Photo by Mike Morrison Marietta’s Tony Munos (4) runs with the ball during a high school football game against Weir Friday night at Don Drumm Stadium. Marietta won, 36-34.

By MIKE MORRISON

The Marietta Times

MARIETTA — Marietta jumped out to a big first half lead and then survived a furious second half comeback by the Weir Red Riders as the Tigers held on for a 36-34 win Friday night at Don Drumm Stadium.

Tiger senior Tony Munos put on an offensive clinic in the opening half as he scored four touchdowns as the home team pulled out to what appeared to be a commanding 29-7 lead.

Munos caught a pair of touchdowns from fellow senior Reece Gerber and also scored on a 30-yard run and an electrifying 91-yard kickoff return to seemingly put the Tigers in position to put the game in running-clock mode in the second half.

“Tony played a great game and a tremendous first half especially,” said seventh-year Tiger head coach Jason Schob. “He’s the type of kid that you try to get the ball in his hands as much as you can … it’s nice to have the luxury of having an athlete like him.”

After scoring just once in the opening half on a 1-yard plunge by quarterback Anthony Dimattis, the Rider offense looked completely different in the second half starting with their first possession when they used 10 running plays to go 55-yards capped by a Jamari Bass 3-yard touchdown run.

The Weir defense stopped the Tigers on their first second half possession and the offense went right back to work as they took 12 plays to travel 70 yards with Dimattis connecting with Carson Yobaggy on the final play of the third quarter to turn what once looked like a blowout into a one-possession game at 29-21.

A 15-yard touchdown run by Tiger junior Zach Bartlett on the third play of the final quarter briefly stalled the Red Rider momentum, but the visitors answered with yet another scoring drive capped by a 16-yard pass from Dimattis to Gage Reitter.

After the second Tiger punt of the game gave the ball back to Weir, the Riders used a 44-yard flea flicker pass from Dimattis to Yobaggy to move the ball to the one-yard line where freshman Corey Lyons carried it in to make it a 36-34 game with just over three minutes to go in the game.

The orange and black rose to the occasion in the closing minutes however as Bartlett busted free on a 58-yard run to move the ball deep into Weir territory where the Tigers were able to run out the clock.

Schob was pleased with the way his team kept their composure in a game that easily could have gotten away from them.

“They (Weir) had played some really good competition so we knew they had the potential to be pretty good,” said Schob, whose team improved to 2-3 with the win. “We certainly didn’t play our best but our kids didn’t quit and when push came to shove we kept fighting and kept battling and found a way to win.”

Weir first-year head coach Frank Sisinni was obviously quite pleased with his teams effort in the second half.

“We are very proud of our kids. They battled and they showed so much heart in that second half,” said Sisinni. “We just can’t seem to find four straight quarters of football.”

Weir slipped to 0-4 with the loss.