East Marion’s 30-0 road win over Mount Olive Friday night was seemingly over before it even began.
The Eagles (5-5, 3-2) scored so quickly and so often that the game went to a running clock midway through the second quarter and only lasted one hour and 22 minutes.
“We had a couple big runs — Wanya (Cook) had a really big run and he was running really hard early on. As a defensive coordinator, I always like to see a scoop and score or pick-six and we had both early on,” head coach Kevin Jackson. “We got off to a really good start and took control of the game.”
Jackson said it was “most definitely” encouraging to pick up a district win away from home regardless of Mount Olive’s 1-10 record.
“As it looks we’ll be getting on the road for the playoffs, and you have to find ways to make good things happen while you’re on the road. That was a good quiz to see how we handle road adversity and how we respond on the road,” he said.
While the next game on the schedule is always the most important for every football team, the Eagles home matchup with Resurrection Catholic (6-3, 3-2) Friday night will be the most important game they’ve played all year. Both squads have already secured a playoff berth, but with identical Region 4-1A records the game will decide which team gets the No. 3 seed while the other will get No. 4 seed.
“We’re putting all our marbles in the hat. It’s do or die for us. We’re coaching it that way,” Jackson said. “We need to finish strong and have a good win at the end, and that would carry over into the playoffs. We’re putting a lot of emphasis on this game, and we’re bringing forth our best effort.”
With the way the playoff bracket is set up, the Eagles will match up with either Nanih Waiya (10-1) or Noxapater (10-1), which play each other for the Region 3-1A title Thursday, in the first round of the playoffs.
Resurrection features a balanced offense — 1,241 yards passing and 1,302 yards rushing — and has five players with more than 400 all-purpose yards on the season. Jackson said the Eagles need to make Resurrection one dimensional and keep its offense from staying ahead of the chains.
“We’re going to try to give them some good looks and try to confuse them up front a little bit. We want to bring some pressure. They have a quarterback who throws the ball pretty well, so we’ll need to pressure him to prevent him from completing some easy passes,” he said. “You have to tackle and you have to stop the run against them. We’ll try to stop the run with some pressures, so the quarterback isn’t getting complacent back there and throwing the ball all over the place.”
On the other side of the ball, Jackson said Resurrection plays sound defensively and doesn’t give up many big plays.
“All their guys are where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be. It’s going to be a task for us to make sure we’re following and completing our assignments,” he said. “Hopefully we can get a few of our guys to create matchup issues with them. It’s going to be a tough game.”
Against Mount Olive Friday, quarterback Devin Daniels didn’t even need to attempt a single pass. Cook scored on a 23-yard run to open the game, Deundre Ruffin had a rushing touchdown, Amere Woodham returned a fumble five yards for a touchdown and Ladarrius Watts returned an interception 21 yards into the end zone.
The Eagles forced six turnovers in all with Daniels and Haines also hauling in interceptions and Lawrence Lambert and Watts recovering fumbles. Watts also led the team with nine tackles.
Pictured Above: East Marion's Lawrence Lambert turns the corner on an outside run against Stringer Oct. 19. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
