Cadets march past previously-unbeaten Lemont

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:04PM

Knees on the ground, balanced by one hand or two, the Lemont Indians

defensive line tried to catch a breath. After every Marmion

play, the Indians front three or four tried to rest. The linebacker's

shoulders sagged, resting on their knee pads.

And this was early in the third quarter.

From the opening drive, you could see the Indians be beaten down,

slowly, by the Marmion Cadets in a 31-20 Class 6A quarterfinal

victory that vaulting the Cadets into the semifinal round for the first

time since 1989.

On Saturday afternoon, the Cadets just pounded away at an Indians

defense that came in allowing 13 points per game, controlled the ball

for just a shade over 30 minutes, grinding out 359 yards on the ground

and 6.6 yards per carry.

"To be honest with you, today, it seemed like they didn't have an answer

for what we were doing," said Cadets running back

defensive end Nick Scoliere. "We made the right reads, we made the right

calls, and our coaches put us in a position where we could really

exploit them."

Marmion (11-1) had eight plays of 22 yards or more, including four plays

that stretched over 40. While T.J. Lally's 44-yard run in the second

quarter was the only play that directly resulted in a touchdown, the

large chunks of yardge demoralized an Indians squad used to setting the

pace.

"They were really important," Lally said of the big-gainers. "Lemont's

defense has really been outstanding this whole year but to put a chink

in their armor with those big plays just wore them down. They started to

maybe doubt themselves a little bit. We could hear them jawing back and

forth to each other."

The longest plays came courtesy of running back Garret Becker, who broke

off runs of 68 and 53 yards on quick-hitting traps off the left side in

the first quarter. He then added a 25-yard run in the third as he

finished with a game-high 164 yards.

Lally (139 yards) added a 36-yard run in the third quarter and Bobby

Peters hooked up with Scoliere and Mike Carbonara on pass completions of

22 and 41 yards. Lally even connected with Scoliere for a 37-yard

completion.

"They were on their heels all day. We could have run anything," Peters

said. "Whatever coach called we had confidence in. It was our day."

The Indians had no answer for the Cadets on offense, which was something

coach Dan Thorpe has been waiting to see all season long. The sixth-year

head coach and the players unanimously called it the most complete game

the team has played thus far.

"We were hoping to play field position and we just couldn't get off the

field defensively," Indians head coach Eric Michaelsen said. "They would

break it and they would change the whole field position and then it

seemed like every time they needed a third down or big-time play, they

went out there and made the play and did it. It's to their credit."

Defensively, the Cadets allowed just 13 points to an multi-faceted

offense that averaged 36.7 points per game coming in, forcing five

second half turnovers and allowing a paltry 4.8 yards per play.

This effort, combined with the offense building a 24-13 halftime lead,

allowed for the Cadets to turn the tables on a Lemont team that had

outscored opponents 307-74 in the first half of games.

"They're still high school kids and (the Indians) haven't been behind

and that was one of our goals to get them behind and have them do some

things different," Thorpe said. "We're very fortunate. They've been a

big play team and we were just hoping we could stay away from that, we

did, they weren't able to move the ball on us too much in regard to when

they had to. We stepped up."

The Cadets now travel to Danville to face the top seeded and undefeated

Vikings (12-0), coached by former Yorkville and Waubonsie Valley head

man B.J. Luke. Danville easily dispatched Crete-Monee 35-14 in the lower

bracket's other quarterfinal Saturday.

"It feels good," Lally said. "We're not worried about anybody. We feel

we can take on anybody right now."

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