Kaduk: New digs, but same results

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WOODSTOCK – As the No. 1-ranked team in Class 5A, Marian Central played its home opener Friday night at George Harding Field.

But how’s this for a twist? For a few quarters, the Hurricanes felt as if they were visitors in their hometown. The construction of a sparkling new grandstand and pressbox on the west side of the field permanently has relocated the Hurricanes to the sideline that used to play host to their opponents.

“That was a little different,” junior quarterback Jon Budmayr said after the game with a shake of his head and a little laugh. “You definitely had to get used to that.”

Luckily for Marian, the disorientation didn’t carry over to the field. Using an effective passing game to open all sorts of room for the rushing game, the Hurricanes defeated Stillman Valley, 41-19, for its second win in as many weeks.

The lesson here? For Ed Brucker’s program, the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same.

Because Stillman played a ball-control offense and rushed more than 50 times, drives were few and far between for Marian. Still, the Hurricanes took advantage of the times they had the ball, scoring on six of their eight possessions, including all three in the second half. One first-half drive was cut short by a fumble and the other by the end of the second quarter.

“I told them at halftime that we were scoring every time we touched the ball,” Brucker said. “We just weren’t touching it very much, so we had to capitalize on our opportunities.”

The opportunities were certainly there. Each time Budmayr dropped back, the number of open receivers seemed to rival the number of mosquitoes attacking the crowd.

Junior receiver Adam Olson opened the scoring with a 22-yard touchdown reception on the team’s first possession. Senior running back Doug Simpson followed with rushing touchdown runs of 4, 9 and 8 yards, finishing off drives that were indicative of the balance that Budmayr says the offense strives for. Four receivers caught at least three passes while Simpson and senior T.J. Pappas combined for 146 yards on 23 carries.

“Our offense isn’t really predicated on looking at just one guy,” said Budmayr, who completed 15 of 22 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns. “We like to spread it out all over the field and go from there.”

Though none of his previous passes in the game had gone for more than 30 yards, Budmayr finally struck long near the end of the third quarter when Olson made a defensive back bite on the curl portion of a wheel-curl route. Just like that, Olson found himself open for a 67-yard touchdown. 

“It was just a matter of getting to the ball and not dropping it,” said Olson, who caught four passes for 124 yards.

Brucker believes the win should give his team a lot to learn from as it tries to reach the state championship game for the second straight season. Although Marian pulled away in the second half, the way Stillman controlled the pace of the game will prepare the Hurricanes for a similar situation later in the season.

“I thought it was a good character builder,” Brucker said.

And while his players and assistant coaches said the sideline switch was more than just a little weird, Brucker said the change didn’t throw him for too much of a loop.

“It wasn’t too bad,” he said. “I thought it would be, but we’ve had a little experience with it. I stood over there a few times during the summer to see what it was like.

“As a coach, I’m just glad that the new stands were full.”

• Kevin Kaduk is the Northwest Herald’s sports columnist. Write to him at kkaduk@nwnewsgroup.com. For more, read his blog, “Duk’s Calls,” at NWHerald.com/kaduk.