East Marion’s season came to a close Friday night as the Eagles couldn’t overcome three turnovers in a 35-0 loss at Union in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.
The Eagles (3-9) had to rely strictly on their aerial attack against the Yellowjackets as their running game went backwards for negative-7 yards on 11 carries. Head coach Brad Hughes said going in he knew the Eagles would have to throw more against Union because he saw on film that despite the Yellowjackets regularly only having six players in the box, nobody was able to run against them.
“Especially with our young O-line, I wanted to see what we’d be able to do throwing it. (Andrews) had some moments,” he said.
Quarterback Leon Andrews did set multiple career highs with 13 completions on 26 attempts for 140 yards — all career bests — but he was also intercepted twice and put himself in some bad positions by dropping back more than 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage several times before releasing the ball.
East Marion’s offense has struggled all year, gaining just 596 yards on the ground on 2.4 yards per carry with five touchdowns and completing only 34% of its passes for 434 yards, three touchdowns and 13 interceptions. However, since the Eagles reached their district schedule and got middle linebacker Marteze Mikell back from a chest injury, their defense has been great and was the reason they made it to the playoffs.
Hughes said with such a young team this season was all about growth and learning for the Eagles. They were already at a disadvantage with a new coach because Hughes wasn’t even able to meet his players until mid-June with the pandemic. With the foundation now built and players at key positions having experience, Hughes said the expectations will be high going into 2021.
Friday night the Yellowjackets wasted no time taking a commanding lead, scoring three first-quarter touchdowns. Jaylon Buckley got it started with an 8-yard touchdown run two minutes into the game. Following a quick East Marion three-and-out, Union’s Kenyon Clay scampered in for a 6-yard score on a quarterback draw to make it 12-0 midway through the quarter.
The Eagles were able to get into the red zone on their ensuing possession as Andrews connected with Demetrius Allen for a 47-yard gain on a deep ball then hit Carlos Stubbs for a 16-yard gain on fourth-and-14. But then a handoff from Andrews to Deundre Ruffin was fumbled and recovered by the Yellowjackets.
On Union’s first play of the drive, Buckley broke a tackle at the line and rumbled for 32 yards, setting up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Clay to Jamarcus Jones off play-action to make it 19-0 going into the second quarter.
The ensuing kickoff went over all of East Marion’s returners’ heads and pinned the Eagles back at their own 6. On third down, Andrews tossed up a desperation heave out of his own end zone into the middle of the field, where it was intercepted at the 36. Two plays later Clay found pay dirt again, shaking two Eagles defenders at the line and coasting in for a 36-yard touchdown that increased the Union lead to 25-0 early in the second quarter.
East Marion responded with a solid drive with Andrews completing passes to Allen and Kevin Johnson that totaled 30 yards on top of a roughing the passer penalty. But as the Eagles were approaching the red zone, Andrews was intercepted trying to connect with Allen up the seam. It wasn’t a bad pass, though, but instead was a great play by the safety.
Clay picked up his fourth touchdown of the game late in the third quarter on an easy 3-yard run that made it 32-0. The Yellowjackets later added a field goal in the fourth quarter to bring the final margin to 35-0. East Marion only had one play in the second half that gained more than nine yards, which was a 36-yard completion from Andrews to Stubbs.
Despite the loss Hughes said he thought East Marion battled and played hard all four quarters.
“They gave it all they had. That was a senior-heavy ball club with quite a few seniors that played on both sides of the ball,” he said. “I think it’s just good experience for us as far as growth is concerned to play a team like that. In the second half, we played a lot better football.”
The Eagles will be saying goodbye to seniors Mikell, Stubbs, Ladarrius “Chucky” Watts, Devan Taborn, Jaidon Johnson, Jaylin Mooring, Travis Russell and Joevarian Travis-Nixon, and Hughes said they were a blast to coach.
“I’m going to miss them. They were some good character kids, and I can’t say enough good things about them. With the way they played and the leadership they showed, it was a really good group to have my first year,” he said.
