Marion made a crystal-clear statement early in Friday's (Oct. 10)
victory over Ellinwood, striking paydirt 4:02 into the contest on a
12-yard end-around by Marc Washington and ramming in a 2-point
conversion run by Sheldon Boone. That made it 8-0, and Marion cruised to a
50-28 win.
The Warriors scored on a 40-plus yard fumble return by
Eric Vogel, an 11-yard Boone run, and a 25-yard Tylor Neil interception
return, and that was just the first quarter. Boone's run and Neil's
interception return came a scant 8 seconds apart on the scoreboard
clock, and kicker Mats Johannessen slammed the ensuing kickoff into the
right upright to end the quarter.
Marion kept up the rout,
scoring on a 3-yard sneak by Mitchell Leppke and a 6-yard burst by
Boone, making it 43-0 with 5:27 left in the first half. Marion caught
an unlucky break, allowing Ellinwood's first score with 14 seconds left
in the half. Eagles quarterback Kyle Corbett lofted a long bomb down
the far sideline toward a cluster of players. The pass deflected away
from Marion's Mitch Cady and into the grasp of Ethan Linden, leading to
a 3-yard throw from Corbett to Alex Birney that made it 43-7. Those
were the first points allowed since the third quarter of Marion's 21-14
win over Nickerson Sept. 19, breaking the Warriors streak of 133
minutes, 31 seconds without allowing a point.
If Washington and
the Warriors were fazed by the end of their shutout streak, they did
not look it on the kick return. Washington retreated inside his own
10-yard line to pick up a bouncing ball, and found both strong blocking
and disorganized coverage when he turned upfield, racing 95 yards like
a hot knife through warm butter to make it 50-7 as the half expired.
The running clock kicked in to start the third quarter, and the Marion
second string allowed 21 unanswered points before final horn.
