Marmion starts fast, picks off Plainfield Central
Playing 16 hours later than scheduled due to Friday night’s storms that hit suburban Chicago may have made Marmion’s football team a little antsier than usual.
But it didn’t take away from the Cadets’ focus.
Scoring touchdowns on their first 2 offensive possessions, the Cadets (1-0) built a 14-0 first-quarter lead before turning to their opportunistic defense during Saturday’s 25-7 nonconference victory over Plainfield Central (0-1) at Fichtel Field in Aurora.
Running behind an offensive line that featured guards Luke Juriga, Zach Siwiec, tackles Oscar Garza, Tim Clohecy, and center Andy Matthews, the Cadets amassed 386 yards on the ground — 110 of them coming on their first 10 carries.
Two-way starter Mike Montalbano, who led all running backs with 158 yards rushing on just 9 carries, capped a 4-play, 74-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown run as the Cadets grabbed a 6-0 lead in the first 57 seconds of play.
Playing in a heavy downpour at the outset, quarterback Mike Smiles lost his grip on the ball on a third-and-8 during the Wildcats’ opening possession and Montalbano pounced on the loose ball inside the Plainfield Central 40-yard line.
Six plays later, senior quarterback Brock Krueger (4-of-12, 60 yards) scored on a 2-yard keeper and Montalbano’s 2-point conversion run helped the Cadets extend their lead to 14-0.
“We came out strong — we knew that we needed to get up early,” said Montalbano, who admitted the atmosphere for the 11 a.m. kickoff (no band, no cheerleaders, smaller crowd) was much different from Friday night’s feeling of anticipation.
“The atmosphere was different today but you’ve got to play football,” he said. “That’s kind of why I liked the rain early today. It kind of felt like it was a night game.”
While the Wildcats trimmed their deficit to 14-7 on Smiles’ 21-yard touchdown pass to Dom Rios-Sterr midway through the second quarter, the Cadets’ 7-point halftime lead felt like a whole lot more considering their 183-yard advantage (270-87) to go with 3 interceptions.
However, Marmion was unable to score points during 3 first-half possessions in the red zone — a trend that continued when its opening drive of the second half stalled inside the Wildcats’ 5-yard line.
“We came out and played fast in the first quarter and then we turned the ball over and got down a little bit,” admitted Marmion coach Dan Thorpe. “But the defense played very well.”
Proving that point, defensive end Joe Talbot sacked Plainfield Central backup quarterback Matt Gurke in the end zone for a safety to extend Marmion’s lead to 16-7.
On the Wildcats’ next possession, junior cornerback Noel Abraham recorded the second of his 3 interceptions — 6 total for Marmion — which eventually led to a 3-yard TD run by punishing sophomore fullback Lucas Warren (16 carries, 96 yards).
Riley DeMoss’ 28-yard field goal with 6:29 left capped the day’s scoring, while Abraham delivered the exclamation point with his third interception to thwart the Wildcats’ last threat with 3:21 remaining.
“I was at the right place at the right time,” said Abraham, who missed his sophomore season due to shoulder surgery.
“It’s great to be 1-0,” said Thorpe. “Last year we weren’t 1-0 at this time (following a 35-13 Week 1 loss to Jacobs) so we’re not going to complain at all.”