Eli Parks and Logan Marchi once shared a backfield when they played at St. Paul Catholic High School in Bristol.
They’re at different schools at different levels of college football now, but both had a major impact on their teams’ opening game victories last week.
Parks was named Northeast-10 Conference Offensive Player of the Week after rushing for four touchdowns in Southern Connecticut State University’s 35-32 road victory over Gannon University last Thursday. Parks carried the ball 17 times for 127 yards, and his final touchdown of the game put the Owls ahead 28-25 with 55 seconds remaining on the clock. Parks was the first SCSU back to go for four touchdowns since 2013. He ran for scores of 27, 1, 33 and 7 yards.
Parks’ first touchdown run and Jose Conde’s extra point put the Owls ahead 7-6 with 14 seconds left in the first quarter. His second touchdown run and a Conde kick gave SCSU at 14-13 advantage, which it held going into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, Parks scored for the third time to put the Owls ahead 20-19 with 9:23 left on the clock. Gannon went ahead 25-20 with 4:53 to play, but Parks made sure SCSU was the last team to hold the lead. He ran the ball in from seven yards out, and Vochan Fowler’s two-point conversion put the Owls back on top, 28-25 with 55 seconds left. David Campbell’s 40-yard interception return for a touchdown made certain that a final score from Gannon was just window dressing.
Marchi started his first game as an East Tennessee State University quarterback, and he helped the Buccaneers secure a 28-7 home win over Mars Hill last Saturday. Marchi was 17-of-29 passing for 273 yards and three touchdowns. He threw touchdown passes of 14, 30 and 9 yards. Marchi did have a lost fumble in the game. Marchi transferred to ETSU from Temple University, where he played for two seasons.
Marchi began a second quarter drive with a bang when he connected with Quan Harrison for a 55-yard gain. Marchi later found Kobe Kelley for his first ETSU touchdown pass, which went for 14 yards. The extra point tied the game 7-7 with 24 seconds to go until halftime.
Marchi’s next touchdown pass gave the Bucs the lead for good at 14-7. He hooked up with Harrison for a 30-yard scoring pass with 1:06 left in the third quarter.
Marchi’s last scoring strike went for nine yards to Evan Wick and put ETSU ahead 28-7 with 4:03 to play in the game.
What’s next?
SCSU is scheduled to play its home opener against Bentley University on Thursday at 7 p.m. ETSU faces a major challenge on Saturday when it goes to the University of Tennessee for the program’s first-ever game against the Volunteers at 4 p.m. The game will take place inside the colossal Neyland Stadium.
