Marmion comes up seconds short to DeKalb in 6A playoffs

Marmion’s upset bid was gone in 50.9 seconds Friday at DeKalb, it just seemed like time stood still.

What the 15th-seeded Cadets and coach Dan Thorpe will likely take away from a hard-to-swallow 21-20 loss to the second-seeded Barbs in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs was the knowledge that they had their opportunities.

“We had a chance to win it twice, not too many people get that,” Thorpe said after his team was turned back on a 2-point conversion attempt in the final minute, recovered an onside kick and then came up short on a game-winning 37-yard field goal attempt with 3.2 seconds remaining.

They were also stopped three times on fourth down in DeKalb territory, once as deep as the Barb 6.

Senior Jordan Glasgow, subbing for quarterback John Tate who was injured on the previous play, scored on a 5-yard run with 50.9 seconds remaining.

Thorpe decided to go for the win, even after a delay of game penalty pushed the Cadets (6-4) back to the 8. Glasgow took the snap and swept right but was stopped by linebacker David Long’s apparent game-saving tackle.

“We were gonna run a 2-point conversion play we had,” Thorpe said. “That was my fault. I’m not one to go for overtime. We should have just ran the same play (Glasgow scored on).”

DeKalb (9-1) had scored on its first two drives of the first half, on a 7-yard run from Eriq Torrey and a 30-yard TD pass from Derek Kyler to Rudy Lopez. The Barbs ate up seven minutes marching 84 yards on a drive capped by a 3-yard scoring run from Dre Brown (26 carries, 168 yards) for a 21-7 lead with 7:26 remaining..

Tate TD runs of 7 and 28 yards accounted for the Cadets’ other scores.

“I didn’t have any impact in the first half,” said Glasgow, who lives but a mile from DeKalb High School and wanted to have a good showing against some former AAU basketball teammates, including Brown.

After Glasgow’s score, sophomore kicker Connor Hoeft launched a high bouncer on the ensuing kickoff.

“That was a great kick and to do that, I think, is even tougher than the field goal at the end of the game,” said Glasgow, who came up with the recovery at the DeKalb 42.

“I was just hoping it would bounce up. It did, we all went for it and I think I had it, but there was the usual grabbing in the pile.”

Glasgow, who had taken only two previous snaps at QB in the Wildcat formation earlier this season and five in practice on Thursday, then launched a high-arcing, wobbly pass into the stiff north wind that was pulled in 27 yards downfield by Nate Traxler.

“That wasn’t a good throw,” Glasgow said. “I saw it go up, get caught in the wind and stopped and come straight down.”

He spiked the ball on the next play, ran 3 yards on a keeper, and then the Cadets took their third delay of game penalty of the second half. Hoeft’s 37-yard attempt into the strong wind was well short.

DeKalb, which rushed for 252 yards, had a 364-252 edge in total yards.

Glasgow didn’t fret over the finish.

“I would rather go for the win,” he said. “We had momentum there.”

Considering the possibility of overtime, he added, “Their running back is extremely good.”