The Turnaround Season: Game Five at Gladstone
Friday September 24, 2010
When your football team finishes near the bottom of the conference every year for about three decades, conference rivals tend to schedule you for their homecoming game. With spirit week activities like hallway decorations, float building, class-wide meetings, and pep rallies going on, who wouldn’t want to play Marquette to cap off their fun with a victory?
Week five at Gladstone was the first of three straight road games for the 2010 MSHS football program that also happened to be homecoming for their Great Northern Conference foes (Gladstone, Kingsford, and Menominee). On this late September road trip, could Marquette play homecoming spoiler? In a game where MSHS was actually the favorite, it was time to prove they could handle the expectations without sneaking up on an opponent.
An adjustment was made early in the week when Coach L’Huillier pulled up Ryan Frazier and Joe Iwanicki from the JV team and inserted them into the starting lineup. The move helped solidify an offensive line group that was suddenly considered as one of the better units in the UP. Marquette was looking to secure their fourth win in a row, but it would not be easy as Gladstone provided a unique matchup with their hurry-up offense. The Purple and White could run a slew of plays in a short period of time — and with athletes like Sam Ballard, Peyton Jurek, Tony Aviles, and Tom Cseter scattered throughout their lineup, no MSHS lead would be safe. Gladstone was not a team to underestimate.
The game itself was a tale of two halves; the first belonged to the visitors from Marquette. Right out of the gate, QB Nick Emmendorfer was feeling it. The senior had two touchdown passes in the first half, one to Colin Terry that went for 78 yards and one to Craig Cairati for 10. “Dorf’s” two aerial scores went nicely with a pair of Garrett Pentecost TD runs (25 and 78 yards). All systems were firing for the Red and White, with a balanced offensive game plan being executed to perfection to put Marquette ahead by three scores at the break.
In the second half, each side added a touchdown to bring the score to 34–14 midway through the third quarter. At this point, it was assumed Marquette would hit cruise control on their way to solidifying a 4–1 record. Not so fast, my friends. After forcing a Gladstone punt in the middle of the third quarter, MSHS appeared to take its foot off the gas and began making uncharacteristic mistakes. It started with a 56-yard touchdown jaunt by Pentecost being called back for a holding penalty and eventually fizzling into a punt. That was the story of the rest of the game: the previously hot Marquette offense stumbling away momentum.
Before long, Gladstone began taking advantage. They turned back-to-back Marquette turnovers into a pair of touchdowns with a Ballard QB run as well as a 35-yard TD pass to Aviles. Now it was 34–27. Shockingly, Marquette went out and responded by completing the hat trick of turnovers with less than five minutes left in the contest, giving the ball back to the home team for the third straight possession. Next thing we knew, Gladstone’s no-huddle offense was darting down the field to tie the game. With the Braves driving to salvage Homecoming and snap Marquette’s win streak, senior Forrest Gilfoy was able to step up and make a play by intercepting a late pass to clinch the win for MSHS, 34–27.
In a road game that resembled a roller coaster of emotion, Marquette was able to hold off the Gladstone offense just long enough to start their GNC campaign off 2–0. Marquette had an offense that could compete with anyone, but they also had the ability to shoot themselves in the foot by making too many mistakes. Make no mistake, though: a sign of good teams, no matter the level of competition, is the ability to pick up wins after not performing their best. Was it worrisome that this Marquette team almost had a 20+ point lead slip between their fingers? Sure. Was it also representative of how far they had come that they even HAD a 20+ point lead on the road in the first place? You bet!
After defeating Gladstone, Marquette was riding high on its first four-game win streak since 1983. Next up for the resurgent MSHS football program was a showdown against the Kingsford Flivvers, a team they hadn’t beaten since 1987. Also… another chance to spoil homecoming.
