Christian Marshall leads Faith Lutheran past Bonanza

Faith Lutheran running back Christian Marshall rallied the Crusaders’ offensive personnel on the home sideline midway through the second quarter of the Crusaders’ game against Bonanza on Thursday.

“We weren’t competing. Everybody’s heads were down,” Marshall said. “I brought everyone in to change everyone’s attitude.”

And they followed his lead.

Marshall carried 18 times for 203 yards and four touchdowns, including two long second-half scores, to lead Faith Lutheran to a 43-6 home rout of Bonanza in the Sunset Region quarterfinals.

The Crusaders (6-4) will play No. 1 Bishop Gorman (12-0) in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 18.

Faith Lutheran coach Vernon Fox is aware of the daunting challenge that next week presents, but stressed the importance of enjoying this victory — the Crusaders’ first in Class 4A playoff play.

“It means a lot to us. Our guys prepared hard. I’m proud of the progress throughout the season,” Fox said as his players roared in celebration behind him. “It was an up and down season … We didn’t play perfect, but we locked up a two seed. Found ourselves in the playoffs in the first year of 4A. You’ve got to be happy about that.”

Fox said the Crusaders executed their game plan, and on Thursday night it was pretty simple: feed Marshall.

Faith Lutheran’s senior captain eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season in the first quarter and scored twice to give the Crusaders a 13-0 lead.

He tacked on touchdown runs of 49 and 78 yards in the second half, and said he sensed Bonanza’s defense started to wear down against Faith Lutheran’s up-tempo, spread offense.

“Every single team, we wear down teams in the second half,” Marshall said. “Other teams just can’t hang with our tempo. When we get going, we start running and running and running.”

The run game set up the pass, and Faith Lutheran quarterback Sagan Gronauer connected with star wide receiver Elijah Kothe for an 8-yard touchdown pass in the second half.

Faith Lutheran’s defense, meanwhile, smothered the Bengals and forced quarterback Cannon Reid in to several third-and-long situations.

He finished 5-for-14 for 76 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and took three sacks before leaving the game late in the third quarter with a lower body injury.

Faith Lutheran was all over backup quarterback Kyle Allison, too, and sacked him multiple times in the fourth quarter to punctuate a dominant defensive performance.

“My deal is just getting off the field,” Fox said. “You want to give the ball to the offense so they have more opportunities to score more points. Overall I’m pleased with the performance.”