Heading into the season, San Diego was considered the top dog in the Pioneer Football League, meaning Marist was in for a difficult matchup on their Parents Weekend. San Diego hasn’t disappointed during the season, dominating on the ground with a strong rushing attack and leading the PFL in sacks. However, Marist has severely outperformed their preseason expectations, boasting a 2-2 record heading into the game.
The game was hard fought on both ends, but the Red Foxes ultimately came out on top after an eventful fourth quarter. Marist showed immense resilience and explosiveness throughout the game as they secured possibly the biggest statement win of head coach Mike Willis’ tenure so far.
This fourth-and-3 pass attempt allowed the Red Foxes to take their first lead of the game right before the third quarter came to a close, and it all started with their pre-snap look.
Marist is lined up with two tight ends, one of which being blocking specialist graduate student Devin Kennedy (No. 95), to the field side. The running back, graduate student Tristan Shannon (No. 22), is lined up offset to the boundary. When the running back is offset to the opposite side of the tight end, the offense is better set to run the football. This pre-snap look is supposed to get the defense thinking run before they motion graduate student tight end Connor Hulstein (No. 84) further outside.
To the defense’s surprise, redshirt sophomore quarterback Sonny Mannino drops back, Kennedy clears the second level with a go route, and redshirt freshman Lance Martinez (No. 7) runs a short in-breaker which gets open due to a pick from Hulstein. Martinez then runs down the open field for a touchdown with no one in the area.
Plays like this are great for beating man coverage, as the pick gets in the way of the defender who is supposed to be man-on Martinez.
San Diego tried to catch up on the scoreboard with a fourth down attempt of their own. The offense lined up in an empty formation with no running back in the backfield. In this crucial play, they were putting the play on redshirt junior Tyler Voss’ (No. 18) throwing shoulder.
Voss’ first read is to the three receiver side, and the Red Foxes sent a corner from that side on a blitz. Nine times out of ten, a quick passing concept to the side where the defense is rushing a defensive back from will result in a short-yardage pickup.
Luckily for Marist defensive coordinator Mike Horan, sophomore defensive back Nate Robinson Jr (No. 25) has elite play recognition ability and closing speed. He was able to come down from his high safety spot and make a play on the football the second that senior wide receiver Cole Monach (No. 17) got out of his break on the hitch route and batted the pass down, forcing a turnover on downs.
When a coach has a coverage guy like Robinson Jr, they have the freedom to do risky things like blitzing a corner from the passing strength side against an empty formation on a crucial fourth down.
Teams with athletic quarterbacks can be much more creative with their run game. Marist offensive coordinator TJ Weyl understands this, shown by how he uses Mannino to enhance the run game. On this play, the offense leaves sophomore outside linebacker Cayden Gibson unblocked because Mannino has the option to keep the ball himself.
Gibson has to respect Mannino’s ability to run it himself and hesitates long enough for Shannon to beat him to the edge and tip-toe down the sideline.
Shannon is set up well by the pre-snap motion, allowing him to start gaining momentum as the ball is snapped. Shannon is one of the PFL’s most explosive players and giving him a running start pre-snap with a play call that freezes perimeter defenders causes issues for any defense.
With the game on the line on fourth-and-18, a lot of defensive coordinators would simply rush three and leave several bodies in coverage. But after two back-to-back sacks from their defense, Horan was looking to generate a third.
He shows the cautious call pre-snap, a three-man rush with the other eight bodies in coverage. After the ball is snapped, redshirt sophomore linebacker and PFL defensive player of the week Nate Furrow (No. 54) eyes down junior quarterback Dom Nankil (No. 9), having one responsibility—come down and make a tackle if he breaks the contain.
Where most defensive coordinators keep things easy, telling their linebacker to play coverage, Horan uses calculated aggression to put pressure on the quarterback and prevent a “backyard ball” play, without opening a hole in the defense.
Marist continues to outperform its preseason expectations, as younger players such as Martinez and Furrow step up while last year’s stars, Mannino and Robinson, keep delivering strong performances.
Edited by August Lieberman
Photo by Jaylen Rizzo
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