Marmion storms back behind iron-clad defense in win over Marian Catholic

AURORA – It wasn’t the start Marmion wanted.

With only 2 minutes and 12 seconds elapsed, Marian Catholic’s Kyle Scott scored on a 43-yard run to give the visiting Spartans an early 7-0 lead.

The Marmion Academy defense gave up 38 yards and no points the rest of the game.

The Cadets defense rose to the occasion.

Marmion (4-2, 2-0) scored the final 21 points and celebrated homecoming with a 21-7 win over the Spartans at Marmion Academy’s Fichtel Field Friday night.

“It was a bad call on my part on that first drive,” said Cadets first-year coach Adam Guerra. “I put the guys in bad positions. We went back to our basic defense that we practiced and the defense was amazing.”

The Cadets responded after Marian grabbed the early lead on a 19-yard TD run from sophomore Henry Miller to knot the score at 7. The scoring play was set up on a 39-yard reception by senior Bryan Scales.

Marmion took the lead for good 14-7 on a 5-yard run by Sean Dahlman with 3:10 left in the first quarter.

Dahlman gained 76 yards on 19 carries to go along with his scoring run.

“After they (Marian Catholic) scored right away we knew we had to respond with a touchdown,” said the Marmion senior running back. “We watched a lot of film on them and picked up a lot of concepts. We played complementary football.”

The Cadets grabbed a 2-score lead early in the third quarter as Scales leaped behind the Marian defense and snared a 33-yard TD strike from freshman Roy Magana.

The Marmion senior caught seven passes for 163 yards and a touchdown.

“We bought into to the new coach (Guerra) right away,” said Scales. “He is a great guy. On the touchdown catch it was total concentration.”

Guerra realizes he has a great all-around player in Scales, who had three pass breakups from his safety spot.

“He is our X factor,” said the Marmion coach. “He is very important to us. He comes off the field on punts. That’s it.”

Guerra is enjoying his first year at Marmion.

“These are great kids,” he said. “They bought in right away. I am proud of our guys tonight. We played Marmion smashmouth football on offense and tough defense.”

In only his second start, Magana completed 8-of-9 passes for 173 yards and a TD.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20241004/prep-football/scales-marmion-impress-in-win-over-marian/