Warrior season ends with loss to Hesston
Sports reporter
Despite a respectable 6-3 record, Marion High School football team isn't heading to the playoffs.
In Kansas it's all about district play, and the Warriors found themselves in tough district 11.
After a 1-1 district start, and needing a victory at Hesston Thursday to advance to the state playoffs, the Warriors fell short 35-21.
"We knew it was going to be a tough, long struggle all night long," MHS coach Grant Thierolf said.
He knew that because the Swathers ended their season the year before on the same field, 24-6.
This year however, Marion was determined to come out with a victory. After forcing Hesston to punt on the opening drive, the Warriors took over on their own 37-yard line. Senior lineman Drew Looper was lost for the game after suffering an injury on the drive, hurting a defense that was already thin with the loss of sophomore Casey Nickelson a week before.
An incomplete pass and a penalty then forced a Warrior punt.
The Swathers returned the punt to the Marion 30, setting up a short field. Eight plays later Swather running back Brandon Liechty scored from seven yards out on his first of five touchdown runs.
On the Warriors' next possession junior running back Casey Nelson fumbled on the Hesston 40, and the Swathers recovered. Marion forced another punt and had a first-and-10 at their own 20.
Nelson and junior quarterback Josh Kelsey took turns gaining good yards on the ground into Swather territory. Kelsey then dropped back to pass, looking for senior Josh Smith. The pass fell incomplete, but pass interference was called and Marion had a first-and-10 at the Swather 13.
Three plays later Nelson coughed up the ball again. Hesston recovered and had the ball at their own five-yard line.
It was one of four turnovers on the night, but Thierolf didn't fault his players.
"If I'm yipping at those kids for fumbling the ball when they are running as hard as they can, I better be singing their praises when they break tackles and everything else," he said. "That stuff happens."
Hesston turned the second Nelson fumble into a 95-yard drive capped off by a Leichty three-yard scoring run. It gave Hesston a 14-0 lead with 3:23 left until halftime.
After Hesston kicked off, it took Nelson just one play to atone for his fumble. He took the handoff from his own 20, started left, jabbed right, followed a block back to his left, and sprung loose down the sideline for a 70-yard gain. He was eventually tripped up at the Swather 10, but it set up Marion's first score.
Nelson plunged into the end zone four plays later from one yard out. With the wind blowing hard and strong, Thierolf decided to go for two. Kelsey connected with Smith and the lead was now only six, at 14-8.
The Warriors got to work quickly in the second half. On third-and-five from their own 38, Nelson wowed the crowd with a 61-yard touchdown run. Senior Tyson Heidebrecht kicked the extra point, and Marion led 15-14.
"He is a hard, tough runner," Thierolf said of Nelson. "He's tough to bring down, he's got good speed, but he had some offensive lineman blocking pretty well for him tonight. Casey has just done a great job."
Nelson would finish with 21 carries and 216 yards, more than making up for his fumbles. But he wasn't done yet.
Junior Jeff Richmond's kickoff bounced off a Swather player and shot back toward the Warrior side of the field. Marion recovered and had a first-and-10 at the Hesston 46.
Sophomore Kyle Hett picked up 10 yards on the ground, followed by a Kelsey 21-yard run. Nelson finished off the drive with his third touchdown, this one from six yards out. The snap was bobbled on the extra point attempt, but the Warriors still led 21-14, with 3:04 left in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for Marion, that would be their last lead of the game. Leichty added two more scoring runs, sandwiched between a Warrior punt, for a 28-21 lead with 8:24 remaining.
The Warriors had one last shot from their own 20 yard line. But the third Warrior fumble of the night ended any hopes of a comeback. Hesston took over at the 30. Instead of taking a knee to end the game, Leichty added another score with 28 seconds left.
With the injury to Looper, the Warriors were forced to play some younger players.
Hett had to step in and play both offense and defense full-time, and junior Adam Depler switched over to play the right guard position for the first time.
"We had some kids who weren't used to playing both sides of the ball who had to step up tonight," Thierolf said. "And they played as hard and as long as they could play."
Even though the Warriors failed to make the playoffs, there were signs of good things to come.
Nelson finished his junior year with 1,107 yards and 11 touchdowns. Kelsey threw five touchdowns his first year at quarterback, and junior Michael Brookens led the team with 73 tackles.
The senior class of Heidebrecht, Smith, Looper, Chris Freeby, and Dale Vogel will be missed.
"What we ask of our kids is an awful lot of work," he said. "These five never backed away from that. I'm proud of all of them because each one of them had a game this season where they really shone. A lot of great things happened for them, and they are going to be tough to replace next year. They are just good hard working kids."
