Marmion out-executed by Prairie Ridge

Marmion defenders Matt Pircon (left) and T.J. Lally combine to stop Prairie Ridge's Connor Greenwald during the second quarter of Friday's Class 6A second round playoff game. Mary Beth Nolan / For the Beacon News

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CRYSTAL LAKE - Now you see it, now you don't. And therein lies the problem with stopping a well-run option attack in high school football.

That's what Marmion Academy's defense found itself up against Friday in its 31-7 loss to Prairie Ridge in a second-round IHSA Class 6A playoff game.

The host Wolves (8-3) have a very good option attack led by senior quarterback Jon Williams, who ran 12 times for 91 yards in the game. It included a 74-yard backbreaker in the third quarter that pretty much slammed the door on any Marmion (9-2) comeback hopes.

Coming in between two lost Cadet fumbles on the first two possessions of the second half, it boosted Prairie Ridge's 17-7 halftime lead to 24-7.

"The fakes were just unbelievable," said Marmion senior linebacker Bobby Winkel. "We'd have guys tackling the dive guy (fullback), and the ball wouldn't be there.

"I remember one play where we had three guys on the (fullback) on the ground and the quarterback was running down the sideline. We had no idea.

"It was so hard to read what they were doing. We saw that offense at Chicago Christian, but the fakes were nowhere near that good."

Throw in a 4-0 turnover advantage and it's easy to see how the Wolves came out on top.

"We didn't maintain our assignments and that's a credit to No. 4 (Williams) and No. 33 (fullback Tim Deering)," said Marmion coach Dan Thorpe. "They didn't run one play we didn't prepare for. They ran what got them here and we didn't stop it."

The home team took advantage of the strong south wind at their backs and good field possession to score twice in the opening quarter, running into the dark corner of the field because one light standard was without power after the first play for much of the opening half.

It's hard enough to read Williams' fakes in good light and near impossible in the gloamin'.

Fullback Tim Deering capped the Wolves' opening 60-yard drive with a 9-yard scoring run and Connor Greenwald took a Williams pitch and went 27 yards around end for a second score. Two Matt Simak kicks made it 14-0.

Simak would added 22-yard field goal in the second quarter after a nearly seven-minute drive to answer the Cadets' lone score in the second quarter.

It came on a 9-yard run by Nick Scoliere after a 17-yard Prairie Ridge punt into the wind and a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty gave the ball to Marmion at the Wolves' 22.

"They didn't have one turnover," said Thorpe. "They out-executed us offensively. They out-executed us defensively. We've been averaging 33 points a game. They flew around with an attitude and physicality, offensively and defensively."

Prairie Ridge ran 51 times for 262 yards (Deering added 90 on 24 carries) and had 327 total yards thanks to an additional 65 yards passing by Williams.

Marmion quarterback Bobby Peters completed 8 of 13 passes for 114 yards but the Wolves' defense limited the Cadets running game to 100 yards on 30 carries.

"We weren't even expected to be a darkhorse to win the conference so what a credit to these kids, and especially these seniors," said Thorpe. "They've raised the bar and I've always said, 'Leave it better than what you got it.' And these seniors did that.

"It wasn't meant to be but that was because of Prairie Ridge. It wasn't fate. Fate didn't cause the turnovers. They were the better team tonight. It's a great program with classy kids. I hate to lose, but they beat us."