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Marion pulls away from Althoff

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Marion Wildcats had their backs against the wall in the second quarter of Friday&#39;s game in Belleville against the Althoff Crusaders.

Althoff had the ball first and goal, inches away from the goal line of a scoreless game. It was the Crusaders third trip inside Marion&#39;s 20. What happened next turned the game.

Althoff quarterback Jabari Taylor pitched the ball to running back Vinson Arterbridge. But Arterbridge missed, and Marcus Green scooped the ball up and raced 89 yards for a touchdown. That play helped propel Marion to a 42-13 win over Althoff and a 6-0 record for the first time under current head coach Kerry Martin.

"To me, even though it was early, that was the most important play of the game," Martin said. "6-0 is a big deal. Since I&#39;ve been here we&#39;ve not been 6-0."

The Wildcats are 3-0 in the South Seven Conference, and have sole possession of first place. Althoff slipped to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

"We&#39;ve got to put points on the board," said Althoff coach Ken Turner. "Four times I think in the first half, three times in the first quarter we didn&#39;t get in. That&#39;s three touchdowns. That makes it a different game."

The Crusaders threatened early to dominate the game, running 45 first-half offensive plays and pushing the ball inside the 20 yard line on each of its first four possessions.

The Crusaders started the game moving quickly downfield to the Wildcats 17. But Colin Soldner&#39;s sack of Taylor on fourth and 11 gave Marion possession at the 30.

Following a Marion punt, Green intercepted Taylor at the three to stop another drive. The third possession ended with Green&#39;s long touchdown return.

Trailing 6-0, Althoff attempted a field goal on its fourth trip into the red zone, but the snap sailed through the holder&#39;s hands and kicker Adam Dentenmeier was tackled at the Marion 15. On the next play, Shekeil Ivy found a hole in the offensive line and raced 85 yards for a touchdown and a 12-0 Wildcat advantage.

"He&#39;s fast and he&#39;s got good feet," said Turner of Ivy. "For a guy with legs that big the usually don&#39;t have good feet, but he&#39;s got some quickness with his power."

Martin said Ivy&#39;s performance is something the Wildcats are starting to expect. The junior running back finished with 219 yards on 23 carries with two touchdowns. He now has 1,040 yards for the season.

"I don&#39;t want to sound matter-of-fact about it," Martin said. "He runs hard. The offensive line did a great job in the second half and that first-half run was huge for us as well.

Marion scored on the first possession of the second half to extend the lead to 20-0. Brett Bradley found a wide-open Toren Stanley for a 20-yard touchdown pass with 8:10 to go in the quarter.

Althoff came back with a four-play drive that covered 80 yards. Kameron Harris scored on a 20-yard run, set up two plays earlier with a 52-yard pass from Taylor to Carson Sonnenberg.

Marion got three fourth-quarter touchdowns, a 52-yard run by Stanley, a 15-yard run by Ivy and a 70-yard interception return by Troy Slinkard to extend the lead to 42-6.

Althoff got its final score with 17.6 seconds left against Marion&#39;s second defensive unit. Eric Mertens hooked up with Sonneberg for a 47-yard scoring pass.