Marysville’s Carson Smith (5) goes in for a touchdown through a hole provided by the Monarch line. Marysville won its Homecoming game over Westland, 36-13. (Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
Marysville’s football team isn’t fooling anyone.
From the opening gun, the Monarchs line up and try to pummel you between the tackles.
They know it. You know it. The fans know it. The chain gang knows it. The stat guy knows it. Even the kid that dropped
his souvenir football over the back of the bleachers knows it.
It’s what Marysville does. You either stop it or you don’t.
Westland didn’t as Marysville scored the first 29 points of the game and cruised to a 36-13 Homecoming win on Friday.
The Monarch rolled up 345 yards on the ground and had three backs with more than 75 yards on the night. Gabe
Powers picked up 127 yards on just five carries, Ryan Kern went for 99 on 11 totes and a touchdown and Chase Kilgore
was the end zone vulture with three scores and 78 yards on 16 carries.
But having a system comes at a price. The Cougars packed the box with defenders and dared the Monarchs to pass.
“They crammed it in there and pressed the edges,” MHS coach Brent Johnson said.
And at times, even 1-5 Westland was able to slow down the Monarch run game, holding it scoreless for the first 10
minutes of the game.
Marysville tried to back the Cougar defenders from the line of scrimmage early, but three dropped passes did nothing to
convince Westland to switch tactics. Marysville completed just two-of-seven passes.
“If we complete those balls early and we loosen them up,” Johnson said.
While Marysville’s run game isn’t going to sneak up on anyone, its defense might.
The physical Monarch front held Westland scoreless through three quarters and the Cougars only cracked the end zone
when some Monarch reserves were sent into the game for Homecoming experience.
A look at the stat sheet shows 261 yards of offense for the Cougars, but sometimes numbers lie.
Westland rushed for 195 yards, but it popped two big runs, 99 and 60 yards, in the fourth frame against younger
defenders. Without those runs, the Cougars had 36 yards on the ground.
“Our defense was really flying around tonight,” Johnson said.
And that defense proved opportunistic, scoring the first points on a safety and then getting a fumble recovery one play
after the Cougars had returned an interception to the MHS three-yard-line.
It was hard to ignore that both plays occurred near the goal line where the raucous Marysville student section is getting
used to its new end zone bleachers.
Johnson said he was not surprised his defense picked up the slack when the offense stumbled.
“We talk about that,” Johnson said of his defense rising to the occasion. “That (fumble) was a momentum-killer for
them.”
The safety came after Marysville pinned the Cougars at the one-yard-line seven minutes into the game. The Marysville
defense swarmed Peterson Iresne in the end zone.
The free kick also set up a score. After Powers bulled down to the one on a 10-yard run, Kilgore plunged in for his first
score. The point after put the score at 9-0 with less than two minutes left in the first quarter.
The Monarchs scored again on their opening drive of the second period.
It was Kilgore finishing it off, this time with a three-yard run. After an offsides infraction against Marysville, the longer
PAT try was no good, putting the score at 15-0 with 9:50 left until halftime.
As a steady rain began to fall in the later stages of the half, neither team got much offense going and traded a series of
punts.
As the rain stopped to open the second half, the Monarchs were back in business.
Powers ripped off an 84-yard run, getting tripped up inside the 10. However, he still appeared to stretch over the goal as
he went down.
The ball was marked down at the one.
Kilgore did his thing, slamming in for another score. The point after was good for a 22-0 Monarch lead.
At the halfway point of the third quarter, MHS QB Nathan Morey was picked off by Seth Westmorland in Monarch
territory and he returned the ball to the three-yard-line.
Cougar signal caller Kyle Bowles kept the ball on a dive option and extended for the end zone.
The ball was poked loose and recovered by the Monarchs.
The MHS offense tipped its cap for the support, marching 99 yards over the next five minutes for another score.
Morey completed his longest pass of the night, a 38-yarder to Carson Smith. Later in the drive, Kern plowed ahead for
15 yards to the Cougar six.
Two plays later, Smith went in through a big hole over the left side from a yard out. The extra point put the score at 29-0
with 31 seconds to go until the fourth quarter.
Westland opened the final period with its biggest play of the night to that point, a 60-yard run by Johnny Douglas that set
up an Iresne TD. The PAT was good and the score was 30-7.
The Monarchs answered as Kern broke loose up the gut and rumbled for a 41-yard touchdown. The PAT was good and
Marysville had the game in hand at 35-7.
Marysville’s second teamers did a good job stalemating the Cougar starting offense as Elijah Newland and Logan Neer picked off Westland passes.
The Cougars had one bullet left in the gun, however, as Bowles broke free at his own one-yard-line and outraced the
MHS defense for a late 99-yard score. The extra point was no good, closing out the scoring at 36-13.
The Monarchs, now 5-2, travel to Upper Arlington Friday. Despite a possible path to the postseason, Johnson chose to
stay in the present.
“We’re sitting in a good spot right now,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to not worry about other things.”