09/21/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
MARSHALL - On an overcast day on the road at Marshall Saturday afternoon the Olney Richland County Tigers continued to shine.

Having gone the entire 2023-24 football season without a victory, Coach Luke Carmody's crew have turned things around in 2024-25.

The Tigers took care of business by scoring the final 35-points of the contest as they broke a 21-21 tie with five consecutive scores to throttle the host Lions 56-21.

The win improves Olney Richland County to an impressive 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Little Illini Conference.

“It feels good to be at the other end of the spectrum,” said Coach Carmody comparing 4-0 to 0-9 last season. “I tell the guys every day. We're still fighting and working each week.”

Glowing brightest on this cloudy day was junior quarterback Gavyn Cothern.

The 5-10, 160 signal caller pushed all the right buttons on Saturday, passing for 134-yards on 5-of-7 attempts with three of the completions going for touchdowns.

Cothern also rushed for 143-yards on 11-carries with three additional scores, including a long fourth quarter run where he maneuvered and zigzagged his way through the Marshall defense for 54-yards and the game's final points.

The Tigers also got major contributions from senior running back Dirks Weiler, who ended up with 13-rushing attempts for 78-yards and a score.

Junior wide receiver Reed Klingler was the top target for Cothern, snagging a pair of passes for 77-yards and two of the three TD passes.

Ian Pianfetti, a junior receiver, caught the other scoring pass and ended up with a pair of receptions for 42-yards.

With all of the offensive numbers put up by Olney Richland County, it was the defense that took care of business in the final two quarters after giving up three first half touchdowns.

Coach Carmody's defensive unit bent some but didn't break as they shutout Marshall for the final 29:56 in the contest in route to a commanding triumph.

Head coach Steve Weber and his crew fell to 1-3 overall, 0-1 in the LIC despite being able to move the ball on the physical Tigers.

But turnovers and missed opportunities doomed the Lions on Saturday, sending the team to its third defeat in-a-row.

Lions' senior QB Trey Scott led the offense with an 12-of-22 performance throwing the ball with a single TD pass.

Scott's only big mistake cost the Lions as he threw an early interception that turned into Olney points.

The top runner for Marshall was Lucca Giannavola, a 5-10, 210 junior, who pounded out 145-yards rushing on 25-attempts, which included a pair of TD's.

Receivers junior Gavyn Boden and senior Ben Harper provided Scott with targets as the two combined for nearly all of the passing yards for Marshall.

Boden caught six of the throws for 68-yards and the lone passing TD while Harper received four of the passes for 65.

Marshall moved the ball on its first possession, going 65-yards in seven plays with Giannavola scoring on a three-yard run up the middle for a 6-0 lead with 9:41 left in the first quarter.

But behind Cothern the Tigers quickly got on the board.

Facing a second-and-five on the Lions' 30, Cothern found Klingler across the middle and the junior went the distance for a score.

The first of eight successful PAT kicks by senior Aidan Weidner gave ORC a 7-6 margin.

On the next Marshall possession, Scott made one of his few errors.

The senior right-hander scrambled to his left and when pressured tried a shovel pass up field.

Unfortunately the only one close to the pass was Weiler, who picked off the throw and took the ball to the house on a 38-yard pick-six.

The PAT made it 14-6 Tigers.

It took 12-plays but the Lions managed to go 66-yards on its next drive with the final 47-coming on a long pass from Scott to Boden down the left sideline.

Scott hit Boden in stride and he broke free for the score.

A two-point conversion run by senior running back Dom Huisinga evened the score at 14-14.

Cothern got busy on the next Olney Richland County drive, completing a trio of nice passes to Weiler.

The third one got the Tigers to the Marshall nine-yard line.

Cothern ran the ball up the middle to give his team back the advantage at 21-14 with 9:28 left in the half.

(CONTINUED)

Seven-plays and less than four minutes later, the Lions scored on a nine-yard run by Giannavola.

Five of the seven plays were rushes by the junior.

A successful point after kick by senior Hampton Parker closed the scoring for the hosts.

Olney Richland County had another scoring drive in them before intermission.

It took just five plays for Cothern to get his team down the field on a 66-yard drive.

The scoring play came on a pass from Cothern who found Pianfetti near the right sideline.

He made a nice move to avoid a tackle, and then dived over a Marshall defender into the right side of the endzone.

The 23-yard score and extra point sent the Tigers to the break up 28-21.

“It is never a problem when you have a guy like Gavyn Cothern on your team. He's playing at his own level,” said Coach Carmody. “It's like a video game sometimes with him.”

Olney Richland County received the second half kickoff and took less than two minutes to find paydirt again.

The big play of the drive was a 22-yard run by Weiler that got the Tigers to just inside the Marshall 10 for a first and goal.

Two runs by Cothern and a final run (three-yards) by Weiler closed the scoring march and pushed the lead to 35-21 with just 1:32 gone in the third quarter.

The Olney defense, which gave up three scoring drives in the first half, shut down the Lions on the hosts' next five possessions allowing just five total first downs in the final 24-minutes.

After s topping Marshall at the Lions' 36 on a fourth down incomplete pass, Cothern scored from 29-yards out on the second play on a quarterback scramble where he cut across the field and down the left sidelines for the touchdown.

His run and subsequent PAT pushed the score to 42-21.

Marshall got just one first down on its next drive and on a fourth-and-long in its own territory, Scott had his quick-kick punt blocked by Olney 6-7. 310 junior lineman Casey Thomann.

The junior fell on the ball after the block as the Tigers were set up on their own 37.

Cothern finished the next drive (63-yards) with a fantastic scramble to buy time before finding a wide-open Klingler near the endzone on the left side.

Klingler caught the pass and waltzed into the endzone for a 53-yard scoring strike.

The next PAT made it 49-21 with just 1:44 left in the third quarter.

“I think it (defense) starts up front. We challenged those guys at halftime. Stay lower and drive. They were getting their butt's kicked upfront (in the first half) and they responded to it,” said Coach Carmody. “Our linebackers did a good job and really proud of those guys for bouncing back in the second half.”

Marshall turned the ball back over on its next possession, although they picked up a pair of first downs to get to the Olney Richland County 29.

But consecutive incomplete passes by Scott gave the ball back to the Tigers on downs with 8:46 left.

“I think we responded well at halftime. It was kind of a battle today to get them going and once we got over that hurdle we were good,” said Coach Carmody about the scheduling for a Saturday game and his team's slow beginning.

Cothern closed out the scoring and his quality performance with yet another TD run.

The lefty bootlegged to the left and found an opening down the middle of the field.

He made a couple of nice moves and sprinted on into the endzone to finish a 54-yard run and the scoring for the contest.

The final PAT by Weidner sent the fans wearing Orange and Black home happy.

Unofficially the total yards were closer than the final score with the Lions only losing the total yard margin 388-350.

But the interception, the blocked punt and Cothern were too much to overcome for Coach Weber's club.

Olney Richland County will host Newton next Friday before playing three of its final four games on the road, including a trip to Mt. Carmel on October 4th.

Marshall's schedule doesn't get much easier as they head into the rest of the LIC schedule with a game at Robinson next Friday.

“I give them (Marshall) credit. In the first half they came out and moved us upfront. Their running backs ran hard and their quarterback did a good job on his reads,” added Coach Carmody. “They took what we gave them. A ton of credit to Coach Weber.”