Hospitality was hard to come by as Marion fell behind 7-0 only a handful of heartbeats into the game.

An 84-yard return of the opening kickoff set up a touchdown pass 40 seconds later with Hoisington wideout Zac Stetler and quarterback Jacob Deutsch hooking up on the Cardinals' second play from scrimmage.

The Warrior offense sputtered and lost yardage before punting to Cameron Horesky, who returned the kick for an apparent touchdown. But an illegal-block penalty gave the Cardinals a first-and-ten at the Marion 28.

Eventually, Horesky powered his way into the end zone anyway, making the score 14-0 with 6:37 left in the first quarter.

A turnover halted Marion's second drive, and Deutsch promptly found Stetler for 37 yards and another touchdown with 2:08 left.

Down 21-0 after the first quarter, the Warriors allowed Deutsch a 32-yard scramble on a broken play. He scored Hoisington's fourth touchdown on a two-yard dive two plays later.

Marion's second fumble came on the first play of the second half and set up the third Deutsch-to-Stetler touchdown.

Hoisington's explosive ground game was also on display as four different backs ran for gains of more than 20 yards. Brungardt and Deutsch each had one run of 30-plus yards.

"The simple fact of the game is that we got beat by a better team," Thierolf said. "Hoisington is a good, experienced football team. For us to have beaten them we would have had to play the best game of the season, and hope that they turned the ball over a few times."

Trailing by 35 points with 10 minutes left in the third quarter, yet still playing for pride, the Warriors put together an 11-play, 59-yard scoring drive.

Emmanuel Jackson gave the Warriors excellent field position with a 35-yard kickoff return. Mitchell Leppke and Calvin Jeffrey connected for four complete passes on the ensuing drive, which was capped by with a three-yarder for the score.

Toby Brauer's extra point was good, and the Warriors wiped out the shutout with 2:29 remaining in the third.

"I thought our kids kept fighting through the entire game and we made a couple of nice drives in the second half that allowed us to bring some positives home from the trip," Thierolf said.

On the Warriors' next possession, Jackson posted 20 of the team's 173 rushing yards on three carries. He eventually scored on a four-yard scamper.

After Hoisington's Adam Sullivan scored with 58 seconds left, Jeffrey rewarded Marion fans with a 76-yard kickoff return for the game's final score.

The Warriors ran for 126 yards compared to 233 for the Cardinals.

Austin Hager's contributions were missing from the Marion offense, defense and special-teams units.

"We hope to have all of our players healthy by this week;s game," Thierolf said.

Coming-The Warriors, 2-3 overall and 1-3 in the league, will be back in Marion for a Friday night matchup against Lyons. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.