In what proved to be one of the wildest games of the year — and perhaps of the past decade — the Eagles came up one touchdown shy of beating Sacred Heart on the road Friday night as East Marion fell 42-36.
“It was something,” Eagles head coach Brad Hughes said of the crazy nature of the back-and-forth game. “We’re struggling to find our way to win right now.”
The game featured 11 touchdowns, six turnovers, several plays that Hollywood screenwriters couldn’t even make up and some bizarre calls by the officials. Despite it all, Hughes said he’s proud of the effort East Marion (2-7, 1-2) gave.
“What I’m most proud of is that even through all of the adversity and all the challenges, they continued to play hard,” Hughes said. “They didn’t let any of the things get to them in a negative manner. They stayed positive and continued to fight throughout the entire game.”
It took until the third possession of the game for either team to find its footing offensively, but it was Sacred Heart who struck first. Because of great blocking on the edge, Sacred Heart’s Nick Pipkins got to the corner on a toss and raced untouched 42 yards to pay dirt to give the Crusaders a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Eagles capitalized from some good fortune on the ensuing drive. They were marching down field with ease with their running game, gaining 30 yards in their three previous plays, when quarterback Elijah Alston and Jadarrius Mallard fumbled a handoff exchange. While Mallard was able to fall on it, the mistake put them behind the chains and forced them to pass. Two plays later on fourth-and-9, though, Alston threw his first touchdown pass of his career. Receiver Ka’Ron Weary, fresh off a five-catch, 130-yard performance last week, outran the coverage, and Alston hit him in stride for a 32-yard score. East Marion failed to convert the 2-point try and trailed 7-6.
It didn’t take long for Sacred Heart to answer. Less than a minute later, Crusaders quarterback Andrew Grubbs connected with Ashton Ware on a 37-yard touchdown pass. It seemed like East Marion cornerback Deonta Newton was squatting on a short route and wasn’t ready for Ware to go deep. The PAT extended the lead to 14-6 with 34 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
East Marion tied it up at 14-14 on the first play of the second quarter, just 37 seconds of game action later. After Mallard got the Eagles to the Sacred Heart 2 with a 21-yard run, Alston punched it in with a quarterback sneak. Amere Woodham then threw for the 2-point conversion.
But yet again, the Crusaders responded very quickly. They quickly marched down field and took a 21-14 lead on an Anthony Boyette 4-yard run. The shootout continued as the Eagles needed just five plays to find the end zone themselves. Following a 22-yard run by John Johnson, Mallard got through a small hole up the middle before bouncing the run outside and beating everyone to the pylon for an 11-yard touchdown. Woodham was stopped a yard shy on the 2-point conversion, though, preserving Sacred Heart’s lead, 21-20, with half of the second quarter left to play.
East Marion’s defense finally made a stand with an impressive, yet bizarre, sequence that resulted in the world’s shortest forward pass and an interception. On fourth-and-1 at midfield, the Crusaders tried to run a speed option. Eagles linebacker Ladaneion Harvey came through clean on a blitz in the B-gap to wrap up Grubbs, who tried to shovel it forward to Pipkins. But outside linebacker Jordan Martin read it the whole way and snagged the ball out of the air for a takeaway.
As great of a defensive play it was, Sacred Heart managed to top it two plays later. Crusaders defensive tackle Adam Sneed, who looked to stand all of 5-foot-6, managed to duck under the block of Eagles center Alex Miller and hit Alston as he tried to hand it to Ruffin, forcing a fumble that Sacred Heart recovered.
The fireworks and craziness of the game continued five plays later as East Marion got the ball back with another takeaway. Outside linebacker punched the ball free on a swing pass to Pipkins, and Martin fell on it for the Eagles. Three plays later, though, Woodham didn’t stand a chance on an inside handoff, got rocked as soon as got the ball in the backfield and fumbled, setting the Crusaders up at the East Marion 14. Yet on fourth-and-9 for the final play of the first half, Grubbs tried to throw a fade near the goal line, but Eagles cornerback Caden Mingo, a freshman, high-pointed the ball and came down with the interception. The final 15 plays of the first half featured a remarkable five turnovers.
After spending the entire first half running the Wing T with Alston under center, the Eagles opened the second half with Woodham as the signal caller. The scheme switch had the Crusaders scrambling as East Marion needed just six plays to drive 70 yards and take its first lead of the game. Once again, it was Mallard putting on a show as he knifed through the Sacred Heart defense for a 22-yard touchdown. He took a sweep around the right side and cut back into the middle of the field where there were six defenders within three yards of him that seemingly had him dead to rights. But Mallard stiff-armed a defender and accelerated away from the defense to make reservations for six. Mallard then broke a tackle with an impressive spin move on the 2-point conversion to make it a 28-21 game with 10:24 remaining in the third quarter.
East Marion got the ball right back with Mingo coming down with his second interception on a deep ball. However, the Eagles offense only went backwards and were forced to punt following a three-and-out. The punt was disastrous with a high snap causing Sims to fully extend for the ball, and his momentum caused him to land on his back and give the Crusaders the ball at the East Marion 7. Pipkins made the Eagles pay two plays later with a 3-yard touchdown run to knot the game up at 28-28.
When Sacred Heart got the ball back, Newton got beat again for a long touchdown. He missed a jam at the line on Ware, who easily ran by him, caught a jump pass from Grubbs in stride and scored from 63 yards out. The PAT was pulled too far left, though, as the Crusaders went up 34-28.
To begin the fourth quarter, the Eagles nearly had their drive derailed by a loss of 11 yards on a busted play, but a pass interference on the Crusaders on third-and-17 gave East Marion new life. Facing a third-and-2, Woodham ran a quarterback draw up the middle, put a beautiful spin move on the linebacker in the hole and took off for a 26-yard touchdown. Woodham then ran in the 2-point conversion to put the Eagles up 36-34.
Sacred Heart then responded with a methodical drive that chewed up the majority of the fourth quarter, and Pipkins gave the Crusaders the lead with a 2-yard touchdown plunge up the gut. The Crusaders added the 2-point conversion to make it a 42-36 game with just 3:24 remaining in regulation.
With the game on the line, the Eagles only hurt themselves. On third-and-10, Woodham found Chris Magee wide open for what would have been at least a 30-yard completion, but the ball went straight through Magee’s hands. East Marion then appeared to have converted on fourth down with Woodham finding Paden McLin, but it was brought back by a holding call. Then on fourth-and-21, Woodham found Weary deep for what would have been a 27-yard completion, but the refs ruled Weary didn’t get a foot down in bounds. It was a bang-bang play that could have been called either way.
Hughes described a once-in-a-lifetime scenario that he went through with the refs on the holding penalty that brought back the pass to McLin. Sacred Heart’s coach initially declined the penalty, which would have meant the Eagles got the first down. The official told Hughes that McLin didn’t catch the ball, but he clearly caught it and even ran for two more yards after the catch. Hughes pointed to the other official who had marked the spot McLin went out of bounds. The ref responded, “Oh yeah, he did catch it, but it was short of the first-down marker.” Confused, Hughes pointed to the other ref who was three yards beyond the first-down marker. The ref turned, walked away, came back and said, “Coach, I can’t give it to you. I told the other coach he needed to decline it because he would get the ball back so I have to give him the chance to make the right call.” Sacred Heart was allowed to then accept the penalty.
“The reality is, though, we had chances to win and didn’t,” Hughes said.
Sacred Heart was then able to take a knee and milk the rest of the clock.
While there is a scenario East Marion could get in the playoffs with a loss this week, the Eagles can clinch a playoff berth with a win over West Lincoln (0-8, 0-3) Thursday night at home. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
