Explorers trounce Nokomis 44-15 for first victory
ALTON – Darrell Angleton most likely didn't mince whatever his words were to his Marquette Catholic football team in his halftime address to his Explorers.
“You know, I am a retired lieutenant colonel,” Angleton said with a laugh, “and I'm an infantry officer as well, so it's not like I was in supply.”
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Whatever Angleton said, his halftime bake to the Explorers may have did the trick as Marquette lit up the scoreboard for 44 second-half points in a 44-15 Prairie State Conference win over Nokomis at Public School Stadium Saturday night, taking the Explorers' record to 1-2 on the year and 1-0 in the PSC heading into a backyard showdown at East Alton-Wood River this coming Friday.
“It's the same thing I told (everyone) last week, and the same thing I've talked about the entire time; it's execution,” Angleton said. “These guys are extremely talented, and if we can execute, we can win ball games and win them convincingly.
“If we can execute from the beginning of a game, we can win a lot of them.”
The Redskins had taken a 7-0 lead with a 91-yard touchdown pass from Drew Watson to Andrew Herpstreith with 52.6 seconds left in the first half; both teams had struggled to find openings in the first half, but once the second half started, the Explorers came alive; Treven Swingler provided the spark with a 8-yard touchdown run with 9:51 left in the third term to tie things up following Liam Maher's convert and then with a 15-yard touchdown run with 7:32 left in the term to put Marquette up 13-7 after the convert kick was blocked.
“That was big,” Angleton said of Swingler's third-quarter major scores. “It was very nice to have. We just came out and played ball. I knew at the end of the first half, when we started moving the ball and we had a nice drive; as long as we can complete our passing game, that would loosen things up (for the Explorer running game).”
It certainly helped Marquette as they were able to establish some drives, one of which helped Maher complete a 34-yard field goal early in the final quarter; another spark was provided when Brandon Buhs picked off a Redskin pass near midfield and lumbered his way to the end zone and seemingly turning it into a pick-six; officials ruled Buhs had been brought down at the Redskin 1 to the disappointment of the Explorer fans. D'Avion Peebles then punched it in to extend the lead to 23-7 immediately following from a yard out.
Ten seconds later, Nokomis coughed up the ensuing kickoff that allowed Jayce Maag to pick up the ball on a 18-yard scoop-and-score to put Marquette up 30-7. Following an 80-yard Redskin touchdown pass, Jeremy Strebel scored from 5 yards out and Peebles scored from a yard out to finish off the night's scoring.
Swingler had a big performance, running for 214 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, while Brady McAfee was 5-for-16 for 55 yards and added 29 yards rushing for the night. Maag led Marquette with 22 receiving yards and Alex Roberts contributed five tackles, a sack and two fumble recoveries on defense.
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