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Marmion ends offensive slump
Updated: September 16, 2011 11:43PM
After scoring 7, 6, and 6 points in its first three games, the Marmion football team is now an offensive juggernaut.
And all it took was a gutsy fake punt.
The Cadets’ trickery on their opening drive Friday night against visiting St. Edward resulted in a 46-yard pickup and led to a 15-yard touchdown run by Cody Snodgrass two players later.
Marmion forced four turnovers in the first half and found the end zone to be a warm and comforting place in a 38-6 win that moves the Cadets back to .500.
“This will give our offense some confidence,” Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said. “Our emphasis this week was for linemen to block longer, backs to run harder. We could only block 10 guys so we needed guys to beat their man and they were able to do that tonight.”
On fourth-and-3 from their own 36, Cadets’ upman Dan DiBartolo — also the backup quarterback — found Matt Lally wide open across the middle for the big gainer.
“I had to step up with the linebacker coming up and then make a jump pass,” DiBartolo said. “Everyone was real excited. It gave us a change of heart (to score right away).”
The play dubbed “Tebow” had been in the works for days and provided Marmion (2-2, 1-1 in the Suburban Christian Blue) the confidence needed to break from its offensive slump.
“We saw it in the film and we told the kids we’d run it even if we were on the 20-yard line,” Thorpe said. “We told the defense if we don’t complete it, we have to go out and stop them. We felt it was there, we worked on it. Coaches can draw up lots of stuff, but the kids have to execute.”
Marmion linebacker Angelo Silvestro forced a fumble inside the Green Wave 5 not long after and quarterback Charlie Faunce found Kyle Kozak on a 3-yard touchdown for a quick 14-0 lead.
St. Edward quarterback Robert French was picked off three times in the first half by A.J. Friedman, Snodgrass and Rob Voirin, respectively.
Cadets’ tailback Garret Becker had an 8-yard touchdown run after Friedman’s pick, and Friedman added a 25-yard field goal before half for a 24-0 lead.
“They looked line an offense that could score some points against us for sure,” Green Wave coach Mike Rolando said. “We come out and stop them, give up a fake punt. Just routine football 101 and we didn’t do it. Tackling, covering wide open receivers, taking care of the ball. We couldn’t have played any aspect of the game worse than we did.”
Becker had a 62-yard touchdown run in the second half, while DiBartolo found Jake Ruddy on a 65-yard strike.
After rushing for 248 yards last week, St. Edward running back Luke Duffy was held in check by the Marmion defensive interior, though he did get the only St. Edward score on a 25-yard reception.
“The teams we have left on the schedule, you can’t give opportunities like this and we know that,” Rolando said. “We got beat up by a better football team today. Hopefully, we can play a little better down the road.”
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