Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – With better than 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns between them the Marion running back duo of Chris Mohwinkle and Ju’Corey Higgins had done much of the damage for the Indians during a 4-2 start.

It was a different tandem that sunk Clear Creek Amana on Friday.

Trevor Paulsen threw three touchdown passes to senior receiver Blair Brooks as Marion rolled to a 35-0 win over Clear Creek Amana on a soggy night at Clipper Field.

“We ran the ball decent tonight but Trevor really opened up some options for us throwing the ball and Blair Brooks is a great playmaker,” Marion coach Tim Lovell said. “Trevor and Blair have a great relationship and you can see that when they play.”

Paulsen threw for 210 yards and four touchdowns, including scoring strikes of 78, 14 and 39 yards to Brooks.

Higgins and Mohwinkle combined for 118 yards on the ground as Marion rolled up 346 yards of offense while improving to 5-2 and 4-1 in Class 3A, District 4 play.

 “They have athletes all over the place,” First-year Clear Creek Amana coach Gabe Bakker said. “With those two guys running the ball and their quarterback can put it anywhere he needs to and their receiver is a difference maker so hats off to them they have multiple weapons offensively.”

With periodic downpours and a steady and sometimes gusting wind, Clear Creek Amana struggled to get into a rhythm offensively.

Clear Creek Amana had a season-low 124 yards of offense and was shutout for first time this season while dropping to 2-5 and 2-3 in District play.

Since scoring 86 points in back-to-back wins over Maquoketa and Center Point-Urbana the Clippers have managed just six points in consecutive losses to West Delaware and Marion.

“We are definitely taking steps throughout the season obviously this game didn’t reflect that as well as it should have,” Clear Creek Amana senior Matt Brimeyer said. “We just did not play like we should tonight but we are definitely a much better team than we started out as.”

Marion seized the momentum early with an 11-play, 65-yard touchdown drive on the game’s opening possession.

Clear Creek Amana appeared to get a turnover on the opening drive when Dylan Sheely picked off a Paulsen pass on 3rd and 16 but a roughing the passer penalty wiped out the interception and extended the drive.

Five plays later Paulsen hit senior tight end Grant Meth with a 18-yard touchdown pass that put Marion up 6-0 less than five minutes into the game.

“They kicked our tail the whole game but that first drive we had a turnover but had a late hit on the quarterback and that changed the whole complexion of the game,” Bakker said. “That was hard to recover from for our guys.”

Marion led 6-0 after one quarter but Brooks went to work in the second quarter.

Paulsen hit the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Brooks in stride for a 78-yard touchdown on the second play of the second quarter to put Marion up 12-0.

Following a three-and-out by the Clear Creek Amana offense on the ensuing possession Marion went 45 yards in seven plays and took a 19-0 lead when Paulsen thread the needle to a sliding Brooks in the back of the end zone for a 14-yard scoring strike.

The drive was kept alive when Paulsen hit Meth for 13 yards on 4th and 11.

“We aren’t that far off but it takes all 11 of us to do our jobs and we just didn’t have that tonight,” Bakker said. “We had chances at stops but on third or fourth down they made plays.”

Marion tacked on a field goal to make it 22-0 and took a 28-0 lead into the locker room when Alex Whalen picked up his own muffed punt and raced 60 yards for a touchdown with nine seconds left before halftime.

Brooks capped the scoring when he outleapt a Clear Creek Amana defensive back for a 39-yard touchdown grab on the first play of the first quarter.

Brooks finished with five receptions for 135 yards and three touchdowns.

“It’s tough to guard Blair, it’s tough to guard Grant, it’s tough to get on Chris and Ju’Corey,” Lovell said. “So, when one isn’t working as well you hope that the other one does and we saw that tonight.”  

Trever Stockman led Clear Creek Amana with 37 rushing yards while Ethan Postler threw for 99 yards.

Clear Creek Amana hosts Davenport Assumption (5-2) next week and travels to Central DeWitt (1-6) in week nine.

“It would be really easy to put our heads down but that’s not going to happen and I’ll make sure of it,” Brimeyer said. “To give up and lose these last two games is a lot worse than winning the last two and that’s what we want to do is make the best of the situation.”

                                CCA               MAR

First Downs              9                      17

Rushes-Yards           23-29               35-136

Comp-Att-Int             11-25-2             11-17-0

Passing Yards           99                    210

Punts-Avg.                6-26.3               4-39

Fumbles-Lost            1-0                   2-0

Penalties-Yards          2-25                 7-85

Marion                       6    22    0    7  –  35 

Clear Creek Amana     0     0     0    0  –  0

MAR – Grant Meth 18 pass from Trevor Paulsen (Kick failed)  

MAR – Blair Brooks 78 pass from Paulsen (Run failed)

MAR – Brooks 14 pass from Paulsen (Alex Whalen Kick)

MAR – Whalen 25 field goal

MAR – Whalen 60 punt return (Kick failed)

MAR – Brooks 39 pass from Paulsen (Whalen kick)

Individual Statistics

RUSHING – CCA: Trever Stockman 14-37, Cade Gallagher 2-1, Matt Brimeyer 4-1, Ethan Postler 3-(-10). MAR: Ju’Corey Higgins 10-60, Chris Mohwinkle 16-58, Trevor Paulsen 6-13, Patrick Bleadorn.

PASSING – CCA: Ethan Postler 11-25-2 99. MAR: Trevor Paulsen 11-17-0 210.

RECEIVING – CCA: Darius Moore 3-21, Cade Stratton 3-17, Jack Butler 1-21, Mitch Evans 1-14, TJ Bollers 1-13, Tanner Cochrane 1-8, Trever Stockman 1-5. MAR: Blair Brooks 5-134, Grant Meth 2-31, Chris Mohwinkle 2-15, Ju’Corey Higgins 1-18, Mark Horcher 1-12.