Bigger-than-expected game for John Marshall

John Marshall coach Bruce Troxell knows his next coaching counterpart pretty well. It almost seems the two have been on the same life path in some respects.

Troxell played college baseball against Cache coach Barry Foster. They have children the same age. They’re both in their 27th year of high school football coaching. When Troxell was coaching at Apache, Foster was an assistant at Rush Springs, and the two teams squared off regularly.

So they know each other a little bit, and with that, Troxell already knew Week 2 was going to be a tough one for his Bears. But the rest of the state learned a little bit about Cache with last week’s upset of No. 2 Tuttle.

Last week, there were some positives, especially on defense for the Bears.

A safety and a kickoff return touchdown were the only points John Marshall allowed in Friday’s 27-9 win over Northwest Classen, highlighting the expectation that defense will be the Bears’ backbone this season.

“Our defense pitched a shutout,” Troxell said. “Coming in, we felt the defense would be our strong suit. This was a good start.”

Freshman quarterback Davion Smith — one of three freshmen in the Bears’ starting lineup — rushed for a touchdown and threw for another in his first high school game. Led by Kody Shields, the Bears rushed for 289 yards behind an offensive line that lost starting center Tyler Stamm for a couple weeks when he injured his knee Thursday.