09/06/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
MARSHALL - When it comes to learning how to win games for a young team in a program that is looking to improve, sometimes the lessons are difficult.

Sparta/Steeleville, after an opening weekend win last Friday night at Madison, traveled to Marshall on Saturday afternoon and found out that there is much more work to do.

Head coach Drew Kordys and his relatively young squad fell behind early and took a 42-12 road defeat home with them.

The Lions, from the Little Illini Conference, showed very little sympathy for the Bulldogs, taking the lead on the first play from scrimmage and never looked back as Marshall and head coach Steve Weber are now 2-0 on the season.

This is the second win in two weeks over members of the Cahokia Conference Illinois Division, as they topped Wesclin in the previous game.

“They're a young team and they're trying to overcome some years of losing. But they're a talented team. They have a lot of speed and a lot of weapons out there and we most certainly couldn't let them hang in,” said Marshall head coach Steve Weber about Sparta/Steeleville. “It was very important to get off to an early lead.”

Marshall running back Lucca Giannavola did most of the damage to Sparta/Steeleville.

The 5-11, 225 senior powered for 178-yards on 12 attempts, including a 70-yard touchdown run on the first play of the game.

Sophomore quarterback Luke Brodie threw a pair of touchdown passes to senior wide receiver Kaiden Sanders and finished the game 4-of-5 passing for 58-yards.

Junior quarterback Dariontez Monroe was 12-of-33 passing for 112-yards on the day for the Bulldogs with a touchdown throw to teammate freshman Jakhai Dancy.

Dancy scored both of his teams' touchdowns with the other one coming on a 62-yard run.

“We got knocked around today. It was a much more physical game than we were ready for and it showed on the scoreboard,” said Coach Drew Kordys. “To take a program from where we started in the summer you can't expect everything to be perfect, there is going to be growing pains. How we bounce back will continue to get better. We just have to put it together.”

The first Giannavola score came right after the opening kickoff by Sparta/Steeleville.

The senior tailback took a hand off and went right up the middle to daylight and sprinted untouched to the endzone for the score just :18 into the contest.

The PAT kick was successful for a 7-0 lead.

Sparta/Steeleville failed to get a first down on its first three possessions and Marshall took advantage of good field position.

Taking the ball on the Sparta 37, it took just two plays to score.

Running back Silas Dean took a hand off from Brodie and went 35-yards down the left sideline for the second Lions' score of the day.

Another PAT with 5:23 left in the first quarter made it 14-0 Marshall.

An interception by Giannavola gave the Lions back the ball in Bulldogs' territory at the 44 yard line.

Giannavola scored on the second play of the drive.

His first run got the ball to the 29 but a personal foul penalty added 15-yards to the end of the run.

The final 14-yards came as Giannavola dragged Bulldog defenders into the endzone.

The PAT failed but the Lions were in command at 20-0.

Sparta/Steeleville finally got a drive going with a pair of first downs before Monroe found Dancy on a 27-yard scoring play.

Although the PAT failed, the Bulldogs were on the board at 20-6 with 1:58 left in the quarter.

Unfortunately the Bulldogs gave up a big play on the ensuing kickoff.

Dean took the kick and went the distance, 74-yards for the score.

A PAT run by Giannavola on a direct snap made it 28-6.

The next Marshall score came on an extended 10-play, 63-yard drive.

The scoring play was a pass from Brodie to Sanders, who powered past two Sparta/Steeleville defenders before diving into the endzone to finish the 19-yard play.

The PAT kick made it 35-6 at the half.

The Bulldogs made it into Marshall territory with under a minute left in the second quarter but they came away with no points.

A quarterback sack by Marshall defenders sophomore Lachlan Smith and junior Josef Stafford on fourth down turned the ball back over to the Lions.

The first score of the second half came from the Brodie/Sanders combination.

This time if was a 20-yard scoring strike over the middle.

The final PAT of the game for Marshall pushed the lead to 42-6 with 5:29 to go in the third quarter.

Facing a third-and-eight from their own 38, Dancy took a hand off from Monroe and found daylight on the right side of the field.

The freshman cut back to avoid defenders and scored the final points of the contest on a 62-yard TD.

Marshall out gained the Bulldogs 366-226 and forced five turnovers, two interceptions and three fumbles.

Monroe was sacked six times by the Lions' defense.

Sparta/Steeleville will host Jackson (MO.) Saxony Lutheran next Friday night while Marshall will host conference rival Paris, who is also 2-0 on the season.

“It (the win) was better than last week. We made some mistakes but it was better today,” said Coach Weber. “We've not been to the playoffs in quite a while so that is something we're definitely shooting for. Conference play starts next week and it gets really tough really quick. These two wins were huge for us.”