Staff writer
The Marion kicker/guard won homecoming king.
What’s next? Is Matthew McConaughey going to win best actor? Is Kim Jong-Il going to win the Nobel Peace Prize?
One would expect Brian Fruechting to get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield because he plays, arguably, the two most underappreciated positions in football.
Usually guards are only recognized when they commit holding penalties and cost their team yards.
There are a few famous kickers, but most of them are known because they missed kicks, not for their timely accuracy.
Playing both positions is strange enough. After every one of the six touchdowns that Marion scored Friday, Freuchting would have to race over to the sideline. A member of the team would then greet him with his special, white, square-toed kicking shoe. They quickly had to work in tandem to get the regular shoe off and put the white shoe on. Freuchting would then sprint to his designated spot behind the line to kick.
Freuchting ended the game 6-7 on extra points, but it was his work on the offensive line that led Marion to victory.
Marion defeated Sterling 41-6 in a game dominated by the Warrior offensive line. Marion gained 508 yards on the ground, which led to three touchdowns for running back Sheldon Boone, two touchdowns for running back Drew Maddox and another rushing touchdown for quarterback Matt Sprowls.
But, most of those touchdowns came in the second half. In the first half — especially in the first quarter — the Warrior line struggled to block the Blackbears’ 3-4 defensive scheme. Sterling was able to confuse the Warriors by rushing their defensive ends from the outside.
“It took a while to get used to their defense,” Freuchting said. “We just started running off the ball a lot harder.”
The sloppy field conditions didn’t help matters. The field was soaked with rain from that afternoon. Two Warriors had trouble hanging on to the ball. The Blackbears fumbled five times.
Coach Grant Thierolf said that he challenged the line to play better at halftime. He said that the line, four members of which only play on offense, was able to tire out the Blackbears in the second half.
“We’re (the coaching staff) not smart enough to make a whole lot of changes,” Thierolf said of Marion’s offensive game plan. “It’s not like we can go to a whole new set of plays.”
Boone, who benefited the most from the dominant line play with 135 yards rushing, also made a subtle set of adjustments. He said he was trying to bounce out to the edge too often in the first half. He was more resigned to running on the inside later on, and was able to break tackles to get long runs. He gave credit to his line and gave a reason for their inspired play.
“If they don’t (block well),” he said. “we push the seven-man sled on Monday.”