Big defensive play sparks Eisenhower (+video)
High praise came the Eisenhower defense’s way on Friday night after a 29-20 win over Maize South.
Because of forcing five turnovers on downs inside its own 20-yard line. And because of defensive back Tanner Orand —the smallest player on that side of the ball for the Tigers —who scored on the game’s biggest play.
With 4th and 10 from Eisenhower’s 13-yard line and Maize South going for it, Orand jumped a curl route and intercepted Maize South’s Korie Frausto, returning it 87 yards for a touchdown. And he did it with a nice juke and cutback across the field to give Eisenhower (2-1) a 16-0 lead in the first half.
“That was a huge play for us,” Eisenhower coach Marc Marinelli said. “Maize South is such a fundamentally sound team that any big break like that is huge. Tanner did such an awesome job ... guys were blocking downfield for him and he just did what he does. He made plays.”
Due to nagging injuries with his kicker, Jim Sheehan, Maize South coach Brent Pfeifer said he didn’t feel comfortable kicking in that situation and felt the call was worth the risk.
“His leg isn’t fully healed yet,” Pfeifer said. “The play we called was a run-pass option.”
Maize South rallied to make the score 16-13 after the Mavericks recovered an onside kick and Frausto found Jordan Maxon for a 31-yard touchdown pass.
“We needed to turn the game around,” Pfeifer said. “We were making mental errors earlier and coming out and getting the ball back and scoring was big for us.”
Eisenhower responded with two touchdown drives and the defense tightened up down the stretch, forcing turnovers on down on Maize South final five possessions.
“The thing that makes this team different than the group we had before is all they care about is what’s happening in the moment,” Marinelli said. “We gave them the onside kick, they scored and we answered right back.”
Joseph Weibel added 128 rushing yards and one touchdown for Eisenhower.
Maize South | 0 | 6 | 14 | 0 | — | 20 |
Eisenhower | 10 | 6 | 3 | 0 | — | 29 |
Scoring plays
E — Weibel 2-yard TD (Greening kick)
E— Greening 37 FG
E — Orando 87 int. return (kick failed)
MS — Perez 1 run (kick failed)
MS — Maxson 31 pass from Frausto (Sheehan kick)
E — Madzey 5 run (kick failed)
MS — Frausto 14 run (Sheehan kick)
E — Huelsmann 5 run (Greening kick)
Individual statistics
Rushing — Maize South, Perez 19-87, Frausto 13-57. Eisenhower Weibel 20-128, Madzey 13-64, Huelsmann 14-75.
Passing — Maize South, Frausto 5-14-100-1. Eisenhower, Madzey 3-10-34-0
Receiving — Maize South, Parke 2-25, Selier 1-34, Maxson 2-41. Eisenhower, Damon 1-10, McGreevy 2-24.
This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 1:19 AM with the headline "Big defensive play sparks Eisenhower (+video)."