Marmion 42, Kaneland 38
Placed end to end, the yards gained by Kaneland and Marmion's offenses on Saturday afternoon would stretch just a little over a half-mile, and would take you less than a minute to traverse at highway speeds.
But played out the way they did at Marmion's Fichtel Field, the 988 yards were massive and contributed to a pulsating nonconfernece football game that wasn't decided until the final minutes of over 3 hours of play.
Marmion (2-0) won the contest 42-38 in a game that resembled the Canadian version of gridiron football with pass predominating and offenses ascendant.
"This is amazing," Marmion back Manny Juarez said. "This win is two years in the making. Coach (Dan Thorpe) said his goal was to beat Kaneland because every time he sees the film from last year, it makes him sick."
Kaneland edged Marmion 21-20 in one of the games of the 2006 nonconference season.
Saturday's game never relented, and quickly became a battle between the two quarterbacks.
Marmion QB Ricky Bird was 21 for 39 for 317 yards and 1 passing touchdown. Bird also ran in a pair of touchdowns while orchestrating a Cadets offense that amassed 452 total yards.
"Toward the end of the first half, we started clocking well offensively," Bird said. "The linemen were blocking great. Kaneland's a blitzing team and they picked it up great. I had enough time to get it to our receivers."
Kaneland quarterback Jody Henningson completed 40 of his 65 passes for 478 yards and 4 touchdowns. Henningson also kicked a field goal and was the man at the controls of an offense that gained 554 yards.
"Jody is our man on offense," Kaneland coach Tom Fedderly said. "I can't say enough about him. I'm really proud of him. He brought us back."
The game had the pace of an Arena Football game and turnovers played a key. Bird was intercepted 3 times and Henningson had 4 interceptions.
The Knights jumped to a 10-0 lead. Marmion quickly recovered and scored the next 32 unanswered points. Two of those TDs came on possessions following interceptions.
Kaneland (1-1) buoyed and scored 22 third quarter points. By the time Ryley Bailey caught a 7-yard TD pass from Henningson with 9:37 left in the game, the Marmion lead was just 39-38. Juan Avila blocked the extra-point kick to keep the Cadets in the lead.
Marmion gained breathing space on a 25-yard Alex Picini field goal with 3:19 left -- Picini's third field goal of the contest. A final Marmion interception killed Kaneland's last drive.
"I'm really proud of the kids," Fedderly said. "They could have packed it up at halftime. I wanted to see how they would respond. It came down to the last possession and you can't ask for more than that."