Cascade QB Lieurance puts hurt on Marion

CASCADE - Football is a game of inches. It's also a game of shoelaces.

Derek Lieurance and Class 2A, No. 10 Cascade proved that in a 44-16 victory last night over Marion.

'Derek frustrates me a little bit sometimes because he takes a few too many shots,” Cascade Coach Tim Frake said. 'But when he makes a play like that, you just pat him on the back and say good job.”

Down 16-14 with just about 5 minutes to play in the second quarter, Lieurance dodged a pair of Marion defenders to avoid a second consecutive sack. He stepped into the pocket, where a Marion tackler grabbed his shoe. Lieurance wobbled but winged a 30-yard bullet to Kurt Trumm to give the Cougars the lead.

'The thing that was on my mind most was that someone was going to hit me in the leg,” said Lieurance, who finished 22 of 30 passing for 315 yards and four TDs. 'I saw a yellow jersey and thought I should take a chance and threw it up.”

Marion kept Cascade off balance early. Gage Kray connected with Dalton Gardner on a 28-yard TD pass, and Nick Kramer added an 8-yard TD run to put Marion ahead 16-14.

'They are a good football team,” Marion Coach Tony Perkins said. 'We made some defensive mistakes in the backfield and he (Lieurance) made us pay for it.”

The tide turned in the first half after Lieurance's fancy footwork. On a fourth-down play, he lined up to punt but instead tossed a 26-yard pass to Reis Rauch for a first down. A handful of plays later, Lieurance found Mitch Recker in the end zone to make the score 27-16 at half.