East Marion made the trek to Lumberton with vengeance at the forefront after last season’s 38-34 contest went down to the wire, but the Eagles failed to execute in key moments, leading to a 34-8 loss.
In the first half alone, the Eagles had two touchdowns called back due to penalties, threw an interception in the end zone and had a backbreaking pick-six go the other way. Head coach Kevin Jackson called the miscues “very costly.”
“Of course, when you’re playing against a good team you can’t pass up points on the board like that when we turned it over in the end zone. Too many turnovers in the first half; I believe we had three,” he said. “That’s too many against a great team.”
While the scoreboard may have read 34 points for the Panthers at the end of the contest, the East Marion defense performed admirably. Three of Lumberton’s five touchdowns followed the East Marion offense turning it over. Jackson said the Eagles made some adjustments on defense in the week leading up to the game and during the contest he believes will be beneficial, and it showed Friday.
“The defense did play well, but the offense put it in some bad situations. The defense fought hard, and our team fought hard tonight,” he said. “Once again, we had some opportunities we didn’t take care of and gave them some good opportunities. To beat good football teams, you have to protect the football and we didn’t do a good job of that.”
East Marion heads into Week 3 of its district slate this week, taking on the Sacred Heart Crusaders (0-6, 0-1). The Crusaders have been outscored 257-87 this season and are coming off a bye week.
The miscues started early for the Eagles Friday night, on just the second play from scrimmage. Quarterback Devin Daniels couldn’t handle the shotgun snap, and Lumberton’s Markees Johnson pounced on the loose ball.
East Marion’s defense got bailed out on the ensuing possession when Lumberton’s Jared Tribett missed a wide open receiver on a deep ball. The Eagles stiffened up after that and stuffed a quarterback sneak on 4th-and-1 to get the ball back. It would be for naught, though, as the East Marion offense went three-and-out to set up the first score of the game.
Lumberton took over at the East Marion 28 following a decent punt return and didn’t miss its opportunity on another deep ball. Panthers receiver Daylan Young beat Darrin Haines off the line, and Tribett connected with Young, who made a diving catch for a touchdown to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
East Marion responded with a methodical 10-play, 70-yard drive down to the Lumberton 10, but Daniels was picked off in the end zone trying to fit the ball into a small window in double coverage. Lumberton capitalized on the turnover as Davion Edwards capped off a 71-yard drive with a 4-yard rushing score to make it 14-0 seconds into the second quarter.
The Eagles had two touchdowns called back on the ensuing possession after a big Flenard McLin kickoff return set them up in Panthers territory. Daniels scrambled for a 25-yard score, only for it to called back due to a Jacob Johnson holding call, and he threw a 12-yard touchdown to Darrin Haines, which was called back for illegal man downfield. The drive eventually stalled when Daniels, who was sacked four times, was wrestled down for a 10-yard loss on 4th-and-15.
The Panthers didn’t waste any time responding as Robert Henry put his foot in the ground and made an explosive cut on his way to a 23-yard rushing touchdown to put Lumberton up 21-0. Two plays later Daniels was intercepted again looking for Lawrence Lambert on a crossing route, which Edwards returned 43 yards into the end zone. Lumberton missed its first PAT of the game but held a commanding 27-0 lead with 3:21 remaining in the first half.
After a turnover on downs by Lumberton to open the second half, East Marion got its most explosive play of the day. Daniels tossed a quick pass to Lambert, who made a defender miss and raced 59 yards down the sideline before being tripped up at the 1. Wanya Cook plunged into the end zone on the next play, and Ladarrius Watts ran in the conversion to cut it down to 27-8 early in the third quarter.
But Lumberton added one last insurance touchdown on the ensuing drive, a 1-yard run by Henry, to put the game on ice. East Marion’s offense punted twice and was intercepted on its final three possessions.
Pictured Above: East Marion quarterback Devin Daniels trucks a Lumberton defender and knocks off his helmet at the end of a run. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
