Jarrett Page and Travis Bryant try to keep Garrett Pentecost from scoring but he reaches the end zone. Marquette Too Much As John Glenn Loses, 63-22
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It was felt that John Glenn had all the intangibles going into Saturday afternoon's opening playoff game against Marquette. With Glenn's speed and talent level coupled with home field advantage versus Marquette's long bus ride, there was more than enough reason to believe the Redman's size would not be a huge factor. But the visiting Redmen from Marquette had not only size, but plenty of talent to spare as they scored almost at will on their way to an impressive 63 to 22 opening round victory.
As soon as the teams lined up, it was clear to see that Marquette had a decided size advantage. The opening drive by the Redmen served notice that they knew what to do with that size. Fullback Kasaim Koonnala pounded the right and left side of the Bobcat line seemingly unstoppable as they ground the ball down field. Koonnala banged through the line from two yards out for an opening drive touchdown. Only a wide kick flawed an otherwise impressive drive against a very good John Glenn defense.
Glenn looked to respond on their first possession. While the ground attack sputtered, Travis Bryant hooked up with Travis Kain for a first down. The catch drew oohhs and aahhs from the crowd as the ball was thrown short and destined for an interception before Kain came back and snatched it away from the defender. After two more rushing attempts failed to produce yardage, Bryant found his receiver streaking down the sidelines and with a tricky wind to contend with, there a perfect pass that the receiver bobbled and eventually dropped. When the punt was downed on the one, Glenn looked poised for a strong defensive stand and to get the ball back in good field position.
Marquette showed that their opening drive was no fluke. Turning to their tailback, Garrett Pentecost went off tackle left side for 13 yards on a third down play. Then Pentecost went right tackle cutting outside for 29 more yards before Bryant caught him. Then they went back to Koonnala as he burst up the middle of the field as he drove the Redmen to the Glenn twenty four yard line. Pentecost finished the drive off getting around right end and racing 24 yards to dive into the end zone just breaking the plane. The kick made it 13-0.
Glenn responded with a touchdown of their own. Starting near midfield, they started their drive aided at first by an interference penalty. Then Bryant hit Bradley Wyman on a slant putting the ball on the Redmen 24. Bryant then ran left, pump faking to help open up the field as he ran to the 13. Pass interference put the ball on the five before Bryant went right to reach the one foot yard line. Reid Alexander carried the ball in the rest of the way and with the kick; Glenn was only down 13-7.
The strong winds gave a decided passing advantage to the team heading to the north end zone. At the beginning of the second quarter, Marquette used this to the liking. On their first play of the quarter, QB Nick Emmendorfer threw a lateral pass to Terry Colin who immediately threw the bomb to a streaking Pentecost for a 63 yard touchdown strike and a 20-7 lead.
Disaster struck for Glenn as they fumbled away the ball on their first play from scrimmage. Marquette quickly struck as Koonnala ran 20 yards over right guard and Pentecost ran it the final 21 yards on the next play for a 27-7 advantage.
The wheels continued to fall off the bus for John Glenn on their next possession. After a short run, they were forced to throw the ball into the teeth of the wind. The first pass was short while the second one was dropped. Going for it on fourth down, the Redmen put on heavy pressure and blocked the pass to give Marquette the ball on the Glenn 40.
Little time was wasted as the Redmen powered right down field on the back of Koonnala where he punched it in from the two. This made it 34-7 with just fewer than eight minutes to play in the half.
More dropped passes and a miscommunication on a route on fourth down gave Marquette the ball on the Glenn 41. It was Koonnala up the middle for 18 yards followed by Pentecost off right tackle for a 19 yard touchdown run and the route was officially on. A two point conversion pass made it 42-7.
On Glenn's next possession, a fumble gave the ball right back to Marquette. Pentecost wasted no time as he scampered 42 yards for another touchdown stretching the lead to 49-7.
As bad as things looked, the Glenn boys didn't quit. Jackson Frederick got things started with an 11 yard run up the middle. Then on a fourth and nine, Bryant hit Travis Kain on a short post which he broke loose for a 57 yard touchdown play. The kick made it 49-14 at the half.
The point differential made for a running clock to start the second half. Glenn looked to move the ball but when Bryant looked downfield to pass, he was hit in the act of throwing which was intercepted and returned to the Bobcat 14. From there, Koonnala ran it in from 7 yards out making it 56-14.
A fumbled kickoff on a deep kick was recovered by Marquette on the Glenn 11. From there, Matt Mills scored from 3 yards out to extend the lead to 63-14.
Glenn finished off the scoring in the fourth quarter when Bryant, now at running back, ran it in from four yards out. Brandon Vittitow's two point conversion pass to Brandon Preston finished off the scoring for the day.
Marquette's Garrett Pentecost rushed for 165 yards on 11 carries and caught the loan pass for a 63 yard touchdown. Teammate Kasaim Koonnala added 150 yards in 20 carries. Most of the rushes and carries occurred in the first half of the game.
Jackson Frederick rushed for 38 yards for John Glenn while Travis Bryant added 36.
While it was a tough pill to swallow for the Bobcats, not to be lost on a great season is the 8-2 record and the final NEMC Championship.
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John Keuvelaar |
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