By Mark Eddlemon
sports@joplinglobe.com
REPUBLIC, Mo. — Marionville never led until the final play of its season-opening game, a 20-14 overtime win over visiting McAuley Catholic on Friday night.
Sophomore running back Chris Banks scored the game winner on a 7-yard touchdown run on the fifth offensive play in overtime for Marionville. Banks finished with 116 yards rushing to lead the Comets’ offense.
Marionville finished with 273 yards rushing in a game of contrasting styles. McAuley finished with 122 yards passing to just 7 yards passing by the host. The game was played at Republic Middle School because Marionville is getting new lights at its home field.
Austin Metts put the Warriors on top with a 6-yard scoring run in the second period. The junior quarterback scrambled to his left and dove across the pylon with 7:51 on the clock.
Metts hit Tim Schoenfeld for a 16-yard gain on the play prior to the TD run. Rocky Spry had provided the Warriors with great field position via a 29-yard punt return.
Kevin O’Keefe kicked the point after to put McAuley up 7-0, a score which stood until intermission.
The Warriors’ defense bent but would not break in the first half, allowing the Comets a 69-yard, 14-play drive in the first period before forcing a turnover on downs. The big defensive stop came when Brant Russell and Briton Freitas combined to throw Marionville for a loss on a fourth-and-one play on the Warriors’ 14.
Marionville did not record a first down in the first half after that first drive, as the Warriors’ defense came up big.
The Comets opened the second half with a seven-play, 48-yard scoring drive capped by a 2-yard TD run by Caleb Wells. Banks had a 33-yard kickoff return to provide good field position, and carried twice for 17 yards during the drive. Wells, a junior, ran 3 times for 22 yards.
“We wanted to get back to getting off the ball,” Marionville coach Chris Jennerjohn said. “We thought our numbers would eventually wear them down. Joplin has a heck of a ball club. But it was hot and sticky out there tonight.
McAuley answered with an exciting 40-yard catch and run by Brant Russell on a screen pass from Metts for a touchdown. Russell, a senior running back/wide receiver, shook loose from three different would-be tacklers on the play, and O’Keefe drilled the point after to put McAuley up 14-6 with 5:06 to play in the third period.
Marionville scored early in the final period on a 67-yard drive capped by a 1-yard TD run by Banks. Banks also had a 33-yard run during the drive. The Comets sent fullback Wells up the middle for the game-tying two-point conversion with 10:31 left to play.
The Warriors had a good scoring opportunity in the final moments when Russell reeled off runs of 8, 4 and 30 yards, moving into Marionville territory at the 28. But the Comets held.
Russell also had an interception with less than a minute to play, taking the ball from the Warriors’ 25 to the 33 of Marionville on the return.
But the final play of regulation was an intercepted pass inside the five, a second interception in the game by Marionville senior Brandon Verfurth.
The Warriors began overtime with the ball, and Metts fired a strike on the first play which wound up being stolen from a receiver at the 5 by Comet defender Landen Metcalf, a freshman back.
“I’ve never even seen an opener go overtime,” Warrior head coach Brenden Gubera said. “It was a heckuva of a football game, even though we didn’t come out on top. It was the kind of game you want to play.”
Marionville finished with 15 first downs to 10 for the Warriors..
McAuley’s rushing total of 62 yards on 22 carries was hampered by seven plays which wound up in the negative column.
The Comets were hampered by penalties, finishing with 11 infractions for 84 yards to 6 for 31 yards by McAuley.
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