Knights wear down the Falcons

While bodies flew around him and the threat of a safety was real, Robert Mischler had just one thought.
"I knew I had to get around the tackles," the Marian football team's quarterback said. "I couldn't get caught."
Mischler didn't get caught in his impromptu scramble.
Second-and-10 at the Marian 1-yard line with the Knights holding a precarious one-point lead late in the third quarter, this drive was pivotal.
What could have been a huge momentum swing for Glenn (8-3) instead went for a nine-yard gain and was the start of a 16-play march that wore down the Falcons and was critical in Marian's 22-14 Class 3-A second round sectional victory.
The conquest sends the Knights (9-2) against St. Joseph's next Friday, at a site to be determined.
Marian's extended possession didn't yield points, but it chewed up clock and forced nine Falcons who play both ways to be on the field on defense.
"We felt that with our depth we could wear them out," said Marian coach Reggie Glon. "We felt if we could withstand their surge in the first half, we'd be OK."
And, boy, was there a surge.
Glenn scored on its first two possessions -- a seven-yard connection from Tom Knape to Charles Dreessen and a 26-yard run by Josh Anderson, his 43rd TD of the season.
Anderson finished with 123 yards on 22 carries.
Marian answered the Falcon scores in the first half. Fullback Vince Campiti bulled in from five yards and Teshon Sanders scored the first of his two TDs from 10 yards.
Glenn's miss on a two-point conversion accounted for the 15-14 Marian lead at intermission.
"(At halftime, Marian) started getting their outside linebackers to help on the perimeter," said Glenn coach Justin Bogunia. "Our fullback (Chase Bierly) bit off a couple chunks,"
The Knights, who had thrown for 101 yards in the first half, focused on the ground in the final 24 minutes.
"Our (offensive) line was getting a great push," said Mischler. "That allowed us to accomplish the run in the second half."
"Our goal was to hold onto the ball as long as we could," Glon said.
Mischler threw four passes in the second half. Two were intercepted. The Marian defense, though, was stout.
Glenn's deepest penetration was the Marian 20, where Vince Ravotto made a nifty interception on the 1 to start the Knights' long possession.
Marian linebacker Robert Deering played a major role in containing Anderson in the second half, rushing 15 times for 53 yards. Deering led Marian with nine tackles.

Postgame notes
Lots of rumblings from Glenn players and fans alike were not all too happy of Saturday's South Bend Tribune coverage from writer Al Lesar. Lesar quoted Marian Senior linebacker Robert Deering: "We wanted to hit the crap out of (Anderson)," Deering said. "We did that.
"They haven't played any true quality opponents. The first two series, they did some different things offensively. We adjusted. "Watching film, we saw that (Anderson) was a good back, not a great back. He does well because his offensive line was so good."

First off, Mr. Lesar has now misquoted two Marian articles in the same week. The first, stating that Coach Glon said that Colin Rahrig was making the biggest mistake of his life by turning down a full ride scholarship to the University of Indianapolis. If Mr. Lesar actually paid attention, Coach Glon told Colin to go for his dream of playing Division I football at Indiana, but to make sure he thinks it through by turning down a quarantee scholarship and starting position all four years. Luckily for Colin, he's making his dreams come true by starting at Guard for the Hoosiers.

Now back to Robert's quote. He actually said that Glenn has not beaten any quality opponents. No knock on Glenn or the Northern State Conference, but the Falcons played three quality teams and lost all three times. But when you mostly beat up on 2A and 1A schools and two bottom feeders in 3A, your body of work is not that impressive and the stats in those games will be inflated. Glenn has a good team, but they are not what the players and fans pumped them up to be.

Secondly, Robert is a 17 year old kid, who just played a whale of game. Emotions can get the best of you, and Mr. Lesar was capitalizing on that and making something that wasn't there instead of what it really was; a hard fought game and an excited Marian player's reaction. Robert is one of the nicest student-athletes Marian has produced. Shame on the South Bend Tribune and Al Lesar!