For the fourth time in their past five games, the East Marion Eagles (6-2, 3-0) came from behind in the second half to win and are now in prime position to host a playoff game.
The Eagles fell behind Collins Friday night 18-6 in the first half but scored 14 unanswered points in the second half to win 20-18.
“We just have a will not to quit and a will to play for 48 minutes,” head coach Kevin Jackson said. “Once again we went in at halftime and talked about some of the mistakes we made in the first half, came out in the second half and corrected and were able to mount a comeback.”
With the win East Marion is in the driver’s seat to claim the Region 8-2A title, and there’s only two scenarios that could keep the Eagles from winning the district.
The Eagles clinch with a win over North Forrest Friday, but if they lose and North Forrest beats Perry Central next week North Forrest would win the tiebreaker over East Marion. The other scenario is if North Forrest and Collins both win out the duo would be in a three-way tie with East Marion, and the district would come down to point differential within district play. In any scenario, it appears likely the Eagles will at minimum be first or second in the district with their district-best point differential and will host in the first round of the playoffs Nov. 8.
“Last year going through the playoffs and playing in three rounds without hosting a home game, that really stuck with our kids. That made us focus more on trying to be first or second in the division, and we’ve been able to accomplish that goal this year,” Jackson said.
North Forrest is a familiar foe for the Eagles after being in the same district for many years and keeping the rivalry going while East Marion dropped down to Class 1A. Last year East Marion set a school record for points in a game with an 80-44 victory over North Forrest, but East Marion is preparing for another hard-fought game, and Jackson expects North Forrest to come ready to play.
“Coach (Anthony) Dillon is going to do a good job of having them coached up,” he said. “The last few years we’ve had some really exciting, close games and high-scoring games. So hopefully it won’t be as high scoring, but hopefully it will be a fun game that we can execute in and come out on top.”
The Eagles got off to a horrible start Friday in the first half as Collins matriculated the ball down the field on its opening drive and capped it off with a 5-yard swing pass from Lee Zimmerman to Ken’Dariun Magee on 4th-and-goal to put the Tigers up 6-0.
Then East Marion muffed the ensuing kickoff, and the Tigers recovered it. While the Eagles were able to force an immediate three-and-out, the resultant field position came back to haunt them. East Marion started its first drive at its own 2 and lost a yard in a three-and-out that ultimately gave Collins the ball back at the Eagles 42.
After a screen pass burned the Eagles for 40 yards, Magee found the end zone for a second time on a 1-yard plunge. The Eagles stuffed the two-point conversion again, but Collins had a 12-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.
East Marion was unable to get anything going on its subsequent drive, but the Eagles caught a fortunate break soon after. Collins couldn’t get of its own way after getting the ball back, and its punt traveled just 8 yards to its own 38-yard line. On the very next play, East Marion quarterback Devin Daniels scrambled to his right and connected with Carlos Stubbs for a 38-yard catch and run. The Eagles failed to convert the two-point try but cut the deficit to 12-6 with 4:23 remaining in the first half.
The Tigers answered right back, though, and scored with just 18 seconds remaining before halftime. They lined up in the Wildcat, and Magee found the end zone for a third time on a 3-yard run up the gut. East Marion once again stuffed the conversion, though, which proved to be the deciding factor in the game.
Facing a 3rd-and-2 on the opening drive of the second half, Daniels handed it off to Jadarrius Mallard for his first and only carry of the game.
The freshman broke a tackle with a stiff arm, got to the sideline and showed off track speed for a 64-yard touchdown. The Eagles converted the two-point try on what was supposed to be a designed run for Daniels, but the senior alertly realized he wasn’t going to get in and threw the ball in the end zone to Amere Woodham to cut the deficit to 18-14 with 10:04 remaining in the third quarter.
Late in the third quarter, Zimmerman fumbled a snap for Collins that set the Eagles up at the Tigers 23. But Daniels took a shot at the end zone on a play-action pass to Woodham and was picked off. The play resulted in a touchback, which eventually played into East Marion’s favor.
Following just one first down, Collins was forced to punt again, and it traveled just seven yards to give the Eagles the ball at the Tigers 40.
“It gave us some advantages, and our offense was able to capitalize on the good field position. It was big in the special teams for them to shank some kicks and give us some good field position,” Jackson said.
Six plays later with the Eagles facing 4th-and-4, Daniels captured the corner on a quarterback sweep and scored from 19 yards out to give East Marion its first lead of the game 20-18 with 9:33 left to play in the fourth quarter.
“Collins just came out in the first half and brought it to us. Going into halftime I let them know we’re getting it taken to us, and we have to fight back and fight force with force,” Jackson said. “It was just a matter of once again getting refocused, going out, executing and playing with more tenaciousness in the second half than the first half.”
The Tigers had a promising drive going and got into East Marion territory, but a key sack by Stubbs on third down forced a turnover on downs and allowed the Eagles to run out the clock to preserve yet another comeback victory.
