Unfortunately, they ran into a momentum killer in the Iroquois Chiefs, Class B’s second-ranked team according to the New York State Sportswriters Association.

The Marauders were able to put up a strong fight for the better part of three quarters, but the Chiefs in the end were able to pull away.

The Chiefs topped the Marauders 51-14 on Friday night at Dunkirk High School’s Karl Hoeppner Field. Though the Marauders put up a strong effort, they had few answers for Iroquois running back Trevor Barry and quarterback Trey Kleitz.

“We made a few adjustments, but they wore us down,” said Dunkirk coach Mark Benton. “It’s a great passing attack, we’re not going to see anything like this the rest of the year and we’re still a work in progress.”

OBSERVER Photo by Justin Goetz Below, Dunkirk’s Javi DeJesus drops back to pass at Karl Hoeppner Field.

The game started almost as poorly as it could have for the Marauders. On just the second play of the game from inside their own 5, Dunkirk running back Quanteer Neallard struggled to handle a pitch that hit the ground. While Neallard recovered the ball, he did so in his own end zone, giving Iroquois a 2-0 lead on a safety.

On the ensuing possession, the Chiefs made quick work of the Dunkirk defense. Barry handled the ball four times on the opening possession for 35 yards, eventually scoring from 10 yards out. The Chiefs converted the 2-point play to make it 10-0.

“Off the bat, fumbling out of bounds and having to punt from our own territory, that’s a quick 10 points,” Benton said. “You can’t do that against a team like this. After that we played well for the next two quarters but then they beat us up a bit.”

From there though the Marauders settled down a bit. Though they couldn’t get anything going on offense in the first half, the defense helped do its part. They held the Chiefs scoreless until late in the second quarter, picking up a couple clutch fourth-down stops. But who they couldn’t answer was Barry.

Barry ripped off a carry of over 50 yards on a possession that ended with the Chiefs failing to convert a fourth down. But after the Chiefs defense stifled Dunkirk again, Barry got another chance to run deep and this time made the most of it. On second-and-10 from the Dunkirk 40, Barry decided to close all the ground himself, breaking through the Marauders defense and finding space down the left sideline, extending the lead to 16-0.

OBSERVER Photo by Justin Goetz Dunkirk’s Felix R. Gonzalez (20) pursues Iroquois’ Kendall Mariacher.

The Marauders had a chance to get on the scoreboard at the end of the second quarter after quarterback Javier DeJesus ripped off a 20-yard carry, but they ran out of time in the half.

The Marauders made it interesting in the third quarter. The defense made a play, forcing a fumble on a completed fourth-down pass, giving them an extra possession to start the quarter. Starting from its own 41, Dunkirk made quick work of it for its first score. DeJesus completed two quick passes, including a pretty 25-yard floater, which set up a 29-yard touchdown run by Neallard. Though they couldn’t convert the 2-point play, they were on the board 16-6.

The 10-point margin wouldn’t last long, as just one play later, Kleitz hit Nate Mcgoldrick on a 68-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead back to 22-6, also failing to convert the 2-point play.

The Marauders weren’t lying down yet though. A long, sustained drive got the Marauders back in the game. Neallard had six carries, totaling 44 yards on the drive. Teddy Roberts took over from there, catching a pass for a fourth-down conversion then running in a 5-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion was converted, as Dunkirk trailed 22-14 with four minutes to go in the third.

That’s where Iroquois started looking like the second-best team in the state. The Chiefs scored quickly, as Kendall Mariacher caught a pass from Kleitz for a 21-yard score just three minutes later. After that, DeJesus threw an interception on a third-and-long, which Iroquois also turned into points. Barry made a 15-yard catch and ripped off two carries of 25 yards and 5 yards, finding the end zone again, extending the lead to 38-14.

Iroquois wasn’t done there though. DeJesus threw another interception on a tipped pass, which Barry capped off with his fourth touchdown of the game, extending the lead again to 45-14. Barry would later add his fifth touchdown to put the finishing touches on what turned out to be a decisive victory.

“At the end we were overmatched, and gave up 30 unanswered points,” Benton said. “It was bang, bang, bang. We had to get out of our offense and start throwing it downfield. Javi did a nice job under the circumstances but this is a new system, a new offense, and this is our second game.”

All told, Barry ended the game with 20 carries for 241 yards and five touchdowns, while Kleitz was 13 of 22 passing for 191 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 59 yards on the ground.

Neallard led the Marauders with 109 yards on 18 carries, one of which was a touchdown. DeJesus ended 6 of 18 passing for 53 yards and three interceptions, as Dunkirk was forced to start taking risks throwing the ball. As far as Benton is concerned, his young team is coming around.

“We’ve got some good young kids here, it’s not going to happen overnight,” Benton said. “This is a team that didn’t win a game last spring and now we have to see what we’re made of. We’ve got some good parts here.”

The Marauders (1-1) are next in action against Pioneer next Friday night at Karl Hoeppner Field. Iroquois (3-0) will take on the Lake Shore Eagles the same day.