If Marshall coach Derrel Sanders had to do it over again, he would have punted.
Instead, on fourth down and less than a yard from its own 11-yard line late in the third quarter, Marshall sent Sam Green over the left side of the line in search of the first down.
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Green lost a yard and Curie (2-0), trailing 14-12 at that point, jumped all over the opportunity. The Condors scored four plays later to open the floodgates to a three-touchdown salvo in the span of five minutes en route to a 32-20 non-conference victory over Marshall Thursday at Hanson Stadium.
”It was a macho thing to do,” Sanders lamented afterward. ”I had confidence in my line. But (Curie) blew us off the line of scrimmage.”
”We had a punt block ready,” said Curie coach Pete Hester. ”We had the right people in, we just moved the safety up. That seemed to take the gas out of them.”
Shone Jones scored on the drive immediately following the fourth-down stop to give the Condors the lead at 18-14. After holding Marshall for three plays, Curie struck again. Quarterback Mario Coleman scampered 40 yards to increase the lead to 24-14. Coleman held the ball in the arms of Jones and ran with him for about three yards before deciding to keep it himself.
Coleman, confusing Marshall (1-1) repeatedly with the option, also scored on runs of 5 and 12 yards. So far in the first two weeks of the season, Coleman has scored five touchdowns. He accounted for the final score with his 12-yard TD run, set up by a Marshall fumble.
Coleman also struck through the air, hitting Larry Stepanik in the first quarter with a 29-yard touchdown pass.
”He`ll make it all right (be a good quarterback),” Hester said of Coleman. ”We still have some things to work on.”