Marczuk tosses 4 TDs in Kaneland's win
What started out as a stormy night for the Chicago Marshall Commandos visiting Peterson Field in Maple Park on Friday, ended up turning into a very stormy Knight, as Kaneland defeated the visitors 49-6.
Knights junior quarterback Jake Marczuk tossed four touchdown passes and ran for another to lead host Kaneland (2-0) to the non-conference win.
"They're a very athletic team with a lot of talent," Marczuk said of the Commandos. "We knew they were going to come in and play hard, so we just had to want it more. It just came down to playing football and playing the game because you love it."
Marczuk connected with sophomore Tyler Paulson for a 15-yard touchdown pass to get the Knights started just under three minutes into the first quarter.
After forcing the Commandos to punt after three straight incomplete passes, Marczuk completed 6 of 7 passes for 62 yards, the last coming on a 2-yard score to Kevin Fuchs.
Trailing 15-0, Marshall (0-2) started their next series on their own 13-yard line, and things appeared to be going from bad to worse. Facing fourth-and-8 from the Knights' 49-yard line, the Commandos lined up in a punt formation, but punter Roger Williams took off for a 9-yard gain to earn the first down. Marshall scored four plays later when quarterback Emontay Hall found Williams for a 23-yard touchdown pass to bring the score to 15-6.
The Knights began to pour it on after that.
With 4:46 left in the second quarter, Marczuk scored from 11 yards out, and just over three minutes later, Marczuk was at it again, throwing a 31-yard scoring strike to Connor Fedderly.
On their first series of the second half and trailing 29-6, Marshall once again faced a fourth-down situation, but this time Williams' fake punt was stuffed for a loss of 6 yards and the Knights scored two plays later when Marczuk found Mitchel Groen in the back of the endzone.
Kaneland's Kyle Diehl intercepted a deflected third-and-11 pass and returned it 11 yards to the Commandos 24-yard line. Alec Aurelio scored from 2 yards out two plays later.
The Knights' final score came with 9:58 left in the game. Giovanni Regalado ran three times for 61 yards with his final carry scoring from the 16-yard line.
Knights head coach Tom Fedderly didn't feel the team needed any extra incentive from the coaching staff to realize it was time to turn it on after the Commandos made it a one-score game.
"I think they just realized they need to play a full game," Fedderly said of the sudden surge. "They (the defense) had a great game last week, but they were still a little hard on themselves, so they're going to keep working hard and putting in the work to get better each week."