The story of Marysville’s 34-0 Friday night blowout against Dublin Jerome can be seen in the photo and two inset images above. Jerome QB Zakk Tschirhart was hammered by the Monarch defense all night, leading to just 68 yards through the air despite 17 pass attempts. In the left inset photo, Colton Powers (32) drills Tschirhart from behind as Erryl Will (40) prepares to hit him in the chest. In the main photo, Tschirhart tries to rollout to give himself time, but is run down by Will and teammate Richard Nielsen. Even when Tschirhart was able to get a pass away, he still paid a price, as shown in the right inset photo where Ben Bickerstaff plants his facemask in the QB’s chest just after a throw. (Journal-Tribune photos by Chad Williamson)
In football, you can tackle or you can hit. And they aren’t the same.
When a defender goes in for a sack, he can break down, wrap up and drag the quarterback to the ground.
Or a defender can never slow down and blast the QB.
A good form tackle on a sack makes the quarterback think about the yards he’s got to make up. But when you hammer him, he needs to decide if he really wants to get back up.
Marysville’s defense mercilessly pounded Dublin Jerome QB Zakk Tschirhart Friday night, driving him into the turf over and over, taking a piece of his soul with each shot and rendering the Celtic offense useless. The offensive line did the same to the Celtic defense and the results wore on Jerome like body blows in a heavyweight fight. A 7-0 Monarch lead at halftime ended in a lopsided 34-0 victory.
“It’s kind of like you wear on them,” MHS coach Brent Johnson said after the game.
The Monarchs approached double digits in sacks as linebackers Gabe and Colton Powers and linemen Ben Bickerstaff, Erryl Will, Andrew Bentz and Richard Nielsen threw Tschirhart to the turf repeatedly and angrily. Even when the Jerome junior got the ball away, he was still taking shots.
At one point late in the first half, Bickerstaff violently sacked the Celtic signal caller on third down.
He appeared ready to throw in the towel, muttering to his linemen as he slowly made his way to the bench.
“We got to him and obviously that’s going to change the complexion of the game,” Johnson said.
The result of that pounding was an erratic passing game that resulted in just 68 yards.
Tschirhart appeared hesitant to step into his throws to drive passes to his receivers. He often threw off his back foot or off-balance all together.
That resulted in balls sailing far over the heads of his talented wideouts, despite the fact that they stood 6-5 and 6-7 apiece. He completed just 7-of-17 passes.
The run game didn’t fair any better, picking up 45 yards on 29 carries.
Offensively, the Monarch line mauled the Celtics and the ball carriers ran with a purpose, breaking tackles and dishing out stiff-arms.
A total of three of them cracked triple digits. Gabe Powers had himself a night, with 109 yards and three touchdowns.
One of those scores, however, may have been the work of a lineman recovering a loose ball.
His brother, Colton, had the most yards at 110 and a TD of his own. Griffin Johnson also went past the century mark with 104 yards.
“We kind of had to pick our poison,” Johnson said of his trio of back all having big nights.
As far as the raw energy Marysville brought to the field against the previously 5-1 Celtics, the Monarch coach stopped short of attributing it to the tragedy that occurred after last Friday’s win against Hilliard Darby. The mother of a member of the Monarch coaching staff collapsed on the field amid the celebration of the overtime win.
She later died at the hospital.
The fact Marysville played its best and most physically punishing game of the season the following week, was hard to ignore.
“It was a long week and we came together,” Johnson said. “We had a lot on our plates and we did it together.”
After a scoreless first period, Gabe Powers put the Monarchs ahead with a two-yard run early in the second quarter.
Marysville had a shot to score again in the period but fumbled the ball away inside the red zone.
On the second offensive series of the second half, Gabe Powers broke loose for a 31-yard run.
He fumbled the ball into the end zone as he was tackled near the 5.
Although the stat book credited Powers with recovering the ball in the end zone, it appeared that lineman Evan Collins was the closest to the ball and came out of the pile with it.
Tschirhart threw one up for grabs on the next series.
Monarch ballhawk Cameron Jones came down with interception. Gabe Powers would make good on the turnover, breaking tackles up the middle for a 15-yard score.
The hold on the PAT was bad and Joseph Riggsby missed his first extra point of the game, leaving the score at 20-0 with 2:53 left in the third quarter.
Marysville’s next drive spanned 76 yards and melted five minutes off the clock as the game moved into the final quarter.
Colton Powers hit paydirt this time, plunging into the end zone from five yards out with just over eight minutes left in the game. Riggsby’s PAT made the score 27-0.
The final score of the night came following a sack by Will that led to a fumble.
Jones scooped up the ball at the Celtic 22.
Senior Kaden Hogan got his number called near the goal line and went in from a yard out. Riggsby’s PAT closed out the scoring with 5:19 left in the game.
The Monarchs travel to 2-4 Thomas Worthington on Friday night.