Warrior woes continue in 62-34 blowout by Inman

By RYAN RICHTER

Staff writer

Through three losses, including two consecutive, the Warrior football team’s problems have been limited.

They’re certainly not offensively challenged, averaging 36 points a game to go along with nearly 300 yards.

Taking care of the football and stopping teams defensively is another story, though, with Marion averaging 6.5 giveaways a game the last two losses.

The last time the Warriors had more than five giveaways in a contest, a brutal eight led to a 56-0 shutout by Cheney to end the 2017 season.

Lightning struck the Warriors twice with eight giveaways again, transforming Friday into a nightmare courtesy of the Teutons.

Inman battered the Warrior defense for 481 yards rushing, plowing up the middle, or sweeping down the sidelines.

The Teutons’ 491 total yards marks a season-high allowed by a Warrior defense averaging nearly 400 per game, and the second team to put over 400 on Marion.

That was even with Inman being charged 13 penalties for 135 yards.

All year long, at least one player has given the Warrior defense headaches with an outstanding individual performance, the worst was yet to come from the Teutons’ Matt Ramey.

On 30 carries, Ramey ran roughshod through the Warriors, en route to 6 touchdowns and 372 yards.

Nine seconds into the contest, Ramey had Inman in front, 7-0, after scoring on a 25-yard run with all six of his touchdowns coming from runs over 20 yards.

Warrior quarterback Chase Stringer did all he could with 188 of Marion’s 334 yards total offense on 106 passing and 82 rushing for 3 touchdowns.

Stringer got Marion on the board nearly midway through the first quarter, scoring on a 7-yard quarterback keeper, which briefly gave the Warriors an 8-7 lead.

That lead held up barely a minute and Ramey’s longest run of the night— 49 yards —put Marion in a hole it could never completely escape.

Stringer pulled the Warriors to within 15-14, scoring on a 6-yard run just over 15 seconds into the second quarter.

Ramey made sure Marion got no closer, stretching the Teuton lead to 29-14 before the Warriors had a response.

Sam Zinn gave the Warriors’ life, taking the ensuing kickoff back 83 yards with 7:46 left before halftime for the 29-20 score.

Marion short-circuited after that with Michael Bledsoe and Jace Doersken putting the game out of reach by halftime with the Teutons exploding for a 28-point second quarter.

Evann Heidebrecht didn’t let the Warriors go quietly, though, cutting the Teuton lead to 49-26 at halftime with a 5-yard touchdown.

Ramey got 68 of his 372 yards off the Teutons’ final two scores, both going over 30 yards to complete Inman’s onslaught.

With the damage done by the start of the fourth quarter, Stringer made for the final score with 5:29 left in the third, hitting Noah Dalrymple for a 10-yard touchdown.

Stringer kept it for the two-point conversion to bring the score to 55-34.

The Warriors’ road gets no easier Friday night hosting high-powered Sedgwick for homecoming.