Indians end somber week with smiles

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

PALOS HEIGHTS – Marengo’s football team had not won a season opener since 2004, had not won by a double-digit margin since late in 2004 and had not shut out an opponent since 2001.

The Indians achieved all three of those feats at once Saturday afternoon with a dominant 20-0 non-conference victory against Chicago Christian.

The win – along with the sophomores’ 59-0 whitewashing of the Knights – injects energy into a program that was 1-35 from 2005-08, although it capped one of the most difficult weeks the players will endure.

Sophomore player Grant Fruin, 15, died Aug. 23. The community mourned with the coaches and players through the week, and a memorial service for Fruin will be at 2 p.m. today at the high school.

Before Saturday’s varsity game, a moment of silence for Fruin was observed. Varsity and sophomore players will wear “GF” stickers on their helmets the rest of the season, and several of the sophomore players shaved Fruin’s No. “35” on the right side of their heads.

“It’s been hell,” Marengo coach Matt Lynch said. “I’ve been through a lot of personal tragedy in my life, and I tell the kids to use sports as a healer. It’s a great healer. We had a chance to come out and give ourselves some peace for 2 1/2 hours, forget about the world and play football.”

The Indians (1-0) jumped ahead, 14-0, by capitalizing on a pair of Knights’ turnovers in the first quarter. Quarterback David Diedrick hit wide receiver Kris Rosemann for a 14-yard touchdown on third-and-11 with 5:24 remaining in the first quarter.

“It was a perfect pass,” said Rosemann, who caught the ball after it was tipped by a Chicago Christian defender. “It was a good hard throw by David. I just put my hands up and it went in there.”

Marengo recovered the Knights’ fumble on the ensuing kickoff and turned it into seven more points on Bobby Gaines’ 5-yard touchdown run. From that point, the defense did its part, holding the Knights to 162 total yards and letting them inside the Marengo 30 only once.

Chicago Christian advanced to the 22 in the second quarter, but quarterback Jason VanderLaan’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete. The Indians came up with an interception and two fumbles, while Marengo’s offense did not commit a turnover.

“[After 14-0] we just wanted to keep it up,” middle linebacker Tony Rizleris said. “Just keep doing it. We worked real hard through the week and wanted to perform. We wanted to go out there and have fun.”

Gaines led the Indians with 29 carries for 95 yards as the offense was productive enough to protect field position and eat up the clock.

“The offensive line did a heck of a job,” Diedrick said. “Turnovers happen, and we capitalized on them. We did what we had to do to get the job done.”

Although Fruin was on the sophomore team, the varsity players admired him for his desire and work ethic.

“It was more motivation for me [this week],” Diedrick said. “I had great respect for him. He was a hard worker and a nice guy. This gave us a little chance to get away from it all for a while.”