Providence upends Marmion

The clouds burst open with two minutes left in the first half when host Marmion held a 7-0 lead over defending Class 7A champion Providence in a Chicago Catholic League crossover game.

After an hour-and-a-half delay, play resumed - and that's when Marmion's bubble burst on a stormy Friday night.

The Cadets were in some trouble just before lightning and downpours sent everyone for cover because they were backed up to their own 2-yard line and facing a third down.

When play resumed, the snap on a fourth-down punt attempt sailed out of the end zone for a safety. When Providence's Mariano Sori-Marin took the ensuing kickoff 55 yards for a score and an 8-7 lead, the momentum had shifted.

The Cadets never recovered, suffering through a miserable second half in which they gained only 5 total yards on the way to enduring a 24-7 setback.

The victory got Providence (1-3) in the win column after a difficult start to the season in absorbing losses to tough Joliet Catholic, Oswego and Mount Carmel squads.

The Celtics hitched their wagon to running back Mike Markasovic, who took on the role of workhorse with starter Richie Warfield sidelined with a bad ankle.

Markasovic carried the ball 27 times for 129 yards and caught two passes for 19 yards, finishing off his night with a 13-yard touchdown run in the game's waning minutes. Markasovic's rushing yards equaled Marmion's total yards for the night.

"We decided to change it up a little in the second half," Markasovic said after he represented the Celtics' lone threat in the first half with 78 yards on 15 carries.

"We've been struggling a little bit, trying to come together a little more and figure things out," the senior back added. "I had to do what I had to do tonight with Richie out."

It was the Providence defense that came out in the second half and wiped out any thoughts Marmion (1-3) might have had in getting back into the game.

Defenders swarmed quarterback Collin Gibson in the end zone for another safety just moments after the Cadets had halted a long Providence drive by recovering a Markasovic fumble at their own 5-yard line.

As they did on the previous safety and ensuing short kick, the Celtics took advantage to strike quickly, this time on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Jared Drake to Malone Martez for a 17-7 lead.

Marmion finished the third quarter with only 6 offensive plays resulting in minus-11 yards rushing and one interception.

"If we could have gotten out of that first half it might have been different, because we had everything in our favor," Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said.

"They saw our score from last week (a 53-7 thrashing from St. Francis) and came out a little flat," Thorpe said. "But having more than an hour delay, they had time to regroup."

Marmion played without lineman Adam Prosser, senior quarterback Johnny Tate and kicker Connor Hoeft, but still had things their own way in the first half.

Brandon McPherson took a pitch out from Gibson on the game's second drive and tossed a 50-yard pass to Nick Sevenich to put the Celtics back on their heels. Three plays later, Nick Auriemma followed strong blocking up front to barrel in from 4 yards out for a 7-0 lead that Marmion held until after the rain delay.

"Our forte has been to throw the ball, and they knew we were going to run it, so we took some shots early," Providence coach Mark Coglianese said of his team's sudden switch to the passing game on the rain-soaked field.

Drake threw for 119 yards in the second half, compared to 11 in a first half in which a few open receivers dropped or couldn't quite reach passes after breaking free on routes.

"It was a good thing that Drake was putting the ball on the right spot, so we seemed to settle down a little bit," Coglianese said.

But there was no magic pep talk about offense during the long rain delay. "We told them the offense was struggling, so there was no reason the defense couldn't score and get some momentum going," Coglianese said.

The defense, behind all-state linebacker Brenden O'Hara, did more than its share by adding interceptions from Dan McDonald and Steven Meyer to go along with the two safeties.

Marmion has some time to regroup. The Cadets will take a forfeit victory from Chicago Legal Prep Charter next weekend.

"We're not a bad football team," Thorpe said. "But we knew it was going to be hard to move the ball against them. It was our 24 guys against their 74 guys and we did the best we could."