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MARION CENTER -- Portage struggled to halt Marion Center's dynamic offense in a 42-20 loss against the Stingers in a Heritage Conference football game on Friday night at Dr. John R. Mallino Stadium.
Marion Center totaled 473 yards, including 217 on the ground. Portage drew as close to one point, 14-13, at the end of the first quarter.
Two second-quarter touchdown passes by Camden Rising put the Mustangs in a 28-13 halftime hole.
"It's never as good or as bad as you think. I think we can learn from this, off a pretty good team, and continue to improve. We want to be our best at the end, not right now," Portage coach Marty Slanoc said.
Play of the game: Troy Slovinsky ran around left end 88 yards on Marion Center's first play from scrimmage to put the Mustangs in a 7-0 hole 3:01 into the game.
"You can't lose your gaps (or) lose your roles at certain points. And things like that will happen against a good team," Coach Slanoc said. "You can't give up those big plays. We preach that all the time. And the kids are recognizing that when we make that mistake, we have to get ahead of it a little bit more."
Player of the game: Slovinsky scored three touchdowns and totaled 222 all-purpose yards for Marion Center. He caught three passes for 133 yards.
Most vital statistics: The Stingers totaled 70 yards or more on four plays from scrimmage. Portage rushed for 205 yards.
Unsung heroes: Layton Munyon ran for 28 yards as the Mustangs attempted to achieve offensive balance. Marion Center junior Mike Fabri ran for two scores, from 10 and 4 yards. He rushed for 48 yards on 7 attempts.
Coach Slanoc: "Early on, we made a lot of plays offensively. But a lot of what we were doing is not sustainable. In high school football you can't just drop back and throw like that. That's what (Marion Center was) giving us and we had some guys make some great plays; some scrambles and catches and things like that. We just have to keep getting everyone on page. We knew where we were at with our young skill guys, and they've improved another week this week. And as they grow, I think we will be able to grow a little more offensively as well."
Coach Slanoc on Portage attempting first down conversions on four occasions during the first half: "You try to make those decisions based on the flow of the game. And I knew where we were at defensively, and I knew they were doing some things that were giving us some issues. We had a couple of big stops and gave ourselves an opportunity. And we couldn't punch one in at the end of the half. We got stopped on one fourth down. I made a bad call when I should have done something else. I was just trying to make something happen."
Marion Center coach Adam Rising: "You can't just focus on one guy on offense because we have multiple weapons out there."
Notable: Easton Slanoc, the Mustangs' third-year starting quarterback, ran for two touchdowns in the first half. He rushed for 58 yards and completed 8 out of 17 passes for 134 yards. ... Portage sophomore Llheson Walker's 55-yard touchdown run came midway through the fourth quarter. ... Portage senior Gavin Bobolsky caught five passes for 70 yards.
Records: Portage (1-1), Marion Center (2-0).
Next week: Portage visits Conemaugh Valley, and Marion Center hosts Homer-Center on Friday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Portage 13 0 0 7 -- 20
Marion Center 14 14 7 7 -- 42
First Quarter
MC--Slovinsky 88 run (Troup kick), 8:59.
P--Slanoc 3 run (Slanock kick), 7:29.
MC--Fabri 10 run (Troup kick), 5:23.
P--Slanoc 3 run (kick failed), 1:02.
Second Quarter
MC--Slovinsky 56 pass from Rising (Troup kick), 5:07
MC--Slovinsky 72 pass from Rising (Troup kick), 1:13.
Third Quarter
MC--Fabri 4 run (Troup kick), 2:25.
Fourth Quarter
MC--Phillps 78 pass from Rising (Troup kick), 8:03.
P--Walker 55 run (Slanoc kick), 7:45.
TEAM STATISTICS P MC
First downs 16 14
Total yards 349 473
Rushes-yards 42-205 28-217
Yards passing 144 256
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 8-17-134 11-16-0
Punts-avg. 2-42.0 2-36.0
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 3-15 4-40
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Portage, Walker 3-58, Slanoc 16-58, Gathers 8-38, Munyon 9-28, Kick 1-19, Shaffer 3-8, Berardenelli 1-(-1), TEAM 1-(-4). Marion Center, Slovinsky 2-88, Rising 8-53, Fabri 7-48, Philipps 4-10, Shipley 1-9, Pruner 3-6, Haggerty 3-5.
PASSING--Portage, Slanoc 8-17-0-134. Marion Center, Rising 11-16-0-256.
RECEIVING--Portage, Bobolsky 5-70, Walker 2-42, Munyon 1-32. Marion Center, Phillips 6-96, Slovinsky 3-133, Fabri 2-20, Brudnock 1-7.