Remington turns lights out on Warrior playoff chances
Sports reporter
There were short-circuits aplenty Friday at Warrior Stadium, as Remington squelched any hopes Marion had for postseason play, with a 34-7 victory over the Warriors.
The least damaging power outage came at 6:24 of the first quarter when the stadium lights suddenly went dark. Sparks rained down from a power pole south of the stadium, resulting in a 45-minute delay while Marion city workers fixed the problem.
A more catastrophic short circuit for the Warriors came at the outset of the second half.
Looking to cut into a 14-0 halftime deficit, Marion faltered on its first offensive play when Warrior running back Derek Riggs was separated from the football, and Remington recovered on the Marion 21.
Five plays later, Bronco running back Wayne Bennett plunged into the end zone from 5 yards out, giving Remington an insurmountable 20-0 lead.
The Warriors responded with their only scoring drive of the contest, which started at the Remington 47 following a determined 51-yard kickoff return by Kyle Hett.
Riggs, Emmanuel Jackson, and Mitchell Leppke shared the load in moving the ball to the Bronco 1, highlighted by a bullish Riggs 15-yard burst. Jackson scored the Marion touchdown diving over the left side, and Toby Brauer kicked the extra point to close the gap to 20-7.
Bronco quarterback Cole Cherryholmes tacked on another Remington touchdown late in the third quarter, with a 1-yard run, before the Warriors mounted one last scoring threat.
Trailing 27-7 midway through the fourth quarter, the Warriors took over the ball at their own 43, following a strong defensive stand.
Leppke completed passes to receivers Calvin Jeffrey and Chase Carlson that moved the ball to the Bronco 29.
Three consecutive runs by Warrior Austin Hager moved the ball to the Remington 11. Riggs converted a critical fourth-and-one situation with a 2-yard run to the Bronco 9.
The Warriors would get no closer. Cherryholmes stepped in front of a Leppke pass at the goal line, and raced down the left sideline, before being tackled by Leppke at the Marion 16.
Four plays later, Cherryholmes tallied Remington's final touchdown on a 1-yard dive. Scott Ryan kicked the extra point to make the final score 34-7.
The Remington offense was sparked by the play of Cherryholmes, who shredded the Warrior pass defense with 13 completions on 18 attempts for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
"I thought their quarterback was fantastic," said Marion head coach Grant Thierolf. "I think he's the best passer we've faced this year."
Thierolf acknowledged that the Warriors showed some spark on the offensive side of the ball, but lamented the team's inability to score more points.
"We did some things that might not look like they were drastically different," he said, "but they were different from what we've done all season, and our kids picked up on those changes really well."
"We moved the ball from 20 to 20 — we just didn't score when we got down inside there," he said.
The loss, Marion's second in district play, dropped the team's overall record to 2-6, and eliminated the Warriors from postseason consideration.
Marion will play the role of spoiler when the Warriors travel Thursday to take on district leader Hesston at 7 p.m. The Swathers are coming off a 17-12 win over Hillsboro.
"They play a different style than what we're used to," observed Thierolf. "They play a wishbone offense, and they're going to come at us all game long with the running game - they don't throw much at all."
"We'll have to throw out what we've been doing with our defensive schemes, and be ready for a lot of smash-mouth football," he said.
