The Marion/Tigerton Thundercatz (0-2) left too many points on the field as they gave up three turnovers in the scoring situations early in what turned out to be a 34-6 nonconference loss Friday night.
Gillett High School, which moved to 2-0 on the season, held a 14-0 lead after the first quarter. The Tigers’ defense needed a fourth-down stop inside the 10-yard line, a fumble recovery and an interception just to keep Marion/Tigerton off the scoreboard.
“I thought we got the ball moving, but we hurt ourselves with penalties and turnovers,” Thundercatz head coach Mark Fredy said. “In the first half, we left some points on the field.”
Tigers quarterback Alex Zeitler, meanwhile, threw three touchdown passes in the first half.
Mitch Umentum opened up the scoring on the opening drive with a 15-yard touchdown carry to the left side.
Then, Zeitler took over the offense. His first touchdown pass, a 55-yarder, turned the score into a 14-0 game.
The Thundercatz turnovers resulted in a momentum swing for the Tigers.
“We started out sluggish, then we got that first touchdown, then we hit a another gear and started going,” Gillett head coach Rick Kamps said.
Brett Milhans turned a screen pass into a third and long conversion, with the next play resulting in a 39-yard touchdown throw to Leeland Kahler with three minutes remaining, and a 4-yard score to Umentum extended the lead to 28-0 with just 21 seconds remaining in the first half.
“Everyone knows we are old-school, power I offense, but we can spread it out and Alex can put the ball on the money when we have to,” Kamps said.
Zeitler was the difference in this game once Marion’s defense figured out how to stop the run.
The Marion defense, led by Chris Buss, picked up during the second half and got many stops, including a crucial turnover on downs in the red zone early in the fourth quarter.
Offensively for the Thundercatz, Hayden Harris controlled the game, racking up 113 rushing yards out of the team’s 235, which included his 42-yard scamper in the third quarter for Marion’s only score of the game.
Marion seemed to wear down the visiting Tigers with sustained drives, even if it didn’t always result in scoring, which could help the team as it moves forward.
“We’ve got an inexperienced team in some aspects and so they got some confidence tonight, and moving into our conference next week, I hope it pays dividends,” Fredy said.
GILLETT 34, MARION/TIGERTON 6
Score by quarter
Gillett 14 14 0 6
Marion/Tigerton 0 0 6 0
Scoring Summary
First quarter
G: Umentum 15-yard run (PAT missed) 7-0 (9:00). G: Leeland Kahler 55-yard reception (conversion good) 14-0 (3:17).
Second quarter
G: Kahler 39-yard touchdown reception (conversion good) 22-0 (3:05). G: Umentum 4-yard reception (conversion missed) 28-0 (0:21)
Third quarter
M/T: Harris 42-yard run (conversion missed) 28-6 (0:44).
Fourth quarter
G: Kahler 3-yard run (conversion missed) 34-6 (8:43).
Categories
