Marmion drops St. Francis

Football coaches may use the expression "we played liked we practiced", so much it risks being a cliche.

However, with Marmion, it's what happened Friday night and the big reason why the Cadets beat host St. Francis 42-14 in the Chicago Catholic Green opener for both teams.

"Monday and Tuesday were great in preparing for St. Francis. We were doing well all week," said Marmion coach Dan Thorpe whose team improved to 3-0.

The offense racked up 382 yards in total offense in leading 42-0 after three quarters. Thorpe was also pleased with the defense and his team'sattention to detail.

"The defense early in the game took it to them and we stressed to execute the small details - keep the play moving even if there's a mistake," he said.

Quarterback Brandon McPherson had another big night, throwing one touchdown pass and running for 3. He said the key to this season's team isn't strength in numbers but strength in the talent that is there.

"We don't have a lot of a lot, but we enough of enough," he said.

McPherson's scoring pass was to Zach Urwiler. He also rushed for a touchdown and as did Brant DeMoss.

The biggest play of the night came from Urwiler, who ran for an 81-yard TD with just 34.7 seconds remaining in the first half.

"We're more of like speed backs this season. In previous years there were power runners," he said.

An indication of Marmion's speed came on the first play of the game. Peter Ferraro returned the opening kickoff 65 yards to set up the Cadets' first score, an 11-yard run by McPherson.

As for St. Francis (1-2), the Spartans are low in numbers on the roster with less than 30. The team has suffered injuries and Friday was no exception. But the team's character showed and that drew praise from coach Bob McMillen.

"They never quit. They kept fighting the whole game. We talked about that at halftime. They played well in the second half. But we gave up too many big plays," he said.

The Spartans scored both touchdowns in the second half. Sam Sidari scored on a 21-yard run with just less than five minutes left in the third quarter and Patrick Dunlea hit end zone from 9 yards out with exactly four minutes left in the contest.