After throwing a dart to Graham, the sophomore wideout broke two tackles and ran in for a 28-yard touchdown.
The touchdown pass by Marburger was the 88th of his high school career, which broke the Rio Grande Valley all-time record of 87 held by former Mission Veterans quarterback Landry Gilpin, as the Diamondbacks beat Medina Valley 42-23 at Richard Thompson Stadium to advance to the area round.
“He’ll probably tell you all those records are for my offensive line and my receivers,” Pioneer head coach Tom Lee said of Marburger.
Minutes later, the signal caller chimed in.
“I give all the credit to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and my receivers and my O-line and running backs. It’s a team effort, it’s not just individuals out here,” Marburger said. “Football, it takes all of us to do one thing correctly.”
The Diamondbacks (6-0, 4-0) and Panthers (4-6, 2-3) began with a defensive battle during the opening quarter with both teams forcing three-and-outs on each side, and Pioneer even forcing a couple Medina Valley turnovers on downs.
But late during the first, Marburger got going. He scored a 2-yard rushing touchdown, and followed that with two first-half touchdown tosses to Graham and Taylor Esparza as Pioneer took a 21-14 lead into the locker room.
“We played good, we didn’t play great,” Lee said. “We had some three-and-outs we hadn’t had all year, but I attribute that to them (Medina Valley). That’s a great district that we just played. I don’t care what their record was, that was a damn good first-round football game, and we faced the same thing last year. Our kids have the mentality that we just have to win and they did that tonight.”
Marburger went on to run for one more rushing score during the third quarter as he finished with two passing touchdowns and two rushing. But running back Tristan Castillo got in on the offensive fun as the Diamondbacks’ versatile offensive weapon ran for two touchdowns and kept the chains moving all night.
“He did an incredible job; he put on the backpack today,” Marburger said of Castillo. “I’m at a loss for words just to have a guy like that on my team.”
Now, the Diamondbacks are on to the second round of the playoffs for the second straight year, also the second time in program history. Next up for ... Click here to read full article
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