DUBUQUE – The Marion sideline wore the bruises and scars of football battle.

Many players wore warm-ups or street clothes and Tylor Fairbanks missed the final few minutes while being treated on a stretcher with a foot injury. The Indians' ace training staff rushed for more than 400 yards while tending to players.

On the coldest night of the roughest of seasons, the Indians were clearly beat up and beaten.

They started this chilly battle with Dubuque Wahlert missing 11 players. By the time the clock struck triple zeros on the Golden Eagles' commanding 35-8 victory at the Rock Bowl, Marion's list of walking wounded had grown to 19.

Starting tailback Kory Walsh, whose season was derailed last week by a concussion, was one of the many Indians kept out of the action by injury. Concussions have claimed six Marion players this fall.

They have few completely healthy bodies left, but to a man, the Indians have limitless heart.

“The biggest thing is we have nobody left,” Marion coach Tony Perkins said.“They're giving me everything they've got.”

But fighting an uphill battle against a Wahlert team playing for its playoff life, the Indians (0-8, 0-5 Class 3A District 4) had few things go their way Friday while suffering their 16th consecutive loss.

The story lines of this defeat were the familiar themes of the Indians' fruitless fall. Three early turnovers, missed opportunities and a crushing inability to finish drives again dropped the Indians into a deep 21-0 halftime hole and they couldn't climb out.

“We get great drives going but whenever we get to the end zone, they just die,” wide receiver Gage Kray said.

Wahlert's Mason Flynn got the playoff-bound Golden Eagles (3-5, 3-2) cooking on the game's fifth play from scrimmage, sprinting 47 yards down the near sideline to paydirt to give the hosts a quick 7-0 lead.

Marion had little trouble moving the ball on Wahlert in the first half. The Indians answered Flynn's flashy score with a strong push to the Eagle 30-yard line, but the drive died when Wahlert's Kelan Dickson blasted through the line to drop quarterback Issak Hahn for a big 14-yard loss on fourth down.

The Indians' next drive showed even more promise as Hahn (who hit and missed in a gritty, go-for-broke 13-for-23, 157-yard performance with two interceptions) drove Marion to the Wahlert 6. But as Hahn looked for Kray in the left end zone for a game-tying touchdown, Eagles cornerback Rian Weber was reading his eyes all the way.

“(Hahn) was staring (Kray) down the sideline,” Weber said. “I kept my eyes on him.”

Weber hijacked Hahn's pass at the 3 and returned it 97 yards for a stunning pick-6 that hit the Indians like a cold right hook.

Marion's struggles continued on special teams as its next possession flamed out as Wahlert's Lyle Klein blocked a punt which an alert Weber covered at the Marion 3-yard line. Three plays later, Klein broke into the end zone to up the Wahlert lead to 21-0.

Marion's next possession ended at the 26, where Joe Duehr picked off Hahn. Wahlert's defense had spent the week expertly studying Marion's moves inside the red zone.

“We had a plan all week long and a good idea of what they would try to do in the red zone,” Eagles coach Travis Zajac said. “The kids made big plays inside the red zone to stop their momentum.”

Marion's attempt to rally in the second half was undone by its inability to convert on third down. Meanwhile, Wahlert stretched its lead to an uncatchable 28-0 when quarterback Judd White – returning to the lineup after being sidelined for most of the season by injury – found Austin Kluck on a 29-yard scoring pass with 11:52 to play. The air strike was a strong complement to the Eagles' 261-yard power rushing game.

Kray – terrific in an eight-catch, 115-yard performance – broke up the Wahlert shutout bid by hauling in a 36-yard touchdown pass from Hahn with 10:02 left.

Dickson sealed the win for Wahlert with a 4-yard TD run with 4:34 left.

Per their trademark, the Indians fought to the end. They plan to deliver the same all-out effort in next week's daunting season finale against District 4 champion Xavier.

It's the only way Marion knows how to play: Go all out, no matter what the odds.

“We just got to play hard and play great,” Kray said. “That's all that matters in the end.”

DUBUQUE WAHLERT 35, MARION 8

.                          MAR           DW

First downs               11             15

Rushes-yards       28-122       44-261

Passing yards           157             79

Comp-Att-Int      13-24-2        8-14-0

Fumbles-lost             4-1            2-2

Punts-avg.           3-23.1        3-30.2

Penalties-yards          1-5           3-22

Marion   0   0 0   8 -   8

Wahlert  7 14 0 14 - 35

Scoring plays

W – Mason Flynn 47 run (Joe Friend kick)

W – Rian Weber 97 interception return (Friend kick)

W – Lyle Klein 5 run (Friend kick)

W – Austin Kluck 29 pass from Judd White (Friend kick)

M – Gage Kray 36 pass from Issak Hahn (Kray pass from Hahn)

W – Kelan Dickson 4 run (Friend kick)

Individual statistics

Passing

Marion – Issak Hahn 113-23-2, 157; Gage Kray 0-1-0, 0.

Wahlert – Judd White 8-14-0, 79.

Rushing

Marion – Owen Carstensen 17-62, Kray 5-24, Hahn 4-20, Jacob Maloney 2-16.

Wahlert – Kelan Dickson 16-80, Mason Flynn 6-77, Lyle Klein 10-76, Matt Bahl 3-17, Travis Warden 3-19, White 4-(-10), Isaac Evans 1-3, Corey Cotton 1-(-1).

Receiving

Marion – Kray 8-115, Blair Brooks 3-13, Carstensen 2-29.

Wahlert – Austin Kluck 3-43, Evans 2-14, Klein 2-0, Jonathon Ochs 1-17.