Postseason high school football will test the nerves and resolve of the strongest teams, but on rare occasions an early-round round mismatch will lead to a laugher, as evidenced by Marlboro’s 56-0 annihilation of Highland in a Section 9, Class B semifinal game on Saturday afternoon at Dietz Stadium in Kingston. The rout was so thorough that with a 30-0 lead late in the first quarter and another game in six days, the Dukes pulled senior quarterback Christian Diorio in favor of junior QB Ryan McDonald before the opening quarter was in the books.

The Dukes will now square off with Port Jervis in the Class B championship game on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Faller Field in Middletown. The Dukes beat Port Jervis 28-20 on the road in the final week of the regular season to capture the top seed in the Class B postseason bracket, and now Marlboro will have to take down the Raiders for the second time in three weeks to add more hardware to its trophy case.

“I have full faith in all of my players that we can do that,” Dukes senior outside linebacker Austin Laird said.

With a win on Nov. 8., Marlboro (7-2) would continue its stranglehold on the section, as a victory would allow the Dukes to claim their third consecutive Class B title, and eighth in the last nine years. “It shows what our team can do and we’re moving on to the next level,” Laird said of Saturday’s win. “We’re just waiting for that Section 9 chip.”

While the loss represented a tough way to conclude the Huskies’ season, Highland (1-8) could take pride in the fact that they qualified for the Class B playoffs. “We said at the beginning of the season that our goal was to reach the playoffs, which is something we haven’t done in a few years and we reached that goal,” Huskies head coach Josh Tatum said. “It doesn’t matter that we were 1-7 and it doesn’t matter how we got there, we achieved what we wanted to do.”

Marlboro struck early and often on Saturday, as sophomore running back Elijah Williams (95 yards rushing on four carries) sliced through the Highland defense for a 24-yard touchdown run at the 9:20 mark of the first to give the Dukes an 8-0 lead (after senior running back Armani Banton ran in to convert a two-point attempt). On Marlboro’s next possession, senior running back C.J. Faircloth spun into the end zone for a 16-yard score to give the Dukes a 16-0 advantage with 7:12 left in the opening quarter (after Diorio found senior wide receiver Gio Frisenda for a two-point conversion reception).

Dioro (3-3, 32 yards passing, 2 TDs) then connected with junior receiver Jaden Rios on a 14-yard touchdown to put Marlboro ahead 23-0 with 5:25 remaining in the first. After Rios subsequently recovered a fumbled kickoff, Dioro threw a rope to Frisenda, who sailed into the end zone for a 19-yard score to make it 30-0 Dukes with 4:42 to go in the first frame.

With the Dukes fully in control as the first quarter wound down, Marlboro head coach Brian Beck substituted McDonald (5-5, 81 yards passing) for Diorio in order to get the junior more reps and to avoid a freak injury to his senior quarterback a week before the Class B championship game. “Our kids played tremendous today,” Beck said. “Credit to the starters for putting it where it needed to be early on. We were able to work our subs in halfway through the first quarter. Christian played phenomenally, but we wanted to make sure that Ryan is ready to go if god forbid there is an incident. I’m proud of the way that Ryan played, especially punching that touchdown in late.”

Marlboro continued to pour it on in the second, as sophomore Christopher Thorne (94 yards rushing on two carries) turned the corner on the Huskies defense and burst into the end zone for a 19-yard TD run to give the Dukes a 36-0 lead just five seconds into the quarter.

It was then time for Laird (126 yards rushing on seven carries) to shine, as the senior scored his first offensive touchdown on the varsity level with 4:45 left in the first half, as he blasted through the Highland defense for a 33-yard score to put Marlboro ahead 43-0. “My line just opened up a huge hole for me,” he said. “I saw the end zone and I went for it.”

With the clock winding down in the second quarter, Thorne unleashed a 75-yard highlight touchdown run with 28 seconds left in the half to give Marlboro a stunning 50-0 lead at the break. “We tried to get everybody in and everybody playing time so we can all be a part of the team,” Laird said of the team’s prolific depth.

With the clock running continuously in the second half due to the nature of the blowout, the Dukes added only one additional score in the final two quarters, as McDonald sprinted in for a two-yard QB keeper to give Marlboro a 56-0 lead with 8:32 left in the game.

In addition to the offensive onslaught that the Dukes let loose on Saturday, the Marlboro defense also chalked up its fifth shutout of the season and held Highland to a total of 70 offensive yards in Saturday’s game. “These guys have held people scoreless in so many games this year, especially in the Class B ranks,” Beck said. “We’re just proud of the way they play each and every week. A lot of guys are stepping into roles that they weren’t necessarily in at the beginning of the year. It was a tremendous effort and guys were picking up other guy’s mistakes today and all year long. We bend but we don’t break.”
Despite the disappointing end to the Huskies’ season, Tatum praised the contributions to the program of a decorated senior class, including quarterback Brian Joyce and running back Hezekiah Askew. “They’re a great group of really coachable, hard-working guys,” Tatum said. “They had a great relationship with one another. I think they set a great example for the younger guys. We wish we could have done a little bit better for them here at the end of the season. It wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but I’m proud of them.”

Marlboro will now gear up for another 12 rounds with Port Jervis after the two teams battled in a tight game two weeks ago. “It’s nice to have that game again,” Beck said. “They played real strong down there at their place, and now we’ll meet them over in Middletown and try our best all week to get ready for them and do it all over again.”

After a tough non-league schedule that saw the Dukes play a trio of Class A teams this season, Marlboro is confident that they are still the top dog in Class B.

“It might have toughened us up, but I think our players are more focused and more well-built together,” Laird said. “We’re a family right now and we’re playing good.”