SPORTS

Fast start, defense key Blue Racers' victory

Denny McPherson
Reporter

MARION – A fast start and a stalwart defense proved to be the difference in the Marion Blue Racers' 50-41 X-League indoor football victory over the Florida Marine Raiders Saturday night in the Marion Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Marion (3-2) went up by 10 points at the onset of the game and won by nine over the defending league champs from Lakeland, Fla., who are now 2-3.

"It was great," said Marion quarterback Les Obie. "Any time you can get a start like that, it sets the tone for the rest of the game."

The rest was up to Marion's defense.

"Our offense helped out, but defense won this game," Obie admitted.

It did so without the services of lineman Thomas McKenzie, the heart and soul of that unit. He was out with an ankle injury.

Defensive back David "DJ" James helped greatly with a pair of recovered fumbles which he turned into touchdowns.

"The defense had to step up big time," James said. "Our warrior was hurt, so we had to back him up. At halftime, we made some adjustments which were key."

Marion's offense was inconsistent throughout the game. Obie said the recent change in Marion head coaches from Rick Kranz to LaMonte Coleman and the resulting new offense Coleman implemented was, well, new.

"We had a lot of new stuff installed into the offense," Obie said. "We had good stretches of offense, and then some stretches of bad luck. But when we were on, we were on pretty good. We've got to continue to learn the new system."

Marion built a 41-18 lead in the third period and then saw things get interesting.

Bryceson Lawrence scored on a seven-yard run and James tallied his second TD on a fumble return to put the hosts up 40-18. A defensive-stop point followed for Marion's 41-18 edge.

Maurice Francois returned an interception for a score, but Marion was still comfortably up at 49-26 after a seven-yard touchdown pass from Obie to Lynell Suggs and a Lawrence PAT run.

Florida then produced points on a Reid Herchenbach nine-yard TD pass to Chris Perry and Darrell Young's return of a fumble to slice Marion's lead to 49-40 with 3:45 remaining.

The Marine Raiders tacked on another point with a defensive stop and were down 49-41 with 1:49 left.

Juan Rodriguez, however, got that marker back with an interception with 54 seconds left and Marion ran out the game clock.

Marion's quick start gave it a 10-0 lead before its offense had taken the field.

Alex Coleman won the X-dash before the game began for a 2-0 edge.

Then on Florida's second play from scrimmage, James recovered a fumble in the end zone for the Blue Racers touchdown. Obie then threw to Lawrence for the two-point conversion and just like that Marion had its 10-point cushion.

According to league rules, any defensive touchdown is worth eight points. But Marion was awarded only six for James' fumble recovery.

Florida countered with an 18-yard touchdown run by Perry and a Jesus Cortez PAT kick to cut its deficit to 10-7.

The Blue Racers answered with an 18-yard scoring pass from Obie to Ryan Pahos to build its edge to 16-7. A run for the PAT failed.

Marion then notched a point on a defensive stop to take a 17-7 advantage by the close of the first period.

A defensive stop by the Marine Raiders gave them a point to start the second quarter before Perry ran 10 yards for a TD and Cortez kicked a PAT. All of that added up to eight points and Florida was within two points of Marion at 17-15.

Marion rebounded as Lawrence rolled into the end zone from two yards out and Obie did the same on a PAT for a 25-15 lead.

The teams then traded defensive-stop points and Marion got another to close out the half for what should have put the Blue Racers up 26-16.

Florida, however, showed 18 points on the scoreboard after those stops, giving the Marine Raiders two unexplained points. That made the tallies, right or wrong, officially 26-18 with Marion ahead at halftime.

dmcphers@nncogannett.com

740-375-5158

Twitter: @starsportsdenny