Dukes overpower O’Neill 34-0 in opener

By Ted Remsnyder
Posted 9/11/19

With the dawn of a new season and a new era for Marlboro football, the more things change, the more they stay the same. A program which has been infused with new blood in the form of a fresh crop of …

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Dukes overpower O’Neill 34-0 in opener

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With the dawn of a new season and a new era for Marlboro football, the more things change, the more they stay the same. A program which has been infused with new blood in the form of a fresh crop of young, hungry players rolled to a 34-0 victory over James I. O’Neill in its home opener on Friday night at Dennis Burkett Field. Despite playing in a steady rainfall all night, the Dukes’ offense was sharp, sprinting out to a 28-0 lead at the half and sailing to a week one win.

For its part, the Marlboro defense was bruising in its season opener, notching its first shutout of the campaign. Friday’s contest had an extra layer of meaning, as the game was dedicated to the memory of former Marlboro star Tanner Harshberger, who was killed in a vehicular accident last month. The former Duke was honored in a pre-game ceremony and a moment of silence was observed in his memory prior to the kickoff.

Marlboro (1-0) pounced on O’Neill early in the Section 9, Class B crossover game, taking an 8-0 lead at the 6:36 mark of the first quarter when senior quarterback Christian Diorio (nine carries for 43 yards rushing) turned the corner on the Raiders’ defense and bounded into the end zone for a nine-yard score. Diorio subsequently converted a two-point conversion when he found senior running back Armani Banton in the corner of the end zone for the capper.

All night long, the Dukes showed off the versatility and depth of their backfield, as a constant stream of players shuffled in and out of the lineup, each doing damage when it was their turn to carry the ball. Senior middle linebacker and running back C.J. Faircloth, who transferred to the program from Kingston this year, was ferocious against O’Neill in short yardage situations, scoring the first of his three touchdowns with a spin move into the end zone for a two-yard touchdown to make it 16-0 Dukes (following a two-point conversion pass from Diorio to senior Freddie Callo) with 1:34 left in the first frame. “I saw the defender and I had to do something to get into the end zone,” Faircloth said of his first TD.

While Faircloth only totaled 20 yards rushing on seven carries on Friday, he appeared unstoppable in goal-line and short yardage situations. “With first downs or anything I feel I can get the job done,” he said. Faircloth said the Marlboro culture is already working wonders early in the season. “We played really well,” he said.

“Everybody contributed and everybody helped out. Everyone was playing as a family. That’s what let us get the victory.”

Marlboro went up 22-0 when Faircloth slammed into the end zone for a five-yard score with 7:28 remaining in the first half, and the Dukes took a 28-0 lead into intermission on Faircloth’s third touchdown of the night, another bruising two-yard run at the 2:16 mark of the second. “These guys have a chip on their shoulder,” Marlboro head coach Brian Beck said of his squad. “A lot of people counted them out and are doubting what we have since we had 21 seniors graduate. People are saying that now with Marlboro there’s gonna be blood in the water. But we have kids that are ready to play. They got quality minutes at the end of games last year and we’ve got guys that can play some football. So I’m very happy that we had 9-10 guys who touched the ball tonight. We had a variety of guys who scored touchdowns and they’re ready to play.”

With the clock running continuously in the second half due to the wet conditions and blowout nature of the game, Marlboro scored its final touchdown of the evening only 90 seconds into the second half when sophomore standout Matt Drake (46 yards rushing on six carries) zoomed into the end zone for a 22-yard TD run.

“I’m really proud of my guys,” Beck said. “They dug down deep. We had a lot of injuries coming into the game, just like all teams in the area. We had a lot of guys step up tonight. We started six sophomores and we had 11 guys with their first varsity action of their life tonight and they came out and they were ready to play.”
While the Dukes running game was punishing and Diorio finished the game 7-10 with 124 yards passing, the Marlboro defense was just as impressive, stifling the Raiders’ (0-1) run game and holding senior quarterback Josh Borowicz to a tough 1-5 passing night with only 13 yards gained through the air. Faircloth paced the team with 10 tackles in his first game with the program. “We had eight defensive players graduate, including some All-State and three-year All-Section guys, but you have a kid like C.J. Faircloth that steps into a role in the middle and just owns the defense,” Beck said. “The kid is just tenacious. He plays with an engine that can’t be stopped. Then you’ve got returning players there who are leading the way. Austin Laird, Armani Banton, they’re really getting guys set up. Then our defensive line is just phenomenal. We’ve got seven big boys in there that can really handle the run. We’ve got guys with fresh legs in there who just love stuffing the run.”

The Dukes will next visit local rival Highland on Friday evening. While the game will not have its usual league implications since Highland moved this season to Class B, Division II, the crossover contest is still a big week two test for Marlboro. “It’s a big rivalry game to kick things off early in the season,” Beck said. “We usually play them later in the season for playoff seedings, but this one is just for inter-town bragging rights. It’s always a game that they get up for. I know coach (Josh) Tatum is building brick-by-brick over there. They’re a team on the rise. Dropping into the smaller side of Class B, I think they’re going to make some noise this year. They’re a very good football team. They came by and played some seven-on-seven football with us this summer and they have some quality athletes. So we’re going to have to mind our Ps and Qs next Friday night.”