Marathon deals Hornets 40-0 defeat

While the Colby football team was able to avoid the worst of the thunderstorms that befell most games held last Friday night, having the wherewithal to start their conference contest against Marathon early, they weren’t able to escape a potent passing attack from the visiting Red Raiders. The Hornets allowed over 200 yards passing on just seven completions against their conference rivals and weren’t able to muster any sort of response, ultimately falling in a 40-0 loss.

It was all Marathon on Friday night in a matchup between two squads that were both 1-3 heading into the game. The Red Raiders controlled both sides of the ball, moving up and down the field with a mix of run and pass on offense while stymying Colby with an oppressive defensive effort. The Hornets mustered just five first downs and barely reached the century mark in total offense, finishing the game with 106 yards gained.

Marathon only had eight first downs themselves, but big plays in the passing game had the Red Raiders chewing up large chunks of the field at a time, either scoring or rendering little need for consistent, driveextending first downs. After a pair of three and outs and a turnover on downs by the Hornets to start the game, Friday night’s contest appeared set up for a defensive battle, but Marathon quickly broke out of that assumption on their second possession of the game. A big completion between quarterback True Thurs and receiver Garrett Bracewell set up the Red Raiders inside Colby’s 10 yard line and it wasn’t long before Thurs found his way into the end zone for the first score of the game.

A solid run for Milo Nunez gave Colby a first down near midfield on the Hornets’ next possession, but a holding penalty killed the drive and forced the home team into another punt.

Pressure from the outside from Collin Rau allowed Ezyrn Lieders to record a big sack of Thurs, but Marathon’s quarterback was able to find Sawyer Berens downfield on third and long to not only convert but set up the Red Raiders at Colby’s two yard line. Thurs found paydirt again on the next play and the visitors went up 13-0 with 41 seconds left in the first quarter.

Marathon stayed with the same playbook in the second quarter. Lengthy passes to Bracewell and Drew Woelfel resulted in two more scores for the Red Raiders and another big completion to Bracewell set up a 17-yard touchdown run for Marathon running back Javier Pintor. Meanwhile, the Hornets were held to their side of the field the entire half; the run by Nunez on their third drive was the closest Colby was able to get to entering Red Raiders’ territory. Nunez broke away for another long run near the end of the half, once again getting close to midfield, but the clock was not in the Hornets’ favor and the drive ended there.

Another score on Marathon’s first possession of the second half rounded out the evening’s scoring.

Colby’s most explosive play of the game did not appear on the final stat sheet, at least not as a positive for the Hornets. Having worked to Marathon’s 42 yard line on their opening drive of the third quarter, Colby was facing a second and short. The Hornets turned once again to Nunez and the freshman back followed his blockers through the right side of the line, breaking through into the second level and then winning a foot race to the end zone for what appeared to be Colby’s first score of the evening. However, a holding penalty on the play brought the play back and the Hornets eventually turned the ball over on downs.

Statistics

Nunez accounted for a large part of Colby’s offense on Friday, racking up nearly half of the Hornets total yards. The freshman back totaled 47 yards on 12 carries and had one catch for 10 yards. Dany Nunez Jr. added another 19 yards on three carries and Lieders had one catch for two yards.

Quarterback Logan Reynolds attempted three passes in the game, completing two of them for 12 yards.

What’s Next?

The schedule does not get any easier for the Hornets as they travel to Stratford to take on the reigning Division 5 state champions. While the Tigers suffered some early lumps this season, starting the year 0-2 with losses to Mosinee and Edgar, they have since bounced back in conference play. Stratford has gone 3-0 in the CWC-Large thus far and is coming off a 43-14 victory over Weyauwega-Fremont.

Juniors Aaron Knetter and Koltan Haupt get the bulk of the carries for the Tigers’ offense while senior Brooks Vanderhoof adds a third solid option in the backfield. Quarterback Brady Berg has 383 yards passing, connecting for eight touchdowns and five interceptions by completing just under 40 percent of his passes. The Tigers spread the ball around when passing, but senior Zander Zawislan leads the team in receptions and yards, collecting eight catches for 130 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Jaegar Ormond and junior Connor Kreft lead the defense in total tackles.

The battle between the two CWC-Large opponents will take place on Saturday, Sept. 27. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m.