Warriors’ lack of emotion fuels Halstead upset, 17-12

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
Marion found out Friday night how a slow start can turn an underdog into the top dog as Halstead defeated the Warriors on their home field, 17-12.

“We had no emotions-it’s that simple,” coach Grant Thierolf said afterward. “We got out-coached by Halstead’s staff.

“They controlled the tempo of the game, they obviously had their players physically tougher than us, and they had them mentally tougher than us,” he added. “We just flat got out-coached.”

The Dragons put together a 10-play opening drive-all on the ground-that consumed nearly six minutes before the Warrior defense stiffened and forced a punt with 6:13 left in the quarter.

Marion managed just one first down before facing a third-and-8 from its own 34-yard line. Josh Kelsey’s pass in the left flat was picked off by Halstead.

Eight plays later, sophomore running back Justin Calvin plowed into the north end zone.

The extra-point kick made it 7-0 with 1:44 left in the quarter. When the period ended, Halstead had run 19 plays to just nine for Marion.

Each team failed to score on three subsequent possessions in the second quarter before Halstead launched one last drive with 54 seconds left and 47 yards to cover.

A 24-yard pass from quarterback Austin Ratzlaff to Calvin gave the Dragons a scoring opportunity from the 18-yard line with just 12 seconds left in the half.

Marion forced Halstead to attempt a 35-yard field-goal before intermission, but Jan Sichermann split the uprights to give the visitors a 10-0 advantage.

The second half began with what Warrior fans hoped was an indication their hometown heroes were ready to rally.

Casey Nelson retrieved the kickoff on his own 10-yard line and weaved his way down the far sideline for a 90-yard touchdown.

But trouble followed when Halstead blocked the Warrior extra-point kick to preserve a 10-6 lead.

“Casey’s kickoff return was great, but that was basically the only thing we had offensively all night long,” Thierolf said. “We just executed every phase of the game poorly.”

The Warrior defense did show signs of life, though, forcing Halstead to punt on its next three possessions. Then disaster struck.

With Halstead still clinging to a 10-6 lead, the Dragon punter parlayed a bad snap on his own 49-yard line into a first down on the Marion 36 with some heady running.

From there, Halstead capped a 14-play drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass on fourth down from Ratzlaff to B.J. Bryant.

The drive consumed more than 5 minutes of game clock and staked the Dragons to a 17-6 lead with just 9:26 left in the game.

“We didn’t stop them defensively,” Thierolf said. “I’ll bet they controlled the time of possession 3-1 on us.”

But Marion wasn’t finished just yet.

After an exchange of possessions, Marion took over on the Halstead 44-yard line with 3:33 to go.

Kelsey threw 11 yards to Josh Smith, then ran for 16 yards. Six plays later, Kelsey called his own number on fourth-and-3 and bulled into the end zone to whittle the Dragons’ lead to 17-12 with only 2:44 to play.

But Halstead thwarted a pass for the 2-point conversion and the lead remained at five points.

Marion attempted an onside kick, but Halstead recovered the ball on the Warrior 49-yard line.

Marion stopped the Dragons on first and second down, but Calvin again broke the hearts of the Warriors when he scampered 52 yards to the Marion 1-yard line.

Marion kept the Dragons out of the end zone on four consecutive plays to regain possession, but the Warriors had just 10.8 second and 96 yards of real estate in front of them.

After a face-mask call on the first play, Kelsey’s final pass of the game fluttered harmlessly to the turf and Halstead had secured its upset.

“I didn’t see any positives anywhere-we did nothing well,” Thierolf said in the subdued Warrior locker room. “We didn’t pass-protect well, we didn’t run well, we didn’t stop the run and we let them complete passes.

“We’ll go back to fundamentals this week in practice,” he added. “When you don’t play well, you go back to basics-we’ll be back in the chutes and on the sleds learning how to block again.”

The Warriors’ inability to stop the Dragon ground attack was evidenced by the numbers: Halstead rushed 56 times for 232 yards while the Warriors ran 35 times for 114 yards.

Nelson led Marion with 72 yards on 17 carries. Kelsey completed just two of 15 passes for 22 yards.

Halstead picked up 12 first downs to seven for Marion and more than doubled the Warriors’ output on offense by gaining 272 yards to 126 for Marion.

“Halstead’s effort was far above our effort, which comes back to our coaching,” Thierolf said. “I think our guys felt we could walk in the game and win, and Halstead obviously didn’t feel that way.”

Coming-Marion (1-1) will try to get back on the winning track Friday when it travels to Sterling (0-2) for a 7 p.m. game.

Both teams are 0-1 in the Mid Division of the Mid Central Activities Association.

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