Friday night’s matchup between Lumberton, the reigning Class 1A South State champion which lost the state title game by only four points last year, and East Marion, which won just once last season in Class 2A, had mismatch written all over it.
But it was evident on East Marion’s home field that the Eagles are a much-improved football team that have a chance to make some real noise in 1A.
It wasn’t always pretty, but East Marion (3-3, 1-1) hung with Lumberton (5-1, 2-0) for four quarters but failed to stop the Panthers’ four-minute offense in crunch time, falling 38-34.
“It really came down to them being able to tackle our back and we didn’t do such a good job of tackling theirs,” East Marion coach Kevin Jackson following the game.
The Panthers jumped on East Marion early with Davion Edwards and Robert Henry each scoring on 3-yard touchdown runs in the first quarter, giving Lumberton an early 16-0 lead with two 2-point conversions.
To begin the second quarter, East Marion’s defense forced a quick three-and-out, setting up a blocked punt by Elijah Brown, which rolled out of the back of the end zone for a safety and cut the deficit to 16-2.
East Marion would be forced to punt on the ensuing possession, but Jacob Johnson stripped the punt returner and the Eagles pounced on the loose ball, setting them up at Lumberton’s 20-yard line. In what turned out to be a big missed opportunity for the Eagles, quarterback Devin Daniels found Wanya Cook wide open in the end zone, but the pass slipped through Cook’s fingers. After gaining just five yards in four plays, the Eagles turned the ball over on downs.
However, East Marion’s defense stiffened up again and got the ball back for the offense. Then an Eagles newcomer made a play. On third-and-12, Daniels launched a deep ball to Darrin Haines, who went over the defender to make a highly-contested catch on a 50-50 ball before breaking a tackle and racing into the end zone for a 74-yard touchdown. Jarveon Howard ran in the two-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 16-10 heading into halftime.
Coming out of intermission, East Marion’s offense was forced to punt and gave the Panthers excellent field position. The Eagles nearly came up with a stop, getting the Panthers to fourth-and-inches, but quarterback Jared Tribett scored from 30 yards out on a quarterback sneak. With the two-point conversion, Lumberton extended its lead to 24-10 with nine minutes left in the third quarter.
The Eagles thought they got right back in the game as Lawrence Lambert took a jet sweep 65 yards to the house on the first play of the drive, but the run was negated by a block in the back penalty. The Eagles were forced to punt and needed their defense to make a big play.
They got their big play when Howard forced a fumble, and Michael Wilson pounced on the loose ball to set the Eagles up in the red zone. Four plays later, Howard went over the top for a 1-yard touchdown before he ran in the two-point attempt, making it 24-18 with 3:59 remaining in the third.
However, Lumberton put up 14 points in the blink of an eye, scoring on back-to-back possessions, as Kavoris Howard rumbled his way into the end zone for a 12-yard score and Tribbet found Rickey Thomas for a 52-yard touchdown pass to put the Panthers up 38-18 with nine minutes remaining.
Sandwiched between the two touchdowns was Daniels being intercepted on a busted play. The snap rolled to Daniels, whose internal clock was sped up by the miscue, and he tossed up an unwarranted heave that found a white jersey rather than the home blue.
Daniels faced pressure all night and was scrambling outside of the pocket on nearly every passing play. But there were a few plays he missed the early read.
“They had a really fast defense and brought a lot of pressure. We tried to get it out quick to our receivers,” Jackson said. “Devin just has to do a better job of getting it out.”
Being down 20 points in the fourth quarter to one of the elite programs in the classification typically leads to a blowout, but the Eagles regrouped and put a furious comeback attempt together.
Following Tribbet’s touchdown pass, Howard took East Marion’s first play 80 yards untouched to pay dirt. With the two-point conversion, the Lumberton lead was cut to 38-26. Then Brown picked up a Lumerton fumble and gave the Eagles the ball once again.
Set up by an acrobatic 37-yard catch by Johnson, a 28-yard run by Howard and a 13-yard scamper by Lambert that turned into a 28-yard gain with a personal foul penalty, Daniels got around the edge, laid out for the pylon and barely got in for a 3-yard score. With Howard running in his fourth two-point conversion of the night, the Eagles cut the deficit to 38-34 with 2:55 remaining.
However, Lumberton grinded out three first downs to run out the clock, ending the game.
“They had a couple of big backs over there, and we just weren’t able to bring them down. We covered our gaps most of the night, but it was just missed tackles. They were able to get extra yards,” Jackson said. “We gave them a few extended drives with penalties, so we just have to continue to try and clean up our game and continue to try and execute a little better and tackle better.”
East Marion will remain at home Friday night to take on Sacred Heart (3-3, 0-1), which is coming off a 44-0 road loss to Resurrection Catholic.
The Crusaders feature a balanced offensive attack, but are prone to mistakes, turning the ball over 14 times in six games.
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at Leslie Peters Field.
Pictured Above: Darrin Haines hauls in a 74-yard touchdown. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
