Trey Franck steps in at QB and helps steer Marion to a win at Clear Creek Amana

TIFFIN — Trey Franck has not practiced one play at quarterback.

The Marion senior is the Wolves’ bulldozing fullback and standout middle linebacker. All the quarterback snaps in the preseason belonged to junior Kaleb Diers.

When Diers had to leave briefly in the first half after taking a hard hit and again in the second half of Friday night's opener with Clear Creek Amana, Wolves Coach Michael Joyner had to come up with a plan.

“We did that on the fly,” Joyner said. “Nobody besides Kaleb had taken a snap during all our work leading up to this game.”

All Franck did was produce a pair of first downs that set up Marion's first TD, a 19-yard Hunter Horak run. He capped his night by throwing a 34-yard strike to Darius Rouson in the fourth quarter to seal the Wolves' impressive 15-0 win on a warm night at Clipper Field.

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Photos: Marion at Clear Creek Amana

Ironically, when Franck was a freshman, the plan was for him to play quarterback. That lasted one game before a knee injury ended his season.

“In that game, it was run a jet sweep to the right and a jet sweep to the left,” he said. “We just did the same thing tonight.”

Franck's heroics were not limited to offense. He led a defense that held the Clippers to an unofficial total of 14 yards rushing and just 127 yards in the air. The Marion defense also forced three first-half turnovers, two in the red zone to stop CCA drives.

It appeared the Clippers would have their way with Marion to start. CCA quarterback Quinton Tran hit Owen Rosenberg on a 39-yard pass and then had the Clippers closing in on a score before coughing up the ball after a strong run inside the 10.

“We don't stop fighting,” Franck said. “We know if we get a fumble like we did, it can change a game. We practice that way every day. We never quit, no matter what.”

Joyner, who watched his team notch its first shutout in this his third year as Marion head coach, was impressed with the resolve shown by his players after the rough start.

“They have done a really good job of understanding that one play doesn't lose a game,” he said. “They just continue to fight on the next play. I was really impressed with the way our defense rallied around each other when we needed a stop.

“(CCA) tried a lot of their stuff and our guys did a great job rallying to the football. We forced them to put the ball on the ground quite a bit and we took advantage of that.”

The second half saw numerous stoppages with players on both teams cramping. CCA had Tran on the bench with cramps for a good portion of the second half.

“It was tough without our starting quarterback for a couple series,” said Clippers Coach Matt Haddy. “We had linemen and backs cramping and we were trying to find guys to go in for them. (Marion) had the same issues, but they handled things a little better.”

With Diers out again in the fourth quarter, Joyner wanted to put the game away and took a shot with Franck. Instead of sweeping around the end, Franck pulled up and hit Rouson with a perfectly-placed pass with 3:21 remaining

“I've never thrown a pass in a football game before,” Franck said with a smile. “I just put it out there and Darius made a great catch.”

Marion remains on the road next Friday night, playing at Benton Community. CCA will be at Solon.

Marion 15, Clear Creek Amana 0

At Tiffin

M CCA

First downs 14 10

Rushes-yards 43-136 37-14

Passing yards 139 127

Comp-Att-Int 11-21-1 13-20-1

Punts-Avg. 5-39.2 4-45.4

Fumbles-lost 1-0 6-2

Penalties-Yards 5-25 5-40

Marion 8 0 0 7 — 15

CCA 0 0 0 0 — 0

M — Hunter Horak 19 run (Kaleb Diers run)

M — Darius Rouson 34 pass from Trey Franck (Noah Fischer kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Marion: Hunter Horak 6-50, Trey Franck 11-47, Kaleb Diers 14-27, Darius Rouson 3-1, Adam Rose 6-1, Jasper Hancox 3-10. CCA: Jack Stevens 19-54, Carson Fox 1-3, Quinton Tran 15-10, Wyatt Key 1-(minus 2) Team 1-(minus 28).

PASSING - Marion: Kaleb Diers 10-20-1-105, Trey Franck 1-1-0-34 CCA: Quinton Tran 11-17-1-111, Wyatt Key 1-2-0-2, Cale Berry 1-1-0-14.

RECEIVING - Marion: Kaiden Griffith 2-13, Daegon Michaels 3-21, Adam Rose 3-36, Darius Rouson 2-50, Hunter Horak 1-19. CCA: Owen Rosenberg 6-74, Sam Pettinger 1-14, Cale Berry 2-15, Haiden Hardy 3-22, Jack Stevens 1-2

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Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com