Red Raiders fall to Falcons

Marathon 0-3 to start the 2021 season

By Ross Pattermann

The Marathon Red Raiders football program doesn’t have a problem with a fast start.

It’s maintaining it through four quarters that’s the problem.

The Red Raiders home game with the Abbotsford Falcons last week is a perfect example of this. For two quarters the Red Raiders hung right with the sixth ranked team in Division 6.

But a late second quarter score led to a sluggish second half in which the Falcons scored three touchdowns in the third to win by a score of 42-12.

“We’re starting strong with every team,” head coach Ryan Winkler said after the game. “We’re in every game through a half. We just gotta come out better in the second half, maybe make some better adjustments, and just keep that same fire from the first half.”

It doesn’t help the Red Raiders are a young team that only played three games last year due to COVID-19. But Marathon brought in a winning attitude, and didn’t back down from the challenge the Falcons presented in the Marawood Conference opener.

“We’re playing at home, so our mentality was we really want to defend it,” junior running back Matt Annis said. “We just gotta go into each game thinking we’re going to win because if you go into a game thinking you’re going to lose, you’ll lose.”

The Red Raiders went toe to toe with the Falcons through much of the first half. Marathon stopped Abby’s first drive after seven plays, and on their first series went deep into Abby’s ter- ritory before tackles for loss halted its momentum.

Neither side could score in the first half, and with a steady rain dampening the field, both teams went scoreless in the first quarter.

Abby scored first off a 27-yard run from Ty Falteisek, but the Red Raiders quickly returned the favor. The Red Raiders found a groove on offense, using a balanced approach compared to Abby’s ground heavy attack.

Ben Robbins found Jaden Koeller on a beautiful 33-yard catch and run, and that set up a Matt Annis touchdown from one yard out. That score made it 6-6, and it remained that way when the PAT was blocked.

Abby made it 14-6, but Marathon had an answer. With two minutes left in the first half, the Red Raiders found pay-dirt in less than a minute. Annis busted off two big runs, and then plunged into the endzone from two yards out with 1:11 to play.

That was too much time. The Falcons sped down the field off of big runs from Falteisek, and scored with seconds to go, making it 20-12. That play deflated Marathon.

“We were down by just two points with a 1:11 left in the half, and I felt really confident that we were playing the game well,” Annis said. “And then we let up a big touchdown in the end and that really broke everyone’s mindset going into the second half.”

From there, it was all Abby as the Falcons held Marathon scoreless for the rest of the game. Abby’s ground game began to pay dividends as the mist turned into a heavy drizzle, scoring three times in the third quarter.

The Falcons literally ran away with the game, amassing 339 rushing yards to seven passing yards dropping the Red Raiders to 0-3.

Annis finished with 96 yards and two TDs on 18 carries. Robbins was nine of 21 for 130 passing yards. Koeller led all receivers with 106 yards. Nick Sommers led the Red Raiders defense with 13 tackles and Griffin Treankler finished with nine.

The Red Raiders are finding the silver linings to the season.

“We can hang with a lot of teams,” senior linebacker Nathan Hanke said. “The game is closer than the score refl ected, but we beat ourselves up with penalties. If we cut that out, I think we can hang with almost anyone.”