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John Marshall’s Defense Holds On In Important Win Over Brooke

By NICK HENTHORN 7 min read

WELLSBURG -- A steady rain, two teams battling for playoff positioning, and a nailbiting finish-- all signs that the football season is getting good.

The John Marshall Monarchs, ranked No. 10 in this week's WVSSAC Class AAA playoff computer ratings, defeated the Brooke Bruins, No. 11 in same, 14-12 Friday night inside Brooke Memorial Stadium, the game coming down to a failed two-point conversion with 1:25 left in the contest.

The slim victory was a great relief to John Marshall head coach Mark Cisar in a game where the Monarchs (6-2) were actually out-gained by Brooke (4-3) 193-273.

"Huge win," Cisar said. "Just grinded it out. [Brooke] played extremely well. Their kids played extremely tough. They came to play. The first half, their defense played well. Our defense played well-- we won the game because of our defense. The second half we got back to what we do. We said we’ll keep on trying to run the ball. We didn’t have a whole lot of success the first half.

"And then [Dalton] Cooper made a run that was unbelievable."

Unbelievable indeed. Down 6-0 at the half, Monarchs standout running back Dalton Cooper scored on a four-yard touchdown run with four minutes to play in the third quarter, but it was his next score that proved to be the difference Friday.

Taking a tote from the Monarchs' own 42 yard line, Cooper plowed into the Brooke defense-- and just kept chugging. Breaking away into the secondary, the junior bulldozer broke a few more tackles on his way to open grass and a 58-yard touchdown run with just over a minute to play in the third quarter.

"We thought he was down two or three times," Cisar said of the play. "Just kept going through guys, going through guys, and finally got out there and busted one. But, you know, he always does something special."

"We knew eventually at some point he’d probably get his, and he did," Brooke head coach Frank Sisinni said of Cooper.

Cooper finished with 118 yards on the ground and a pair of scores.

In the first half, though, John Marshall's ground game was contained by a stout Bruins defense. Cooper had 10 yards at the half.

"Our kids played hard against a very good team, so we’re gonna go back to the drawing board and keep fighting," Sisinni said. "I think the conditions came into play on the big run and the tackling part of it, but, kudos to [John Marshall]. For us, we let this one slip through our fingers, but we have goals that are still in front of us here. We’re going to go back to the drawing board tomorrow and get after it."

While Brooke put up more offensive yardage and recorded 14 first downs to John Marshall's 11, the Monarchs defense came up big with two interceptions, both on their own side of the field. Nathan Hughes hawked the first interception of the day on JM's own 45 with 9:20 left in the first quarter, and Brody Thomas nabbed a big-time pick over the middle on JM's own 18 yard-line with 8:48 in the final quarter.

"Reid [Hamrick] was outstanding again," Cisar began. "This is about four games in a row where he’s just played unbelievable. Hard-nosed kid. He’s getting better and better. We’ve had good practices. But defensively, [defensive coordinator Griffin Yocum] did a great job this week. Coach Griff did an outstanding job, had a great idea, great scheme.

"They moved the ball on us. We were bending tonight, and we stopped them a couple of times. They stopped us early. Was not pretty offensively for either side, you could say. It came down to one play at the end. We made a play when we needed to."

While turnovers brought promising Brooke drives to an abrupt end on those two occasions, the Bruins still led after Grant Yost rose up for a 10-yard touchdown snag, boxing out his defender along a sideline, with just 30 seconds left before half. Brooke did not convert the PAT though in what would prove to be a crucial play.

John Marshall took the lead on Cooper's four-yard touchdown dive in the third quarter, a play that was only possible because of a narrow fourth-down conversion, quarterback Jacob Cisar connecting with Landen Snyder on a fourth-and-seven where the seniors hooked up for just enough yardage. Cooper scored on the next play.

After Cooper's long touchdown rumble put John Marshall ahead by eight, Brooke earned a chance to tie with a long drive in the fourth quarter. Marching down the field as the seconds ticked away, the Bruins finally found paydirt with 1:25 on the clock, Yost catching a screen pass from 12 yards out and burning up the field and through arm tackles on his way to the end zone.

But, needing a two-point conversion, Sperringer was forced to roll out and fire a bullet pass to the corner of the endzone that was too hot for his intended receiver to handle-- especially given the rainy conditions.

The ensuing onside kick try sent a jolt through the crowd as it looked like the ball was up for grabs as a dogpile formed, but the Monarchs had the ball at the bottom of the scrum and were able to assume the victory formation to end the waterlogged game.

For the Bruins, Yost was a threat on the ground and through the air, finishing with five catches, for 37 yards, and 35 rushing yards to boot. Michael Gibson was the Bruins' leading receiver with 50 yards, and Bryden Horstin was their leading receiver with four receptions for 66 yards, including two 30-yard grabs.

Sperringer completed 11 of 20 passes for 124 yards.

"Our kids played really hard for four quarters and, you know, a couple of breaks here and there and you get a different scenario. We’re in a scenario here where we’re in the thick of things at this point in the year. We’re going to keep fighting and keep working for an opportunity to get to the playoffs. We got three left and we’ll learn from this one."

While Cooper powered John Marshall's running game, Landen Snyder led the way through the air with seven catches for 54 yards. Jacob Cisar completed 10 of 15 passes for 78 yards.

"Tonight, it was sloppy," Mark Cisar said. "Both teams still controlled the ball pretty well, considering. We forced a turnover there early. Again, Jacob Cisar on fourth down, just huge to set up a touchdown. We’re finding ways to make plays in crunch time and we’ve done it all season long and we did it again tonight on fourth down. We made some plays that kept things going. That’s what you gotta do."

The Monarchs are road-warriors for their remaining regular season schedule, next facing Cabell Midland. Brooke next travels to face East Liverpool.

John Marshall 14, Brooke 12

Brooke 0 6 0 6 -- 12

JohnM 0 0 14 0 -- 14

B--Yost 10 yard pass from Sperringer (kick no good)

JM--Cooper 4 run (Hamrick kick)

JM--Cooper 58 run (Hamrick kick)

B--Yost 12 yard pass from Sperringer (pass incomplete)

RUSHING: Brooke 34-149 (Gibson 10-50; Yost 9-35; Thoma 7-42; Sperringer 7-16). John Marshall 25-115-2tds (Cooper 18-115-2tds; Cisar 6-2; Kotson 1-(-2)).

PASSING: Brooke 11-20-124-2tds-2int (all by Sperringer). John Marshall 10-15-78 (all by Cisar).

RECEIVING: Brooke 11-124-2tds (Yost 5-37-2tds; Horstin 4-66; Gibson 1-16; Drumm 1-5). John Marshall 10-78 (Snyder 7-54; Hamrick 2-17; Clemons 1-7).

FIRST DOWNS: Brooke 14, John Marshall 11

PENALTIES: Brooke 4-35; John Marshall 4-21

FUMBLES: Brooke 0-0; John Marshall 0-0

Starting at /week.