Marion can't slow down West Delaware, falls 41-21

MANCHESTER — The rain stayed away, which may have been the only thing that could have helped Marion slow the West Delaware offense.

The Hawks' duo of quarterback Brent Lammers and tailback Coy Roussell accounted for five of the six touchdowns on their first six possessions as West Delaware ran over Marion, 41-21, in a Class 3A first-round playoff game last night at Manchester.

'We just try to stay balanced, and I think our kids up front did a really nice job tonight,' West Delaware Coach Doug Winkowitsch said. 'Whenever you can score on your first six possessions, I guess that's pretty efficient.'

Lammers ran for 76 yards and two scores, helping counter the Marion defensive strategy of loading the box to stop the prolific sophomore Roussell, who entered the game second in Class 3A in rushing yards. Roussell was held to a season-low 91 yards but punched in three short touchdown runs to help build a 28-7 halftime lead.

'It was a pretty good night. We started off just kind of pounding it down there,' said Roussell, who has run for 1,621 yards and 20 touchdowns. 'Then we just worked our way up and started getting it rolling.'

The Marion defense was unable to build off last week's playoff-qualifying shutout of DeWitt Central. The Indians were hurt by 13 penalties for 111 yards, including two 15-yarders on one play that led to a short Lammers' touchdown and a 35-7 Hawks lead on the first drive of the second half.

'They battled. You know we had a tendency all season to hurt ourselves in a lot of situations, and we did that again tonight,' Marion Coach Tony Perkins said. 'I'm proud of their effort; our emotions got to us a little bit tonight.'

Kory Walsh ran for 176 yards and two scores for Marion, which ends the season 4-6. His 5-yard TD in the second quarter cut the West Delaware lead in half at 14-7 before the Hawks ran off 27 unanswered points.

West Delaware advanced to face Solon next Monday in a second-round matchup of 9-1 teams.