By Sean McNamara, For Lootpress
RACHEL – The North Marion Huskies kicked off the 2023 season Thursday at home with a convincing victory, scoring on every offensive possession while collecting 504 total yards and committing zero turnovers as they bested their Marion County rivals, East Fairmont, 55-24, at Roy Michael Field in Rachel on Thursday.
Led by 131 yards rushing by Aaron Hoffman, the Huskies ran for a total of 310 yards and four scores and saw quarterback Casey Minor throw for 195 yards and two scores in the win.
“They were expecting a shootout I think,” NM coach Daran Hays said. “I thought we played really efficiently offensively. I think we threw the ball well when we needed to. I thought our balance was good.”
The Huskies (1-0) got a stop on the opening possession of the game and proceeded to put together a 14-play drive that culminated with a 1-yard TD run by Minor to give North Marion a 7-0 lead after the first quarter following a Brady Anderson PAT.
On East Fairmont’s first possession of the second quarter, quarterback Ian Crookshanks was intercepted by North Marion’s Landon Frey – who intercepted six passes a season ago – which set the table for a quick two-play drive that ended with a 59-yard TD strike from Minor to junior Landon Cowger to put NMHS up, 14-0.
“Defensively we need to be better,” East Fairmont coach Shane Eakle said. “We know that we’re young, but we have to work on not giving up big plays and quick strikes.”
Following another defensive stop, North Marion again struck quickly, this time with senior running back Aaron Hoffman racing up the middle for a 68-yard rushing touchdown to give the home team a 20-0 lead.
With 3 seconds left in the first half East Fairmont (0-1) got on the board when sophomore Karson Church connected on a 35-yard field goal to make the score 20-3 at the break.
At the half, North Marion had limited East Fairmont to 3.7 yards per play on 36 offensive snaps, with Hays crediting both his veteran players and players stepping into new roles – including Cowger, Trevor Mullett and Noah Hess – for helping set the tone early on defense.
The Huskies opened the second half with a six-play drive that saw Hoffman collect his second rushing touchdown of the evening, putting North Marion up, 27-3, in the process.
Trailing by three scores, the East Fairmont offense began to get rolling as junior Dominic Fantasia scored on the first play of the ensuing drive, racing 59 yards around the right edge for the Bees’ first touchdown of the game.
Fantasia was a key cog in the EFHS offense Thursday, accounting for 145 rushing and 66 receiving yards with two total touchdowns in the game.
“He did some good things for us,” Eakle said. “We gave him some gaps and we were able to take advantage of stuff. They took away some of the passing routes with some of their over-the-top coverages, which makes us have to run between the tackles and he did a pretty good job at times with that.
“We just have to be more consistent up front with those things.”
“He runs hard,” Hays said of Fantasia. “Our ends have to do better. That’s a position where we’re really good, but when we get tired, we resort to peaking inside and giving up edges. If you give up edges against the backs we play against, we’re going to be in trouble.”
To close out the third quarter, a 45-yard pass from Minor to Brock Martin set up a Mullett 1-yard TD run to give NM a 34-10 lead after three.
In the fourth quarter, Frey and Fantasia each recorded TD receptions on consecutive possessions from Minor and Crookshanks, respectively, with Frey’s coming in the corner of the end zone from 20 yards away and Fantasia’s coming on a 44-yard screen pass catch and run.
To close out the game, NM’s Ellijah Armour scored on an 8-yard TD run, EF’s Cole Vangilder scored on a 21-yard TD pass from Crookshanks, and NM’s Martin returned a kickoff 92 yards for a score, bringing the final tally to 55-24, North Marion.
“It was a game early that was probably a little closer than what the score was and we let it get out of hand,” Eakle said. “We have to work on coaching guys up and try to get a little better next week for Grafton.”
In addition to Fantasia’s production, Crookshanks completed 11-of-21 passes for 136 yards and two scores while also rushing for 34 yards in the loss.
For North Marion, Minor added 95 yards on the ground while Frey caught a game-high five passes for 65 yards, Martin caught three passes for 70 yards and Armour ran for 47 yards.
Both teams are back in action next Friday with the Bees hosting Grafton and North Marion hosting Preston.
NORTH MARION 55, EAST FAIRMONT 24
Team Statistics
NM;EF
First Downs;16;20
Rushing Yards;310;204
Passing Yards;194;169
Total Yards;504;373
Passing;9-13-0;14-26-1
Fumbles;1;2
Fumbles Lost;0;0
Penalties;7-55;3-35
Individual Statistics
Rushing
NM: Aaron Hoffman 10-131 2 TD, Casey Minor 11-95 1 TD, Ellijah Armour 3-47 1 TD, Quinton Harbert 1-31, Trevor Mullett 6-21 1 TD, Cyrus Collins 2-6, TEAM –(-20), Total 34-310. EF: Dominic Fantasia 19-145 1 TD, Ian Crookshanks 9-34, Rowan Cramer 4-31, Hayden Blosser 2-3 TEAM 1-(-10), Total 35-204.
Passing
NM: Casey Minor 9-13-0 194 yards 2 TD. EF: Ian Crookshanks 11-21-1 136 yards 2 TD, Rowan Cramer 3-5-0 33 yards.
Receiving
NM: Landon Frey 5-65 1 TD, Brock Martin 3-70, Landon Cowger 1-59 1 TD. EF: Dominic Fantasia 3-66 1 TD, Avery Brown 2-29, Cole Vangilder 1-21 1 TD, Gavin Murphey 2 17, Jayden Priolette 2-16, Brandon Pisino 1-16, Rockett Nichols 1-8, Tristan Boone 1-5, Adrian Fleming 1-(-9).
Scoring Plays
First Quarter
NM – Casey Minor 1-yard rush (Brady Anderson kick)
Second Quarter
NM – Landon Cowger 59-yard pass from Minor (Anderson kick)
NM – Aaron Hoffman 68-yard run (kick failed)
EF – Karson Church 35-yard field goal
Third Quarter
NM – Hoffman 1-yard run (Anderson kick)
EF – Dominic Fantasia 59-yard run (Church kick)
NM – Trevor Mullett 1-yard run (Anderson kick)
Fourth Quarter
NM – Landon Frey 20-yard pass from Minor (Anderson kick)
EF – Fantasia 44-yard pass from Ian Crookshanks (Church kick)
NM – Ellijah Armour 8-yard run (Anderson kick)
EF – Cole Vangilder 21-yard pass from Crookshanks (Church kick)
NM – Brock Martin 92-yard kickoff return (Anderson kick)
