| Marquette Squashes Southwestern, 51-0 Gary King, The Telegraph ALTON -- The high road to self esteem does not have any detours through Public High Stadium for the Piasa Southwestern football team. Doing a pretty decent imitation of an Amtrak train running over a gnat, the Marquette Explorers gave Southwestern an old-fashioned 51-0 ego spanking Saturday night. Marquette quarterback Paul Johnes would prove the self appointed chairman of the Explorers' Wrecking Ball Committee, scoring on his squads second and fifth plays from scrimmage. Johnes commenced the drubbing with a 54-yard touchdown run down the right sideline four minutes into the game. As an encore, he gave his team a 14-0 lead three plays later on a 61-yard dash up the middle. On the subsequent Explorer possession, fullback Mike Brown would break a 46-yard touchdown run to give Marquette a 21-0 lead near the end of the first quarter. That's three touchdowns in six plays. Pardon Southwestern, though, for finding the Marquette attack more abusing than amusing. "We knew what they were going to do, but we just couldn't stop them," said a glum Southwestern coach Bob Linton. "We're just not tackling or doing what we're told to do. It's very simple: If you want to stop the quarterback, you've gotta tackle him." Well, Southwestern did tackle Johnes a few times, but not before he racked up more than 150-yards rushing and a second quarter touchdown pass to Ryan Maher. The Explorers also received a pair of touchdowns from Brown. Bernie Sebold chipped in with a late fourth quarter touchdown. Brad Bohannon's contribution was a 40-yard field goal midway through the second quarter. By the time the thrashing was through, the Explorers scoring summary looked like the winning Illinois lottery numbers and the scoreboard operator needed a trip to the oxygen tank. That was all fine and dandy with Marquette coach John Waters. "I think this was an excellent effort from our kids tonight. We challanged them all week, and they answered the call," Waters said. "On paper, we knew we should win this one. Only problem is the game's played on the field, not paper. We felt we absolutely had to win this one, and win it decisively." Waters said the win should serve as a warning to future Marquette foes. "We pushed the ball outside a lot more tonight, and people are going to have to respect that from us, because we can get out there and go," Waters said. |