LG football falls to Marathon on football field

By Valorie Brecht It was a tale of two halves for the Loyal-Greenwood (LG) football team in their game against Marathon at Greenwood Friday night. The team came out strong, carrying the ball methodically down the field on their first drive. About five minutes into the first quarter, LG’s Cain Toufar got a long run around the left side and was stopped just short of the end zone. LG punched it in on the next play and Tryn Scheel completed the 2-point conversion, putting LG up 8-0.

Marathon got the ball back, but not for long. LG’s defense held off the Red Raiders and they were forced to punt. LG was unable to put anything together on their next drive either. On Marathon’s next possession, LG picked off the ball.

“We intercepted, but on the next play we fumbled it away. So that was an opportunity we didn’t capitalize on,” said LG co-head coach Chris Lindner.

The second quarter started with more of the same, with both teams keeping each other out of the end zone and seemingly being about evenly matched. LG’s Rory Hanson sacked the Marathon quarterback on their second drive of the quarter. Marathon took a timeout to regroup. But Hanson wasn’t done yet. On the second play after the timeout, he intercepted the ball and ran it back more than 65 yards for a touchdown, much to the excitement of his teammates. The 2-point conversion was also good, putting LG up 16-0.

Marathon didn’t take too long to respond, marching down the field on their next drive and running the ball 2 yards for a touchdown. The extra point was good, leaving the score 16-7. The LG defense kept the Raiders out of the end zone for the rest of the half, and also blocked a field goal attempt to keep the score the same heading into the half.

“In the first half, I thought we played really well,” said Lindner.

Unfortunately for LG in the second half, turnovers got the better of them, along with Marathon changing up their offensive strategy. That showed in the scorebook, as Marathon first picked up a touchdown on a 2-yard run to make it 16-14. “They came down and scored quickly. I saw a change in our body language when that happened. But we were still ahead and feeling OK,” said Lindner. LG was poised to answer and took the ball down the field to the Marathon red zone, but lost an opportunity to score. When LG was within 25 yards of the end zone, they turned the ball over, a frustrating end to their drive.

Marathon scored again early in the fourth quarter, also getting the 2-point conversion, to make it 22-16. The crowd could feel the momentum shift in Marathon’s favor as LG was now playing from behind. After Marathon scored a little later on a 38-yard run, furthering their lead, it took the wind out of LG’s sails and LG was unable to score for the rest of the game. Marathon got the win, 29-16.

“Marathon had a balanced attack. When they ran, they used two or three different players and then when they threw, they brought other ones in. They did something new that we hadn’t seen before and we didn’t see right away what they were doing. So we need to adjust a little quicker on the fly,” said Lindner.

He said that combined with turnovers at pivotal points in the game were the main factors contributing to the loss. LG had four turnovers while Marathon had two.

“We had a couple of turnovers that hurt us. In the end, our turnovers just caught up with us,” he said.

LG had 200 total yards while Marathon had 338. Of LG’s yards, only 30 were from passing while the rest were rushing yards. Marathon had a balance, with 162 passing yards and 176 rushing yards. Marathon also edged LG slightly in their third down efficiency rating, converting seven of 12 third downs for 58%, while LG converted five of 12 for only 42%. Both teams had seven penalties.

LG will play at Colby this Friday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTOS