Marmion dismantles DuSable for 400th program win

When Marmion coach Dan Thorpe called his team together after Friday's 54-6 thumping of visiting DuSable at Fichtel Field, the first thing he did was to remove his Marmion sweatshirt he had worn throughout the contest.

Underneath, he wore a T-shirt that read "Marmion - 400 wins - and counting," and the Cadets proceeded to celebrate loudly.

"It's a great milestone for all the alumni and all the people who have played at Marmion since 1933," Thorpe said. "We're proud that the 2016 team contributed that 400th win.

Then Thorpe got serious with his team. Despite winning for the second time in as many games this season, there were times when the Cadets (2-0) did not look as dominant as the scoreboard showed. DuSable (1-1) trailed only 31-6 at halftime and had momentum as the second quarter ended.

To be fair, Marmion played a series of reserves through the second quarter after building a 28-0 first quarter lead, but that lackluster second quarter was still something Thorpe said he would address with his team.

"It's hard when you get the lead and your second team is in there, but we expect better," Thorpe said. "Down the road, they're going to be called upon to play. But it was nice to come out in the second half and for the first team to get things done right away."

The Cadets returned for the second half and took control of the contest immediately, scoring 23 points to put the game fully out of reach and set the stage for next Friday's contest with St. Francis.

Defense was one of the keys for Marmion. At halftime, DuSable only had 20 yards of offense, and that number was cut more than in half in the second half. The Panthers finished with just 8 offensive yards and turned the ball over five times. Through the first quarter, the Cadets worked with a short field.

Four of the turnovers were interceptions and two of those were by Jett Haas, who also recovered a fumble. Haas scored one of his team's touchdowns as well, on a 47-yard run from scrimmage midway through the first quarter.

"It's just making my simple reads," Haas said of his interceptions. "Doing all the drills we do in practice, the idea is to finish the plays. The ball ended up coming toward me, and that's just how it goes."

For Haas and Marmion's other seniors, Friday's win was special, but so is the fact that Marmion is one short of its 2015 win total.

"We had an assembly this morning and everyone was talking about (400 wins) and there was some pressure," Haas said. "We really pulled through. The starters kicked butt and the second-stringers came in and played really well too."

As strongly as its defense played, it was fitting that the final touchdown came from a turnover, an interception by Ryan Boland that the junior returned for 28 yards into the end zone.

"I was happy for Ryan Boland, a kid who comes to practice every day and doesn't say a word, to get that pick-six," Thorpe said.

Marmion's offense rolled up some decent numbers, including 261 total yards, 186 of that rushing yardage. Thorpe used 10 different ballcarriers in the contest and also used three quarterbacks. With such diversity, Nick Sevenich was the leading groundgainer with 52 yards on 4 carries.