marmion’s defense then loaded up the line of scrimmage to contain the running game. The Cadets (3-0) limited St. Edward to only 80 rushing yards after Elam’s score until a 24-yard burst by Elam in the last 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, while the Green Wave’s passing game only mustered 23 total yards.
The defensive effort gave Marmion’s offense the opportunity to straighten out its rushing attack. Mike Montalbano got the Cadets on the scoreboard with a 29-yard touchdown run that made it 10-7. After Jake Gallaher’s interception and a subsequent Green Wave personal foul gave the Cadets prime field position on St. Edward’s 13-yard line, Marmion took the lead 13-10 when Jordan Glasgow slipped into the end zone untouched from 4 yards out 1:47 before halftime. The starting tailback was expected to miss the game due to a nagging ankle injury but inspired his teammates with 30 yards on 3 carries in spot duty.
“It’s just really bugging him,” Thorpe said of the injury, which has restricted the junior’s practice repetitions and kept him on the sidelines for most of the young season. “The question we face is do we shut him down (to heal up) or do we play him for nine weeks of wobbling on a bad ankle?”
St. Edward’s defense helped the Green Wave hang around in the second half until Marmion engineered a 14-play, 49-yard drive capped by a 7-yard touchdown sweep by Montalbano, which supplied the Cadets with wiggle room at 20-10 with 7:30 remaining in the game. The drive was aided by two unsportsmanlike conduct calls against St. Edward as well as a late hit that altogether accounted for 40 yards in penalties.
“We were very well prepared by our coaches. We executed our game plan, and everyone carried out their assignments early in the game,” said Elam, who rushed for 108 yards on 31 carries against a defense focused almost solely on stopping him. “But in the second half, we got too aggressive and didn’t execute like our coaches prepared us. We were not staying calm. We were too eager and couldn’t control our emotions to get back on track.”
Marmion salted the game away with a 73-yard drive that ended when 225-pound sophomore fullback Lucas Warren broke several tackles and bulled 14 yards into the end zone for a 27-10 lead with 1 minute to play. Thorpe said Marmion’s deep stable of running backs and stout offensive line wore down the Green Wave’s two-way starters. The Cadets rumbled for 204 second-half yards and 299 yards in the final three quarters after being held to -2 yards in the first quarter.
“We’re definitely not a one-man rushing team,” said senior tailback Enzo Olabi, who gained 37 yards on four carries as one of seven running backs to share the ball Friday. “We have a lot of talented backs. By using all of us, we can stay fresher than our opponent.”