For years, even under former head coach Kevin Jackson, East Marion has had a tendency to put up points in the unconventional ways, scoring on defense and special teams to complement the offense. That tendency showed up again for the Eagles Friday night as they had three defensive touchdowns and a special teams touchdown in a 45-28 drumming of Jefferson County.
“It was big time,” head coach Brad Hughes said.
The victory was East Marion’s first of the year in what has been a wild start to the 2021 season. The Eagles (1-3) were forced to forfeit their first two games against West Marion and Columbia because of quarantine. Then they were scheduled to play North Forrest in Week 3, but North Forrest had to quarantine so the Eagles scheduled Class 6A Harrison Central with just 50 hours notice. Friday night against Jefferson County was the first time East Marion actually played its scheduled opponent, and the Eagles didn’t disappoint their fans in their home opener.
East Marion’s defense came to play on Jefferson County’s opening drive, as JT Jones had a tackle for loss on first down, Ty’Reik Price burst through the line for a sack on second down and Deonta Newton stuffed a receiver screen for no gain on third down. Then on the punt, Elijah Alston drove his man back into the lap of the punter to effectively block the punt and set the Eagles up in the red zone.
Quarterback Amere Woodham, who had to switch from receiver with LJ Andrews out with a severe knee injury, then threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Ka’Ron Weary in the back of the end zone to put the Eagles up 6-0.
Jefferson County was threatening on the ensuing drive following a long kickoff return and was facing a fourth-and-2 from the Eagles 25. But Jones stonewalled Jefferson’s running back at the line of scrimmage to force a turnover on downs. After East Marion was forced to punt, with its drive stalling because of penalties, its defense made a couple more big plays.
Right after another sack by Price, Malcolm Simmons came off the edge unblocked and laid a big hit on Tigers quarterback Jabari Watson to force a fumble that Jalyn Pace scooped up and returned 45 yards for a touchdown. Woodham ran in the 2-point conversion to make it 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Then, with the Tigers threatening again in Eagles territory, Simmons delivered with another sack to force fourth-and-13. Demetrius Allen gave the Eagles sack No. 5 on fourth down, stripping Watson in the process. Jefferson County went backwards again on its next drive, and on the punt, the Eagles were in perfect position to block it. But the Tigers punter realized it would get blocked and tried to tuck it and run, gaining just one yard and setting the Eagles up at the Tigers 14-yard line.
Following a holding call, Woodham delivered a perfect ball on a fade to Paden McLin, who high-pointed the ball for a 24-yard touchdown that made it 20-0. Hughes was impressed with the way Woodham stepped in as quarterback, especially with how he threw the ball and with how he managed the offense with only a week of preparation time.
“Of course, as you go through something like that and have a week to come up with a whole new scheme for him, it’s a little different. Obviously we were planning on throwing it a good bit this year, but with him, we’ll have to change the scheme a little bit. It’s not necessarily a bad thing because he’s more mobile and dynamic. He carried the ball quite a bit as a runner and a scrambler, and he just made things happen as an athlete,” Hughes said.
To open the second half, East Marion’s special teams came through with another big play. Jordan Martin sprinted through the line untouched to block a punt that Deundre Ruffin recovered in stride and returned 27 yards for another Eagles touchdown.
Although East Marion was called for a roughing the kicker penalty after forcing a punt on Jefferson County’s next possession, it actually worked out in the Eagles’ favor. Three plays later, Deonta Newton jumped a spot route and returned an interception 50 yards for an East Marion touchdown to make it 32-0.
The Tigers finally got on the board on the ensuing kickoff, as Jefferson County’s Leonard Gaines returned it 79 yards for a score, reducing East Marion’s lead to 32-6.
Late in the third quarter, with East Marion backed up in its own end, Woodham made an ill-advised attempt to avoid a safety that turned into a Tigers touchdown. He was close to being brought down for a sack in the end zone and tried to throw it away, but his pass only traveled a couple feet into the arms of a Jefferson County defender in the end zone. The Tigers converted the two-point try to make it 32-14.
Early in the fourth quarter, Weary made an impressive leaping interception and returned it about 20 yards to set the Eagles up at the Jefferson County 40. East Marion would turn it over on downs, but when the Tigers got the ball back, Weary made another big play. The 6-foot-1 junior undercut an out route to pick off the pass in stride and race 35 yards to pay dirt. Kristian Day drilled the extra point to put the Eagles up 39-14.
Chris Magee added to the lead with a 35-yard touchdown scamper following another Eagles takeaway. Magee was in at quarterback, faked the handoff, saw a lane to the outside and took off down the sideline, showcasing some serious speed.
With most of East Marion’s backups in, the Tigers cut it to 45-22 with a 35-yard passing touchdown then made 48-28 with a 40-yard passing touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
“There were some bright spots, but we still have a lot of areas we have to improve on like stupid penalties and errors,” Hughes said. “But the kids played hard. The turnovers we were able to get were real big. We were able to get a lot of pressure on the quarterback, which I think created a lot of those. We had some big plays on special teams, blocked a couple punts. We scored in a lot of areas — we scored offensively, defensively and on special teams. So any time you’re doing that, that’s pretty good.”
The Eagles will remain at Les Peters Field this week for their homecoming game against Northeast Jones (3-1). Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
