ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ANDREW OTTOSON
A great start ended in disappointment as Marion squandered a 14-0 early lead and lost Friday to Lyons in overtime, 35-34.
A Lions fumble at their own 32-yard line gave Marion a golden opportunity less than 2 minutes into the game.
Lyons nearly dodged a bullet by forcing a fourth-and-eight. But a 14 -yard run by Mitchell Leppke kept the ball in the Warriors’ hands. He eventually scored from a yard out to put the Warriors up 6-0 with 4:35 to go in the first. Toby Brauer added the extra point.
Following the kickoff, Marion forced another turnover, recovering a fumble at the Lyons 14.
The offense capitalized with a 1-yard one-foot plunge into the end zone by Emmanuel Jackson with 13 seconds left in the first quarter. Brauer’s extra point made it 14-0.
In the second quarter, Calvin Jeffrey killed a Lyons drive by picking off a pass by Jake Craig in the end zone. The turnover sparked a Marion drive from their own 20 yard line to the Lyons 25.
A fumble gave the Lions the ball back, and the visitors capitalized this time when Dane Kepka eventually scored from 5 yards with 1:07 left in the half.
But Kyle Hett gave momentum back to Marion when he returned the kickoff a 36 yards. After Hager hammered the Lions defense for 16 yards on consecutive runs, the Warriors called time out with 46 seconds left in the half.
Leppke took the next snap and gunned the ball to Jeffrey for a 27-yard touchdown. The point after failed and Lyons moved 33 yards on two passes.
Jeffrey broke up a lob toward the end zone, but a 20-yard completion from Craig to Erick Cavazos moved the Lions across midfield and kept the pressure on the Warriors.
The half ended with an incomplete pass, but the big gains and frantic pace of the second quarter proved to be a bad omen for the home team.
The Warriors led 20-7 to start the third quarter. The teams battled back and forth, but neither found either momentum or field position in its favor until a Marion penalty added to a mediocre punt to gave the Lions a first-and-10 at their own 45.
The Warriors forced the Lyons into a fourth down, but Craig found Brennan Clark for a 33-yard gain. Kepka plowed into the Marion end zone two plays later. Marion’s lead was cut to 20-14 with 2:13 left.
The teams traded turnovers and defensive stops before Jeffrey pulled down his second interception of the game. The turnover led to a 1-yard touchdown dive by Hager and a 2-point conversion run by Leppke to give Marion a 28-14 lead.
“I thought we played pretty good defense for the first 44 minutes,” coach Grant Thierolf said. “Then they just got on a roll.”
—either team moved the ball effectively as both battled turnovers and penalties. When the Warriors downed a Nick Klenda punt at the 11-yard line with 4:02 to play, Thierolf’s team appeared to have the upper hand.
But it took all of 13 seconds for the Lions to erase the advantage.
Craig found Kepka open along the Lyons sideline, and Kepka outran the Warrior defense for an 89-yard touchdown that shaved the lead to seven with 3:49 left in the game.
After the onside kick gave the Warriors the ball at the 44-yard line, Lion defenders came up with a three-and-out stand to give their offense the ball back.
“We needed to get one or two more first downs in the fourth quarter and they wouldn’t have had time to mount a comeback,” Thierolf said.
Starting from their own 20 after the punt bounced into the end zone, Lyons picked up three straight first downs.
With less than a minute to go, an illegal procedure penalty brought back what appeared to be a 25-yard game-tying touchdown run by Griffit.
But a 16-yard pass from Craig to Clark gave the Lions a first down at the Marion 15, and Craig spiked the ball to stop the clock with 23 seconds left. On the next play, Craig faked a throw and handed the ball to Griffit, who sprinted into the end zone.
Craig kicked the game-tying point through the uprights and sent the game to overtime.
Starting with the ball, Marion struck paydirt on its first play, a pass from Leppke to Jeffrey in the corner of the end zone.
The teams lined up for the extra point, but the Lions line was caught trying to jump the snap count in the hope of blocking Brauer’s kick.
The Warriors declined the penalty and the kick missed by the narrowest of margins.
Craig then connected to Kepka on Lyons’ first opportunity, and Craig hit the PAT to hand the Warriors a heartbreaking loss.
“We just have to put it behind us now because the real season starts this week,” Thierolf said. “Everyone in the state is 0-0 right now and we have to just get up off the floor and go to work.”
Coming-The Warriors (2-4) open the second season at Hillsboro (4-2). Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday night at Reimer field.
