The 'Ville strikes gold

The 35th meeting between the Lindhurst and Marysville High football teams was billed as the biggest game in the history of the rivalry.

The two teams didn't disappoint on Friday night.

With the Golden Empire League title on the line, the Indians received a suffocating effort from their defense and just enough offense in the end to pull out a hard-fought 21-14 victory at War Memorial Stadium.

With the win, the Indians (8-2, 5-1) and Blazers (7-3, 5-1) will share the GEL championship.

"It's been in the back of our kids heads every since we started summer workouts," Marysville coach Cullen Meyer said of winning the league championship. "We kept it out of their mouths. It was worth the wait."

The high-octane Blazers came in averaging a whopping 39 points per game, but were held in check for most of the night by a physical Indians' defense. Marysville limited Lindhurst star running back Lurrell Johnson to just 40 yards on 20 carries in the game, easily his lowest total of the season.

"Coach Chandless, our D coordinator, said respect has to be earned, it can't be given to you," Meyer said. "People are going by what we did last year, and that's rightly so. We hadn't done anything yet this year. They (the players) knew what we had, they knew we had a ton coming back."

After a scoreless opening period, it was the Indians who struck for the game's first points as senior wide receiver Matt Horsfall took a reverse and rumbled down the left sideline for a 57-yard touchdown.

The run capped a 14-play, 95-yard scoring drive and Ricardo Ramirez's point-after kick gave the Indians a 7-0 lead.

The Indians' touchdown seemed to spark the Blazers offense, as they quickly struck back for a score of their own.

On third-and-11, Davis took the snap and ran parallel to the line of scrimmage, apparently looking to run the option. But when all three Marysville defensive backs bit hard to support the run, the senior quarterback stopped in his tracks and lofted the ball to a wide open Eric Arroyo for a 55-yard touchdown pass.

Jonathan Martinez added the extra-point kick and the game was tied.

Then it was the Marysville defense that came up big.

With the ball on their own six, Lindhurst receiver Kenny Teasley took a reverse and hurdled a defender in the end zone before turning back against the grain towards the middle of the field.

Indians' middle linebacker James Chandless was waiting and when Teasley cut back to daylight, Chandless delivered a crushing hit on the receiver, jarring the ball loose. Clint Tipton was on the spot to scoop it up and ran untouched to the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown to give the Indians a 14-7 halftime lead.

Marysville's defense controlled the first two quarters, limiting the high-octane Blazers to just 101 yards of total offense and four first downs before the intermission.

"I don't think our boys prepared well enough during the week," a disappointed Lindhurst coach Scott Albertson said. "A big part of it is success and when you have 16- and 17-year-old boys, they sometimes let success go to their head. Co-champions just doesn't have the same ring to it."

Things went from bad to worse for Lindhurst when Johnson fumbled on his second carry of the second half and Leo Diaz pounced on it at the Blazer 22-yard line.

Two plays later, the Indians turned the turnover into points when Chant Deforest found a leaping Horsfall in the corner of the end zone for a 20-yard scoring pass, staking the Indians to a 21-7 lead.

Davis pulled the Blazers to within seven with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Arroyo with 2:46 left to play, before the Indians offense put the game away at the end.

Marysville, which up until that point had just 38 yards and no first downs in the second half, finally moved the chains when it had to and when DeForest plowed ahead for a first down on third-and-one, the Indians celebrated their first Golden Empire League title since 2003.

"Everybody's stoked and excited," said Horsfall, who added an interception to go with his two touchdowns. "We're ready to go to sections. We've got playoffs first. One week at a time."

Despite the Marysville victory, the Blazers hold the edge in the series, 20-15.