LEXINGTON TWP. — Marlington fell behind early and never caught up with Carrollton in their Eastern Buckeye Conference opener Friday night.
Behind their strong, second-half running game, the Warriors defeated the Dukes, 24-17, in Marlington's homecoming game.
After heading into halftime with a 10-7 lead, Carrollton (4-2, 1-0) put together two long, time-consuming drives in the second half and put the game away. The Warriors gained 153 yards on 23 plays over the two drives and took nearly 14 minutes off of the clock.
Sophomore running back Levi Kiko was the workhorse for the Warriors with 149 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown.
“Levi did a good job, and the line cleaned things up and blocked well in the second half,” said first-year head coach Storm Hill.
Marlington (1-5, 0-1) put together two good drives to keep within striking distance of Carrollton.
After the Warriors went up 24-10 with 2:42 remaining, the Dukes went 71 yards in just four plays with senior quarterback Bryson McCord taking it in from the one.
In the quick drive, McCord hit sophomore wide receiver Connor Evanich with two passes for 66 yards.
“We talked about it all week that we couldn’t give up the big play,” Hill said. “But we did, and it made me nervous.”
Overall, Hill was happy with the effort.
“We played good defense at times and gave up some big plays,” Hill said. “I knew they had a good receiving corps that would make plays. We didn’t run-block very well in the first half, but Coach Clapper got things situated and did much better in the second half.”
Marlington head coach Joe Cardinal saw a lot of good things in the loss.
“Our guys competed,” Cardinal said. “I am proud of the guys. We were down in a 10-0 hole early. But we kept fighting and gave ourselves a chance at the end.”
Cardinal was really happy with the hurry-up offense in the in the fourth quarter.
“It was a really nice drive,” Cardinal said. “I thought Bryson (McCord) made some really good reads, and Cam (Evanich) made some highlight-quality catches. Then the line did a really good job of punching it in. It was an entire team effort.”
On the injury front, the Dukes have had more than their share.
“We have been hit hard with injuries,” Cardinal said. “So, we are asking a lot of different guys to do a lot of different things on any given night. The way it has been going, a guy might be playing an entirely different position than they were last week. But they are stepping up to the challenge.”
Marlington’s first score came late in the second quarter on a 1-yard plunge by McCord. Senior kicker Jayce Zagray added a 32-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
In the EBC, there is no such thing as an easy game, and Marlington will face a mighty test when it plays host to West Branch on Oct. 4. The Dukes' opponent next week beat the Minerva Lions 64-0 on Friday night.
“They are the defending (EBC) champs,” Cardinal said of West Branch. “They are a really well-coached team, and I think they return 20 starters from last year. We are going to have our work cut out for us, but our guys will compete hard.”
This article originally appeared on The Repository: OHSAA football scores | Carrollton uses 2 long drives to put away Marlington in EBC opener
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