East Marion’s coaches and players knew they had their hands full Friday night when they arrived at Stringer for the first district matchup between the two schools.
Stringer (9-1, 4-0) went into Friday night’s contest riding an eight-game winning streak and extended it to nine with a 50-34 win over East Marion (4-5, 2-2).
The Eagles fell behind early, heading into the second quarter trailing 20-6, and while they cut the deficit to a one-possession game a few times throughout the game, they simply could not keep pace with the Red Devils’ high-scoring offense.
East Marion head coach Kevin Jackson said it’s extremely hard to come from behind when up against an offense that is explosive and rarely turns the ball over.
“We came up with two or three stops throughout the game, but even when you come with stops you need to capitalize on a good team like that and we didn’t,” he said. “It’s very difficult to come back on a team that’s explosive like they were. We fought hard but didn’t weren’t able to close that gap.”
While the Eagles defense did come up with a few stops, it was unable to come up with a turnover, which could have flipped the script in Jasper County.
“We had a couple stops, but if we could’ve had a turnover on the positive side of the field and got an easy score, it could have catapulted us and given us some momentum,” Jackson said.
Heading into the matchup, Jackson was concerned about how versatile the Red Devils offense is. Going into the game, Stringer’s lead running back, Anthony Thomas, was averaging over 10 yards per carry, while its quarterback, Caleb Dyess, averaged nearly 20 yards per completion. Both of those themes continued against the Eagles as Thomas ran for 221 yards (11.1 YPC) and five touchdowns, and Dyess averaged 17.5 yards per completion and tossed two touchdowns.
“Coach (John) Brown does a good job of mixing the run and pass. He kept us off balance all night,” Jackson said. “They had a good receiver (Reese Barber) they would throw it to whenever they needed a few yards, and he was able to get open on us and catch the ball. Hats off to coach Brown, their staff and their team with coming up with a good game plan and executing it pretty well Friday night.”
An issue that has plagued the Eagles in their five losses this season is while they haven’t had issues scoring points overall, they have faltered late in the game as defenses begin to figure out how to slow down star running back Jarveon Howard. Jackson reiterated it’s an issue the Eagles need to solve.
“Once again, we were able to score some points. Jarveon had a good night, but we have to get some more people involved,” he explained. “A lot of teams are keying in on Jarveon and eventually they’re going to make some stops on him. We’ve got to utilize some more guys on offense and spread the ball a little bit more.”
The Eagles would certainly like to become more balanced offensively with more players making plays, but there’s a fine line when dealing with a star player like Howard.
There’s always going to be the narrative that if you spread the ball around early and fall behind on the scoreboard, people are going to be clamoring for the coaching staff to get the ball in its star’s hands more often early in the game so they don’t fall behind.
On the other side of that coin, however, when a coaching rides its star and the opposing defense begins to stop him later in the game, those same people are going to be clamoring for the coaching staff to get the ball in other players’ hands because its star player is being keyed on.
“It is difficult to find that balance,” Jackson said. “Jarveon is such an explosive player, and we feel like he has the potential to take it to the house every time he touches it. But we have to be a little more disciplined and spread it out a little more, so teams won’t be as focused on him and maybe later in the game we’ll have some opportunities for him to do his thing and be a little more effective late. We have to be more conscious of spreading it out early in the game.”
Despite Friday night’s loss to Stringer, the Eagles still are in good shape and have a lot to play for. They currently occupy fourth place in Class 1A Region 4, which would put them in the playoffs if the season ended today.
However, the team directly behind them is Mount Olive (3-7, 2-3), which is the Eagles’ opponent this Friday night, and the team directly ahead of them is Resurrection Catholic (4-6, 3-2), which is the Eagles’ final opponent of the regular season next week.
The Eagles’ playoff scenarios are pretty straight forward. If they win either of their last two games, they make the playoffs. If they lose both, they would be eliminated. If they beat Mount Olive Friday, Mount Olive would be eliminated from contention. If they lose to Mount Olive but beat Resurrection, Mount Olive would lose the three-team tiebreaker. If the Eagles win both games, they would finish third in the district with Resurrection, which has already clinched a playoff berth, dropping to fourth.
With those scenarios, Mount Olive has to win or it will be eliminated, so Jackson knows the talented Pirates will come to play. The Eagles should also be amped for the matchup, considering they would rather not be in a win-or-go-home scenario the last week of the season against Resurrection.
“Mount Olive has always had athletes and still has some athletes out there. We’re going to have to come to play. They’ll be geared up to play,” Jacksons said. “It’s basically a do-or-die night for both teams. A win would ensure either one of us a spot in the playoffs, so our playoffs begin this Friday. It’s a must-win situation for us.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Leslie Peters Field.
Pictured Above: Jarveon Howard breaks for a big gain. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
