EPWORTH - There were two ways to look at Western Dubuque's 7-0 win over Marion Friday night.

It was either a case of two lackluster teams unable to muster much offensive firepower. Or it was a rock-em sock-em defensive battle, full of big-time hits in the backfield and pileups in the middle of the line.

Losing Marion Coach Tony Perkins opted for the latter view.

"It was a great high school football game," he said. "And Western Dubuque is a very good football team."

Former Dyersville Beckman and Dubuque Hempstead coach Bob Timmerman, who has a state championship on his record and is still an active volunteer freshman coach after more than 50 years in the business, agreed with Perkins.

"A lot of fans don't like these kinds of games," he said from the Mediacom television booth while doing color commentary on the game. "But I love them. Not a lot of passing, which I never cared for. Pretty much the same basic run-oriented offenses like I used to run.

"And they were really hitting on both sides."

The fact remains that the offensive stats weren't much to write home about.

The only points came with 38 seconds left in the first quarter when cool-as-a-cucumber Bobcat quarterback Nick Tuttle tossed a 10-yard pass to Corey Harris and kicker Sam Burds booted the extra point.

Western Dubuque didn't mount a serious scoring threat before or after the touchdown. In fact, the contest was mostly played on 20 yards on either side of midfield.

Mostly stymied on offense all night, the Indians did come alive at the start of the fourth period when all-purpose senior defensive back Cale Cannoy intercepted a pass at the Dubuque 26-yard line. That drive was halted soon after, however, when quarterback Cannoy was stuffed for a 10-yard loss.

But in his role as kick returner, Cannoy (who also had several booming punts) subsequently reeled off a 30-yard punt return that could have gone all the way had Bobcat punter Burds not tripped him up.

Using a suddenly-recharged running attack, the Indians moved the ball down to the home team's 25. But on a fourth-and-sixth with 2:56 to go, Marion's Tyler Gunderson was clobbered short of the first down.

Taking over on downs, the victors ran out the clock.

For the game, Western Dubuque managed just 214 yards of total offense but Marion was even less productive with 160 yards. The leading rusher for the Indians with 58 yards was Colton Storla, still hampered by an injured left hand sustained two weeks ago in the season opener.

Trev Biery had 38 yards on the ground and big fullback Jake McDonald had 24 yards. McDonald also recorded three bone-jarring sacks from his linebacker position.

Marion's Hunter Banes chalked up his fourth interception of the year.

"We played hard all night," Perkins said. "We made some mistakes, had some blown assignments that took us out of position. We missed blocks and had a few penalties that were momentum stoppers."

Asked if the anemic offensive numbers were a result of poor execution by his team or great defense by the other team, Perkins said, "It was a combination of both."

Indians tight end and linebacker Ethan Herren left the game in the second quarter with a concussion.

Both teams are now 2-1 overall, but Western Dubuque is 1-0 in Class 3A District 5 and Marion is 0-1.

Game Statistics

Passing - Western Dubuque 97, Marion 26
Rushing - Western Dubuque 117, Marion 134
Total yards - Western Dubuque 214, Marion 160
Turnovers - Western Dubuque 2, Marion 0
First downs - Western Dubuque 12, Marion 8