QUARTERBACK PRESSURE … Delta’s Wyatt Flickinger applies the hit to the Gibsonburg quarterback with Gary Valentine (#7) closing in.
PHOTOS BY RACHEL NAGEL / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
LEADING RUSHER … Marcus Nagel breaks into the open field on a first half carry. Nagel totaled 183 yards on 24 carries for Delta.
By: Joe Blystone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
DELTA (September 5, 2025) – Marcus Nagel looked like the second coming of a Bo Jackson Nike shoe commercial. Marcus knows how to run it. Marcus can tackle. Marcus can intercept passes. Heck, Marcus can even throw it.
In the third quarter against Gibsonburg, the Delta sophomore did all four of those, including running for 140 yards with two touchdowns, throwing a 35-yard scoring strike, and intercepting a pass that set up one of those scores, as the Panthers blew open a close game and rolled past Gibsonburg 49-28.
The win boosted Delta to a 2-1 mark heading into league play next week. Gibsonburg, who was 9-3 last year, suffered its first loss.
“One of the things with this group of guys is they are a really solid group that needs confidence,” Panther veteran coach Mike Vicars said.
“Last week we played a really good Fairview team and came up just short (a 36-32 loss), and it was a heartbreaker for them.
“So, we came out and worked hard this week, we knew Gibsonburg with what they have been doing the last few years, they wouldn’t go down easily.
“That kickoff return at the end of the first half set us back a bit, but then we came out and played some really good defense, and our offensive line really took over.”
Nagel actually had a bit of a bump in the first quarter, when after an 18-yard romp on the game’s third play, he fumbled, and the Bears’ Luke Foster recovered at his own 34.
Nine plays later, one of which was a Reece Walby to Foster pass-and-catch for 15 yards, Aiden Morant found the end zone from four yards away to put Gibsonburg up 6-0.
Delta’s answer was immediate. The Panthers took off on a quick seven-play march that covered 55 yards to pay dirt.
Vincent Martinez’s 10-yard run and his catch and run of 18 more of an Emric Friess pass, set up Nagel’s first score of the game from 13 yards out to tie the game with 2:35 left in the first.
Nagel’s pressure from the middle hurried a Walby pass, which Gunnar Taylor picked to set Delta’s next drive.
This one covered 51 yards in 10 plays, the biggest being another Friess-to-Martinez aerial that picked up 25, with Nagel again doing the honors from nine yards, on a score that gave Delta the lead for good at 13-6 halfway through the second.
Martinez totaled every bit of the 50 yards on the next Delta scoring march, on runs of 27 and 23 to boost the Panthers up 20-6 with 2:19 to go in the half.
Walby chopped into that margin on the ensuing kickoff, when he broke free going left to right for an 85-yard bolt to slice the Bears’ deficit to 20-12, a score that remained that way heading into the half.
Oh, how that changed in the third. After getting a three-and-out to start the second half, the Panthers began a 22-point burst in a big way.
Nagel romped for 30 on the third play of the Panther possession, then galloped 37 more to the end zone, for a 27-12 Delta lead.
The 6-foot, 200-pounder was just getting started. The next series took just three plays. Nagel ran for four, then four more, then burst through for 56, leaving the entire Bear defense behind on a run that put Delta ahead 34-12.
Gibsonburg went to the air, and thanks to a lot of heat from Wyatt Flickinger, Walby’s pass bounced off a helmet, and Nagel was there for the pick and return that set up Delta at the Gibsonburg 35.
It took just one play, this one a Nagel pass to a wide-open Alex York for a 35-yard score. Friess hit York for the two-point conversion that started the running clock rule, as the Panthers opened a 42-12 gap.
“Marcus wasn’t able to play the first game; he had a little bit of an injury. He came out last week and showed he was coming along there, and this week, well, he’s a workhorse, there’s no doubt about it,” Vicars explained. “Just about every way we can ask him, he helps us out.”
Gibsonburg got the game back under the 30-point margin in the fourth on a touchdown from Aiden Nims, but Taylor answered back with a one-yard score that he set up with his own 49-yard run to keep Delta ahead 49-20. Grant Smith added a late TD for Gibsonburg.
In all, the Panthers had 450 yards in total offense on just 45 plays, 351 on the ground. “Our offensive line was really the players of the game, setting the table for our guys making those runs,” Vicars said.
Gibsonburg had 282, 130 of those coming in the fourth quarter. For the night, Nagel totaled 183 on the ground in 24 carries, all in the first three quarters, with four touchdowns.
Martinez had 102 total yards, 59 of those on the ground in just four carries, and a score.
UP NEXT: September 12 – Archbold (2-1) at Delta (2-1)
GHS 6 6 0 16 – 28
DHS 6 14 22 7 – 49
G – Morant 4-yd run (conversion failed)
D – Nagel 13-yd run (kick failed)
D – Nagel 8-yd run (York kick)
D – Martinez 23-yd run (York kick)
G – Walby 85-yd kickoff return (conversion failed)
D – Nagel 37-yd run (York kick)
D – Nagel 56-yd run (York kick)
D – York 35-yd pass from Nagel (York pass from Friess)
G- Smith 2-yd run (Smith run)
D – Taylor 1-yd run (York kick)
G – Smith 8-yd run (Morant run)