by Parma, OH – The best John Marshall team since the days of Pete DeLuca running the offense, arrived at Byers Field tonight to take on St. Ignatius for playoff action. They ran into a Wildcat buzzsaw however as it was all St. Ignatius in a 33-6 blowout.
It wasn’t meant to be for the Lawyers as the first 15 seconds saw them have a false start, call a timeout, get their pass batted down and then a fumble to give the Wildcats the ball at the 23-yard line. 3 straight 7 yard runs by Sean Martin would allow St. Ignatius to set up shop from the two-yard line. One play later, it was Martin again to make it 7-0 Wildcats minutes into the game.
The next Lawyers drive ended in disaster as the long snapper sent the ball over the punters head and Santiago was tackled at the 16-yard line of John Marshall. Three runs later by Max Ritt, and it was 14-0 Wildcats as Ritt met with little to no resistance on the carriers.
After a 3 and out, the next Marshall punt went to their own 35-yard line where St. Ignatius took over. Papesh hit two quick passes to Ryan Kennedy and Brandon Webster to place the Wildcats at the goal line. They would be stopped there however, and have to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Thomas Kilbane to make it 17-0.
The next punt by John Marshall was returned by Cody Haddad all the way to the Lawyer 3-yard line. One player later, it was Michael Norman taking it in from 3 yards out to make it 24-0 Wildcats with 2:09 still to play in the first quarter.
The fifth St. Ignatius possession of the night began on the Marshall 43-yard line. The Wildcats were helped by a Marshall personal foul and a few nice runs. Within seconds, it was first and goal for St. Ignatius from the 6-yard line out. From there, Ian Zaletel took it in, and made it 31-0 Wildcats with 8:57 to play in the first half.
After a safety made it 33-0 St. Ignatius, John Marshall would find the scoreboard to open the fourth quarter in the form of a Jermaine Stennies to Amir Ware for a 13-yard touchdown. The leading rusher on the night for the Lawyers was Emere Atkins with 30 yards on 8 carries.
The final score tonight was 33-6 Wildcats.
