Marlington Dukes battle powerhouse opponents as season nears end

The scheduling gods took no pity on Marlington in creating the Dukes’ 2025 football slate. Backloaded in the final four weeks were three of the Eastern Buckeye Conference’s top offenses — West Branch, Salem and Alliance.

On Oct. 17, the Dukes visited Salem, where the Quakers’ offense proved as explosive as advertised. Salem scored on every possession in a 61-39 victory. Lost in the defeat was a strong offensive showing from the Dukes, who — aside from a win over Division VII Warren JFK — posted their highest scoring game of the season.

Marlington quarterback Tyler Walder was 20-of-36 passing for 295 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception. He also ran for 23 yards and another score. Cole Jones caught eight passes for 143 yards and a touchdown, while Bryson Jones and Malcum Salyers also hauled in TD receptions.

On the ground, senior running back Caden Dine rushed for 106 yards on 28 carries and scored once. Jacob Rose added 55 yards on seven carries and a touchdown. Defensively, Cole Jones led the Dukes with nine tackles, while Dine had seven.

Eliminated from postseason contention, the Dukes (3-6, 0-4) will host Alliance to close out their season Oct. 24. Salem (6-3, 3-1) faces league leader West Branch with a share of the EBC title on the line.

Cross country

While Marlington’s boys competed in the Division II district meet at GlenOak, the Lady Dukes dominated the Division III field, taking the team title with 64 points — nine ahead of runner-up Salem and 12 in front of third-place Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary.

Junior Irelyn Johnson won the individual title with a time of 18:39.82, meeting the MileSplit US second-team standard. She was joined in the top 10 by sophomore Jordynn Martz (20:33.96) and junior Brin Boyce (20:38.86), who placed sixth and seventh. Brynne Reese finished 20th, and freshman Olivia Bosca capped the scoring in 30th.

On the boys’ side, Marlington placed 16th with 423 points. Freshman Brady Griggs led the Dukes, finishing 37th in 17:54.25. Sophomore Gabe Minor placed 56th, freshman Andrew Bargerstock finished 89th, and sophomores Casey Minor and Nolan Henry rounded out the top five in 120th and 121st.

Volleyball

Sometimes the seeding of teams produces thrilling first-round matchups in the OHSAA volleyball tournament. This was not one of those times.

No. 1 seed Marlington dominated No. 39 East Cleveland Shaw, 3-0 (25-1, 25-5, 25-2), in a Division IV Northeast 1 District sectional game hosted by the Dukes on Oct. 16.

Danica Sarchione piled up 29 serving points, including 17 aces, while Chloe Evanich added 19 serving points and 11 aces. Giana Bogunovich tallied six kills, and Marisa Casto had five. Cali Young recorded 16 assists for Marlington (21-2).

Boys soccer

The ninth-seeded Dukes rolled to a 10-0 victory Oct. 15 in their Division III Northeast 1 District sectional final against Ravenna.

Marlington improved to 13-1-4, while the No. 48 Ravens ended their season at 4-13-1. No additional details about the match were available.

Girls soccer

Marlington (5-11-2) fell 8-0 to Shaker Heights Hathaway Brown (9-8) in a Division III Northeast 5 District sectional final Oct. 16. No further details were provided.