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Marion's second half too much for Harrisburg

By Jeffrey Drake, for the southern

Saturday, September 8, 2007 2:33 AM CDT

HARRISBURG - After falling behind 19-0 at halftime to Harrisburg, head coach Kerry Martin told his Marion Wildcats they needed to rewrite the story to start the second half.

That's just what they did.

The Wildcats (3-0) roared back scoring 20 unanswered second half points to claim a 20-19 victory.

"They knew they put themselves in that position, and they knew they had to play better to get themselves out of it," said Martin. "I'm proud of the comeback."

Harrisburg owned the first half as they took advantage early of three Marion fumbles. The Bulldogs got the scoring started 1:56 into the second quarter when quarterback Christian Cummins scampered 74 yards to paydirt making it 6-0 Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs would go up 13-0 just over two minutes later when Cummins hooked up with junior Russell Rambert for the fourth time this season, this time for 36 yards.

Senior Tyler Harbison also added a touchdown run of his own to give the Bulldogs a seemingly comfortable 19-0 lead heading into halftime.

But the high powered Wildcat offense did not waste anytime getting started in the third quarter. Senior quarterback Matt Brown, who threw for nearly 300 yards, found Micah Markley for a 31-yard pass just over a minute into the second half. Markley added the PAT to pull Marion within 19-7.

Marion junior Sam Lymon then halted a Harrisburg drive with an interception coming with 6:01 remaining in the third quarter. The Wildcats then reached into their bag of tricks just nine seconds later when Brown hit senior Darrick Borum from 45 yards out on a flea flicker to trim the Harrisburg lead.

It looked as if Harrisburg was going to be able to control the clock late in the fourth quarter, but the Wildcat defense forced a punt to give Brown and the offense one last chance at a comeback.

"Their seniors made some plays to beat us," said Harrisburg head coach Jason Roper. "We were unable to convert on a couple of extra points and just weren't able to get it done."

After a couple of key third down completions, Brown found Markley for the second time in the back of the end zone for a 12-yard touchdown pass to tie the game. If that wasn't enough, Markley then added the game winning PAT to give the Wildcats a 20-19 lead with just 0:08 remaining.

"Markley has become a big playmaker for us," Martin. "We're going to have to have different guys step up for us on different nights."

Harrisburg will host Herrin next week, as Marion will travel to Cahokia.

Marion 0 0 13 7 - 20

Harrisburg 0 19 0 0 - 19

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

HAR - Cummins 74 run (kick failed), 10:04.

HAR - Rambert 36 pass from Cummins (Hall kick), 7:50.

HAR - Harbison 1 run (kick failed), 2:42.

Third Quarter

MAR - Markley 31 pass from Brown (Markley kick), 10:49.

MAR - Borum 45 pass from Brown (Kick failed), 5:52.

Fourth Quarter

MAR - Markley 12 pass from Brown (Markley kick), 0:08.

Team Stats

MAR HBG

First Downs 16 17

Rushes-Yds 19-100 47-203

Passing Yds 297 87

Comp-Att-Int 16-33-0 7-17-1

Punts-Punt avg. 4-37.5 5-34.0

Fumbles-Lost 3-3 0-0

Penalties-Yds 7-58 4-20

Individual Stats

RUSHING-MAR: Brown 5-40, Stotlar 7-28, Markley 5-21, Barnaby 1-11, Borum 1-0. HBG: Cummins 11-72, Davis 13-52, Jackson 8-41, Donaldson 14-37, Harbison 1-1.

PASSING-MAR: Brown 16-33-0-297; HBG: Cummins 7-17-1-87.

RECEIVING-MAR: Markley 5-85, Borum 2-68, Serati 5-48, Stotlar 1-53, Osman 1-28, Midgett 1-12, Moss 1-3. HBG: Rambert 4-71, Davis 1-21, Frymire 1-0, Donaldson 1-(-5).