Night starts slow, gets worse for Marmion
By JOE STEVENSON - Shaw Suburban Media
CRYSTAL LAKE – The fact that Marmion’s bus arrived 35 minutes later than scheduled probably had nothing to do with the Cadets’ performance in their IHSA Class 6A second-round playoff game.
It may, however, have been an omen.
“It went downhill from there,” Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said. “I’m just being funny.”
There was little to cheer or grin about for the Cadets. After a few encouraging plays on their first drive, Prairie Ridge took total control and never let up. The No. 10-seeded Wolves rolled past No. 2 Marmion, 31-7, Friday night at Prairie Ridge Athletic Stadium.
Prairie Ridge (8-3) scored the game’s first two touchdowns and turned in what the Wolves considered their best game of the season to advance to the quarterfinals. Prairie Ridge will meet the winner between No. 6 Chicago Hubbard (8-2) at No. 14 Belvidere North (6-4), which play at 3 p.m. today.
Quarterback Jon Williams ran the option offense proficiently as the Wolves rolled up 275 rushing yards and did not commit a turnover. On the other side, Marmion (9-2) lost three fumbles and one interception.
“Their fakes [in the option] were unbelievable,” Marmion linebacker Bobby Winkel said. “We had guys tackling their fullback when he didn’t have the ball. It was so hard to read what they were doing.”
Marmion trailed 17-7 in the third quarter and was driving when quarterback Bobby Peters’ pitch to fullback T.J. Lally fell on the ground and was recovered by Wolves defensive end Greg Drain.
Two plays later, Williams broke free for a 73-yard touchdown run around the right side that seemed to demoralize the Cadets.
“It wasn’t meant to be,” Thorpe said. “But it was because of Prairie Ridge. That’s a great program with some classy kids. We got beat by a better team. They outexecuted us on offense, they outexecuted us on defense. Their kids flew around with attitude and physicality.”
Marmion lost a fumble on the possession after Williams’ long run. Then, after stopping Prairie Ridge, the Cadets proceeded to commit three penalties on their next drive.
“That was probably the best game we’ve played since Week 1 [a 41-14 victory over Woodstock],” Prairie Ridge coach Chris Schremp said. “[Marmion] has been scoring a lot of points and it was on big runs.
They turned games into track meets. We thought if we could stop that and get ahead, it might be a different game.”
Marmion won nine consecutive games after the season opener and took the Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division title this season.
“Nobody expected us to win the conference,” Thorpe said. “I have to give credit to the seniors and the standard they set. They raised the bar pretty high.”
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