Football: Defense leads Patriots

Millard South football coach Andy Means could have stuck to three words during the postgame assessment of his team's 28-0 win over Lincoln East Thursday night.

Good, not great.

In front of a reporter-estimated 2,000 at Buell Stadium, the Class A No. 3 Patriots pitched a shutout in the season opener for both teams, getting some strong defensive play when it counted.

“I was pleased with the way the offense played, especially in the first half, moving the ball,” Means said. “Overall, I was very pleased with the defense. We gave up some yards, which we've got to work on. But we did a good job of keeping them out of the end zone, and that's always a goal, to shut out people.”

Quarterback Bronson Marsh was 17 of 21 through the air for 268 yards and three scores, and the Patriots rushed for 137 yards. The Millard South defense stopped five drives inside their own 35-yard line, preserving the shutout on a batted ball in the end zone with just under a minute to play.

Last year's state Class A runner-up wasted little time on its first possession. Marsh found receiver Mike Mollner in space on the left side on the game's fifth play. The senior receiver made a move to the middle of the field and took it 52 yards for a score less than three minutes in.

Mollner finished with 127 yards on four catches — all in the first half. Joey Felici added five grabs for 70 yards as Marsh found eight different receivers.

“Mike's got some speed,” Means said. “He's kind of dangerous. Joey did a good job; our receivers did a good job.”

Marsh added a 13-yard touchdown strike to Eddie Collins in the first quarter and a 17-yard score in the third quarter to Trevor Chandler to round out the scoring. Running back Quentin Urban had the Patriots' lone score on the ground, a 1-yard plunge.

Millard South ramped up the tempo with its no-huddle offense on its four-play second-quarter scoring drive, which included completions of 28 and 43 yards by Marsh. But penalties bogged down their second-half run at the hurry-up offense.

“That's always hard on you,” Marsh said. “Just the little things. Missed alignments, missed blocks, things like that. Once we figure those things out, I think we'll be pretty good.”

Lincoln East still had its chances. Trailing by just two scores, the Spartans opened the second half with an 11-play drive that chewed up 79 yards and nearly five minutes off the clock. But junior quarterback Bryce Bostwick was stuffed on a 4th-and-1 sneak at the Millard South 8. That came after a 13-play drive in the first quarter ended with a Christian Spaccarotella interception in the Patriot red zone.

“We were down there; we just couldn't get it done,” East coach John Gingery said. “And when you're down there, you've got to put points on the board. We were down there a number of times and we just came away empty.”

Bostwick finished 14 of 26 through the air for 129 yards. He added 69 yards on 24 carries.

Lincoln East (0-1) ......0 0 0 0 — 0
At Millard South (1-0).....14 7 7 0 — 28

At Millard South (1-0) 14 7 7 0 — 28

MS: Mike Mollner 52 pass from Bronson Marsh (Luke Theimer kick).

MS: Eddie Collins 13 pass from Marsh (Theimer kick).

MS: Quentin Urban 1 run (Theimer kick).

MS: Trevor Chandler 17 pass from Marsh (Theimer kick).

• RUSHING: LE, Bryce Bostwick 24-69, Mike Reckmeyer 3-24, Aaron Kilgore 4-50, Drew Zobel 7-23, Total 38-166; MS, Tre Sacks 8-37, Bronson Marsh 6-58, Quentin Urban 5-37, Eddie Collins 3-minus 3, Brendan Peoples 1-8, Total 23-137.

• PASSING: LE, Bostwick 14-26 129; MS, Marsh 17-21 268.

• RECEIVING: LE, Brandon Ell 2-33, Colton Wolinski 3-24, Devon Nash 1-7, Nick Masada 1-9, Demetri Sanders 1-3, Reckmeyer 3-16, Nick Kohler, 1-17, Adam Smith 1-22, Zobel 1-minus 2 Total 14; MS, Trevor Chandler 1-17, Joey Felici 5-70, Mike Mollner 4-127, Collins 1-13, Marsh 1-0, Sacks 3-11, Tyler Harris 1-8, Eric Dolan 1-22 Total 17-268.

Contact the writer:

850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com

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