MHS’ Nick Johnson (54) chases Olentangy Berlin quarterback Harrison Brewster on this play. Brewster led the Bears to victory over the Monarchs.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
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Marysville football coach Brent Johnson thought his team’s wild momentum swings were behind them.
“I thought we were through with it (swings) and it reared its ugly head – a 6-to-10 minute period in a game where things got sideways,” Johnson .
In recent games the Monarchs had eliminated game-sinking, horrific stretches and played a more consistent brand of Marysville football.
But Friday night, for a span of minutes in the middle of the first half, a blocked punt, a long return and two big plays by Olentangy Berlin’s all-state quarterback Harrison Brewster turned an early Monarch lead into a 17-point deficit as the Bears cruised to a 34-14 win in the final home game for the Monarchs.
“What we’ve got to continue to defend against is our own self letting that happen,” Johnson said.
Despite the final score, a couple of big offensive plays and a pair of blocked punts by the Bears were really all that separated the teams.
Berlin held a 226-198 advantage in total yardage and both teams picked up 11 first downs. Considering 76 yards came on one Bear scoring run, the game was very even on the offensive side of the ball.
Brewster was the offense for Berlin, throwing for 106 yards and running for 112 – a combined 218 of Berlin’s 226.
The Monarchs were balanced on the ground, with Matt Krutowskis leading the Marysville attack with both Marysville scores and 46 of the Monarchs’ 142 rushing yards.
In the second half, Krutowskis was moved back into the MHS fullback position following an injury to Corbin Wallace. The Monarchs senior has found success with a mid-year move to wing.
Marysville QB Brevin Bourquin completed 5-of-11 passes for 56 yards, four of which came in the Monarchs’ opening scoring drive.
Bourquin came out slinging, heaving a 40-yard completion to Dominic Brown on the first play of the game. He followed it up with short strikes to Krutowskis and Wallace.
Facing fourth-and-5, Johnson opted to keep his offense on the field. Bourquin delivered, hitting Micah Walls for a 12-yard gain to the Berlin 17.
From there the Marysville ground game banged the ball toward the goal until Krutowskis went in on a 1-yard run. Trey Phillips’ PAT gave Marysville a 7-0 advantage with 6:57 left in the first.
“I loved how we came out,” Johnson said. “Our kids came in fast and went down for a score.”
Berlin answered, moving easily down the field until a Monarch sack on four-and-long forced the Bears to settle for an 45-yard field goal try, which which first-team all-state kicker Spencer Conrad made with ease.
Still, Johnson felt like his team had stepped up to dodge a bullet, holding a 7-3 lead with just over three minutes to play in the first quarter.
“We held them to three and I thought we were in a great spot,” he said.
Marysville’s offense was nonexistent over the next two quarters. The Bears appeared to be winning the battle at the line of scrimmage, forcing a series of MHS punts.
While Berlin’s physicality was one things, they also dialed up some confusion for Monarch blockers.
“Just from a pre-snap alignment they had (us) covered outside and then they squeezed us,” Johnson said.
He explained that while the Bears looked to be spread thin between the tackles, they stunted and folded linebackers into the middle. That left MHS blockers at times searching for targets.
‘We kept missing that kick out (block) … we couldn’t get that fixed in-game and that’s what we needed to get fixed,” Johnson said. “Our kids went all-in on trying to get that fixed.”
He said that left Monarch blockers at little flat-footed.
“I think our kids at times were hesitant and I think they confused our eyes a little bit defensively,” Johnson said.
As things started to go wrong for MHS, everything started working out for the Bears.
A blocked punt was recovered in the end zone by Aiden Eviston to give Berlin a 10-7 advantage late in the quarter.
Later, in the second quarter, a big punt return put the Bears at the MHS 33.
Brewster lobbed a 30-yard completion to Zach Siegrist to put the ball at the 3.
On the next play, Brewster took it in himself and the Monarchs were digging a hole, trailing 17-7 with six minutes to go until halftime.
Following another Marysville punt, Brewster took the first snap, gave a fake to the diveman and kept the ball. He started inside before darting up the Monarch sidelines for a 76-yard touchdown.
MHS trailed 24-7 at the half.
The Bears opened the second half with a long drive, capped by a 17-yard TD run from Mason Ziegler to put the score at 30-7.
The ensuing Marysville drive resulted in a punt, which was blocked and recovered by Berlin at the MHS 2.
Marysville stuffed Brewster for negative yardage on two straight keepers. An offsides call pushed Berllin back to the 9.
The Bears appeared to have find the end zone on third down when Brewster laid the ball in the hands of an uncovered receiver at the goal line. The receiver, though, flat dropped the ball.
The Bears settled for Conrad’s 26-yard field goal to put the score at 34-7 with 4:11 left in the third quarter.
Marysville answered with its gutsiest and longest drive of the season.
The 80-yard march took nearly 12 minutes and survived fourth-and-one conversions at the MHS 29, the Berlin 49 and the Berlin 39.
When Krutowswis capped the march with one-yard plunge, there was only 4:36 left in the game. The PATclosed out the scoring at 34-14.
“I feel bad for our seniors because you always want to send them out the right way,” Johnson said. “They played hard tonight and I’m proud of them for that.”
The loss dropped Marysville’s record to 4-5. They will close out the regular season at Olentangy on Friday.