Marmion no match for Providence
Providence Catholic was simply extending the misery for Marmion on its opening possession Friday night.
The Celtics had back-to-back touchdowns of 70-plus yards — a punt return and a flanker sweep — negated by penalties.
But Marmion did not have any answers for the Celtics' Notre Dame-bound wide receiver Miles Boykin.
The senior scored on a 22-yard pass reception, the first of three scoring collaborations with quarterback Justin Hunniford, to conclude the Celtics' peculiar opening drive.
The Cadets were no match for Providence in the Catholic League crossover battle of unbeatens in New Lenox, falling 37-7.
“The flags were with us at the beginning,” Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said. “Thank God for that.”
“We know that's going to happen in a game,” said Boykin, who finished with 5 catches for 116 yards. “You're going to have a hold or a block in the back.”
Not much else went wrong for Providence (4-0); the final score failing to illuminate how one-sided the Celtics' dominance was over the Cadets (3-1).
Providence had 14 of the opening two quarters' 15 first downs.
In falling behind 23-0 at the halftime break, accomplished with two brilliant goal-line stands that held Providence to 3 points, Marmion had 28 yards of offense to the Celtics' 269.
“They were blitzing hard the entire time,” said Marmion quarterback Rusty Joyce, who was sacked three times and intercepted.
“The line tried to pick them up. The (Providence) secondary was really good. We couldn't get anything going against them (in the opening three quarters).”
The backbreaker for Marmion remaining competitive early came on the Celtics' second possession.
The Cadets forced a punt, but a dropped fair catch opened the door to Providence doubling its first-quarter lead moments later.
“The muffed punt hurt tremendously,” Thorpe said.
Early in the second quarter, Boykin caught a pass in stride and gave Providence a commanding 20-0 lead with the 45-yard catch and run.
The carnage only resumed in the second half when Providence needed but six snaps to score twice more.
Providence coach Mark Coglianese gave his starters the rest of the night off with the 37-0 late third-quarter lead.
The Cadets finally responded as its running-back-by-committee-approach — nine carriers in all — found some success against the Celtics' second unit.
Matt Ferraro ran seven times for 62 yards, almost all of it on the Cadets' final two possessions.
Nathan Traxler had two double-digit runs, and the junior averted the shutout with his rumble from 14 yards out.
“It felt good to get that score at the end,” Traxler said.
“They're a really good football team,” Thorpe said of Providence. “They're unbeaten for a reason after beating some of the teams they have.”