Marlette Best Waterford OLL;Draw Beach in First Round

By Wm. Michael Dixon
Tribune Recorder Leader

The Marlette Red Raiders hosted Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes last Thursday in a double header with the Junior Varsity, for a promptly rescheduled match after the pair struggled to find officials for the contest originally scheduled on Friday. “The field was pretty slick after the JV had played their game.” Stated Marlette Coach Denny Lester. The Red Raiders took to the field in the rain with the sun already set but did not let the weather slow them down. Logan Malloy ran in a touchdown from 35 yards out on Marlette’s opening drive.
The Raiders kept Waterford out of the end zone and managed to run in another one themselves with 44 seconds to go in the quarter. Westley Chapin ran in the score from eight yards out to give the Raiders a 12-0 lead at the end of the quarter. Marlette shut down Waterford again in the second quarter while running in two more touchdowns thanks to 18 and 41 yard runs from Westley Chapin and Logan Malloy respectively. Marlette had trouble converting their two-point attempts, but with little consequence as they led the contest 24-0 at halftime.
“Defensively we were outstanding.” Stated Head Coach Lester. “Any time you hold a team to 20 total yards, you are getting the job done. Derek Hall has done such a great job running this unit this year.”
Marlette kept up the defensive pressure in the second half, continuing to keep Waterford out of the end zone and Logan Malloy ran in his third score of the night, this one from ten yards out. Sartin ran in the two-point conversion to boost Marlette’s lead to 32-0. Quintin Sartin scrambled in for an eight-yard touchdown for the final score for the night, with Braden Gonzalez running in the two-point conversion to bring the final score to 40-0. “I am really proud of our offensive line.” Stated Head Coach Denny Lester, “Dow Huggett, Connor Kelly, Julius Johnson, RJ Davis, John Machia, Owen Anderson and Trey Lester at tight ends, and Dominic Crossno at fullback really opened some wonderful holes.”
Logan Malloy was the leading rusher for the night, with 239 yards and three touchdowns on fifteen carries. Westley Chapin had 61 yards and two touchdowns on six carries and one reception for 20 yards. Adam Wilcox had 21 yards on 11 carries. Quintin Sartin had 94 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries and one pass for 20 yards. Ryan Ramirez had two solo tackles, two tackles for a loss and a sack. Logan Malloy had two solo tackles and a sack. Owen Anderson and Adam Wilcox each had two solo tackles and a tackle for loss.
The Red Raiders improved to 7-2 (3-2 GTC East) to close out the regular season and now set their sights on the playoffs, where the Red Raiders drew Harbor Beach in the first round. The Pirates are one of only two teams that were able to slip past the Red Raiders this season, and so Marlette will have to be on their A game when they travel to Harbor Beach this Friday night at 7 pm when they travel north to Harbor Beach for the game.
Tickets must be purchased online via gofan.co and can be found by navigating to gofan.co and searching for Marlette. A smartphone or printed out ticket is required to scan in at the gate.