Kaduk: Marunde’s poise as QB on rise

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JOHNSBURG – The original call had been for a field goal.

But when McHenry coach Tim Beagle saw a timeout coming from the other side of the field, the wheels began whirring in his head. So, with time running out in Friday’s first half at Johnsburg, Beagle pulled his kicking unit and sent senior quarterback Tyler Marunde back on the field to try to extend the one-touchdown lead.   

“We talked about it as a coaching staff,” Beagle said after his team notched a 35-14 victory in the ‘Border Battle.’ “We decided that as long as we were down there, we might as well take a shot at it.”

Considering the outcome, it wasn’t a bad gamble. Plus, when Marunde beat a fourth-and-9 with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mark D’Angelo, it showed that McHenry can boast of a dependable signal-caller this season.

While much of the postgame attention rightfully went to a McHenry rushing attack that ran for almost 400 yards, Marunde earned a nice share of the spotlight in only the fourth start of his career. In addition to the last-minute pass that gave his team a 14-point lead at halftime, Marunde threw two additional touchdowns and ran for another in a win that brought McHenry's record to 3-1.

“I feel comfortable out there,” said Marunde, who inherited the quarterback duties from Luke Kovarik. “It’s a team effort, though. I feel very comfortable with my receivers and I have my teammates supporting me. I think it’s working well.” 

On Friday, Marunde said that the success of the rushing game opened a lot of opportunities when he dropped back with a play-action. He finished the game 8 of 18 for 98 yards and would have added a 52-yard touchdown to D’Angelo in the first quarter had the play not been called back on a holding penalty. Although his first high school start didn’t come until Aug. 24, he ran McHenry’s scout team last season, allowing for a good familiarity with the school’s system.

“He knows how our system works and he’s familiar with our passing game,” said Beagle. “What we’re trying to work on are a lot of the small details. A lot of the faking and the poise in the pocket stuff. They’re all details that he’s getting better at.”

That’s no small thing. Coming into the season, Beagle wondered how Marunde might respond to running the offense. Now, four weeks into the season, he has significantly less to worry about. Marunde is performing well.

“His poise has been remarkable,” Beagle said. “I've been pleasantly pleased with the way he has performed after being thrown into the starting job.”   

That poise was evident on the first half pass to D’Angelo. After electing to go for it, Beagle called Marunde to the sideline and told him they would be running a play that had failed twice earlier in the game. D’Angelo had been open on each attempt, but Marunde didn’t get adequate blocking from his offensive line.

“We just [told the linemen] to tighten down your splits and make sure you pass protect, because it had been open twice before,” Beagle said.

Turns out the third time was a charm. With plenty of time to operate, Marunde dropped back and laid a perfect pass on the hands of D’Angelo.

 “It worked out great,” Marunde said.