Louisville at Marlington 1997 Football Highlights

Louisville 68, Marlington 0

Louisville took a 49-0 lead into halftime before going on to maul the host Marlington Dukes 68-0 on September 19, 1997. The victory is their third largest margin of victory on the road all-time as of the date of this post.

Everything clicked for Louisville in the first quarter. Ryan Wilson opened the scoring with a 27 yard touchdown run, Justin Wackerly recovered a blocked punt in the endzone, Mike Aljancic ran in a two-point conversion after a botched hold, and then Aljancic hit Adam Reinford for a 50 yard touchdown pass. Even when the Leopards fumbled the ball away early on, they recovered a fumble of their own on the very next play. The result was a 22-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

Aljancic went on to throw his second touchdown pass to Jim Sharp to open the scoring in the quarter. He then recorded 80 of his 90 rushing yards on the evening on the next scoring play. Then a 9 yard touchdown run by Ken Clark and a 3 yard touchdown run by Mike Gulling put Louisville ahead 49-0 at the break.

The scoring did not stop there though. Matt Mottice returned an interception 45 yards for a score and was responsible for making 5 extra point kicks. Then to round out the scoring T.J Barnes scored from 3 yards away and Anthony Rhoads scored from 12 yards out.

Altogether the Leopards racked up 287 of their 370 yards of offense on the ground. Wilson led the team with 8 rushes for 92 yards. Louisville had more first downs than Marlington by a count of 17-3.

The Leopards defense not only shutout the Dukes, but they held them to just 51 yards of offense. Marlington only managed to complete 1 of 11 passes for 5 yards. The Louisville defense also picked off 2 passes and recovered 2 fumbles.

The victory was the third largest away from home in the history of Louisville football. The only two road games with larger margins included the Leopards 80-0 win at Fairless on October 13, 1972 and their 73-0 win as the Blue Raiders at Columbiana on September 27, 1941.

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Scoring Summary

Louisville 22-27-12-7–68

Marlington 0-0-0-0–00

1st Quarter

Louisville – Ryan Wilson 27 Yard Run (Matt Mottice Kick), 7-0

Louisville – Justin Wackerly Punt Block Recovery in Endzone (Mike Aljancic Run), 15-0

Louisville – Adam Reinford 50 Yard Pass from Mike Aljancic (Matt Mottice Kick), 22-0

2ND Quarter

Louisville – Jim Sharp 15 Yard Pass from Mike Aljancic (Matt Mottice Kick), 29-0

Louisville – Mike Aljancic 80 Yard Run (Kick Failed), 35-0

Louisville – Ken Clark 9 Yard Run (Matt Mottice Kick), 42-0

Louisville – Mike Gulling 3 Yard Run (Matt Mottice Kick), 49-0

3RD Quarter 

Louisville – Matt Mottice 45 Yard Interception Return (Kick Failed), 55-0

Louisville – T.J. Barnes 3 Yard Run (Kick Failed), 61-0

4TH Quarter

Louisville – Anthony Rhoads 12 Yard Run (Nathan DeGasperis Kick), 68-0

Stats

Rushing: Louisville 42-287, Marlington 42-46

Passing: Louisville 5-11-83-1, Marlington 1-11-5-2

First Downs: Louisville 17, Marlington 3

Fumbles-Lost: Louisville 2-1, Marlington 6-2

Records: Louisville 2-2, 1-0; Marlington 0-4, 0-1