Kaiden Griffith’s clutch TD catch in 3rd quarter lifts Marion to win

MARION — There was genuine fear that Kaiden Griffith might not be able to play his senior football season.

The Marion wide receiver-cornerback took a helmet to the knee in his team’s preseason scrimmage against Linn-Mar. A lot of bad things can happen to a knee when that happens.

“I got off the field, it felt fine walking until I got down on the training bench,” Griffith said Friday night after his team beat Maquoketa, 34-7, at Marion Stadium. “Our trainer started doing her stuff, I got up, and it started buckling on me, started to move. After that, it was like ‘I don’t know if this is good.’”

But everything turned out fine. There was no major damage to his knee, some physical therapy helped things get right, and Griffith has gotten to play.

Which is a really, really good thing for Marion. The kid caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Kaleb Diers: a 29-yarder off a fade route down the left sideline in the first quarter and a 70-yarder in the third quarter in which he literally went up and over a Maquoketa defensive back to snag a long, wobbling pass from Diers, then rolling about 35 yards to the end zone.

That Griffith magic came on a third-and-long play and completely returned every ounce of momentum back to the Wolves (3-1) after Maquoketa (3-1) had snatched it with a six-minute scoring drive to start the second half. Quarterback Carter Meyer’s scrambling 12-yard TD run and the extra point made it a 13-7 game.

“Found a mismatch, had to just do what I do and go up for the jump ball. I’ll catch it,” Griffith said. “All Kaleb has to do is throw it up, and I’ll be there. I got my space, and I just took off. I think it was a game changer. Like you said, they had all the momentum. After that play, they just got down on themselves, and we took over.”

Marion put it away with a strong fourth quarter based on a strong running game. Logan Thilkes scored on a 14-yard touchdown and Hunter Horak on a 16-yarder for the final margin.

“Kaiden Griffith is one of the best receivers this school has ever produced, so we knew we could give him a shot,” said Marion Coach Michael Joyner. “That lit a fire under us, and we really finished the ballgame.”

Griffith caught three passes for 114 in the game and has 11 receptions for 254 yards and four TDs this season.

“He’s a three-year starter, and in his first year, we won one game, but as a sophomore, he was our go-to dude. As a sophomore,” Joyner said. “He just catches everything. I’ve seen him drop one ball in my entire career (as head coach) in games. When you need him, he’s always there.”

Marion’s offense was quite balanced, as it had 205 yards rushing and 154 passing. Wolves defenders did their jobs as well, doing a nice job slowing down the elusive Meyer.

He completed 10 of 23 passes for 109 yards. Maquoketa had 106 yards rushing.

District play begins next week for both clubs, 3A for Maquoketa and 4A for Marion.

“I think we are ready,” Griffith said. “We’re coming up on tougher opponents, I think we’ll practice a lot harder, have that intensity and energy. We’ll come out and fight, won’t back down against anyone.”

“We’re in a spot where we can take a win and get better,” Joyner said. “There were still some things out there we need to improve upon.”

Marion 34, Maquoketa 7

(At Marion Stadium)

Maquoketa 0 0 7 0 - 7

Marion 13 0 7 14 - 34

Team Statistics

First Downs - Maquoketa 14, Marion 17. Rushes-Yards - Maquoketa 32-106, Marion 36-205. Passing Yards (Completions-Attempts-Interceptions-Yards) - Maquoketa 10-24-0, Marion 5-11-0-154. Total Yards - Maquoketa 215, Marion 359. Punts-Average - Maquoketa 5-30.6, Marion 3-37.7. Penalties-Yards - Maquoketa 2-10, Marion 5-55. Fumbles-Lost - Maquoketa 1-0, Marion 0-0.

Individual Statistics

Rushing - Maquoketa: Spencer Martin 7-52, Derek Wilhelm 11-41, Carter Meyer 13-9, Braedon Tranel 1-4. Marion: Hunter Horak 12-80, Darius Rouson 6-66, Trey Franck 7-34, Kaleb Diers 8-13, Logan Thilkes 2-12, Creighton Wheeler 1-3.

Passing - Maquoketa: Carter Meyer 10-23-0-109, Riley Christiansen 0-1-0-0. Marion: Kaleb Diers 5-11-0-154.

Receiving - Maquoketa: Braedon Tranel 6-61, Riley Christiansen 2-31, M.J. Warthan 2-16, Sam Thines 1-1. Marion: Kaiden Griffith 3-114, Darius Rouson 1-41, Trey Franck 1-(minus) 1.

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