Football: Marian Learns How Badly Turnovers Can Hurt

High risk versus high reward.

That's how head football coach Dave Mattio characterized his Spartans’ offense after

The Spartans (2-1) laid the ball on the turf six times in the loss, most of those turnovers coming on botched exchanges between quarterback Robert Cifelli and running backs in the Spartans' backfield.

“That's just us being careless with the ball—me especially,” Cifelli said. “That's just something we have to work on as a team; that's just little things. Every inch matters and a couple of those inches cost us big.”

Marian took control of the ball to open the first half and drove to the Road Runners' 30-yard-line before the first fumble of the night stopped the Spartans’ drive. It would be the first of what would become a pandemic of fumble-itis for the black and gold on the night.

“We had the opportunities to make it a ballgame, but we probably laid the ball on the carpet five or six times,” Mattio said. “Just the demeanor of the ballgame was not where we ever felt like we were in synch.”

The Spartans' couldn't get in synch on defense either, as the team struggled to wrap up or contain the Road Runners' running backs. Nazareth Academy blew up for 351 yards on the ground.

“Give them credit—they just physically manhandled us up front,” Mattio said. “We hit the (Rudy) Romagnano kid two or three times (in the backfield) and he wound up scoring twice.”

Marian travels north to Mundelein on Friday night for a showdown with Carmel High School.

“These guys (Nazareth) lost to (Carmel) last week and came in with a chip on their shoulders,” Cifelli said. “We have to come off this loss the same way, looking to rebound in a big way.”