Marmion loses heartbreaker at DeKalb
Jordan Glasgow did everything humanely possible to extend the Marmion football season Friday night.
The senior relieved starting quarterback John Tate late in the Cadets' Class 6A first-round playoff game against DeKalb and promptly scored on a keeper with 51 seconds to play.
The 5-yard run one play after Tate left with an ankle injury brought the Cadets to within a single point of DeKalb.
Marmion elected to go for a 2-point conversion, only to see Glasgow fall a few yards short after a damaging delay-of-game penalty moments before.
But Glasgow gave Marmion one last hope by recovering the ensuing onside kick.
“I was just hoping that it would bounce up,” Glasgow said.
Glasgow completed a 27-yard pass to Nate Traxler to advance to the Barbs' 15-yard line.
But out of timeouts and with the clock running, Marmion kicker Connor Hoeft had his desperation 35-yard field goal — into the teeth of an insidious wind — fall well short in the closing seconds after another costly delay of game penalty pushed the attempt back.
The Barbs (9-1) escaped with a 21-20 victory in DeKalb, their first playoff win since 1989.
Marmion had its campaign come to a difficult end at 6-4.
The Cadets totally turned the game around after DeKalb scored on its opening two possessions and defensively denied Marmion on fourth-down stops three times.
Tate — following a short punt into the gusting winds — turned a broken play into a 28-yard touchdown run to slice the Barbs' two-score lead in half.
“Actually, I messed it up,” Tate said of his run. “I turned the wrong way, but our line made a huge hole.”
But DeKalb — and its Illinois-bound star running back Dre Brown — would promptly answer to the Cadets' 2-play drive in kind.
Brown, who finished with a game-high 167 yards rushing on a punishing 28 carries, was featured seven times in the Barbs' 86-yard scoring drive that he capped from 3 yards out.
The ground-dominated drive consumed almost seven minutes of playing time, but Marmion refused to wilt.
Lucas Warren sustained the Cadets' ensuing run with a fourth-down run, and Eric Bacorn put Marmion in ideal scoring position with a brilliant one-handed 31-yard reception from Tate.
Facing fourth-and-goal from the Barbs' 8-yard line, Tate called his own number once again with 3:19 remaining and scored to trim DeKalb's lead to 20-14.
“No one was open, so I just took it in,” said Tate, who was filling in for injured starter Rusty Joyce.
Luke Juriga then stunned the DeKalb crowd with a fumble recovery three plays later deep in Barb territory.
Glasgow scored out of a Wildcat formation with 50.9 second to play.
Marmion coach Dan Thorpe decided against a conventional conversion and overtime.
“We had the momentum,” Thorpe said. “‘Let's win it right here' was the mentality. We had a 2-point conversion that the kids were confident in.”
Warren led the Cadets' ground attack with 63 yards; Glasgow added 59 more on nine touches, and Tate finished with 53 more.
DeKalb led 14-0 at halftime as Brown set up the first score with a 33-yard burst.
The Barbs' Rudy Lopez added a second straight DeKalb touchdown to start the game with a 30-yard reception from Derek Kyler.
“We always focus on starting fast,” Brown said. “We knew (Marmion) played in a really good conference.”