The East Marion Eagles defense has dominated the past two games and will travel to running-dominated Noxapater (10-2) on Friday night for the first round of the Class 1A playoffs.
The Eagles’ bang-bang offense rolled over Resurrection Catholic 36-7 Friday at Leslie Peters Field to end the regular season 6-5 and 4-2 in District 4-1A. Resurrection finished 6-4, 3-3.
Two weeks ago, East Marion blanked Mount Olive 30-0 with a powerful defensive showing. Eagles head coach Kevin Jackson again praised his defense after the victory over Resurrection.
“Defense came to play tonight and played a pretty good game,” he said. “We tackled well, we were where we were supposed to be and we played with intensity and emotion.”
The Eagles held Resurrection to only 137 total yards on offense, with 82 yards rushing and 55 yards passing, managing only four first downs in the first half. Running back Terrance Spivey led the Resurrection offense with 84 yards on 16 carries. His 2-yard dive in the second quarter accounted for the visitors’ only touchdown.
East Marion’s defense helped Resurrection complete the 60-yard, 13-play scoring drive with penalties. A fourth-down offside penalty gave Resurrection a first down at midfield, and then another infraction moved the ball inside the Eagles’ 10-yard line.
“We had a couple of offside penalties that extended their drive,” Jackson said. “As a matter of fact, several of them came on Resurrection’s score. Other than that, the defense had a good night.”
East Marion built up the decisive 36-7 lead by halftime, and a running clock through the second half negated any sustained offensive drives by either team.
The Eagles scored in their first possession after senior running back Wanya Cook rambled 53 yards during the 68-yard, eight-play drive. Cook dominated the ground game with six carries for 119 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Devin Daniels tossed a 3-yard pass to Lawrence Lambert for the score and a 7-0 lead with 6:08 remaining in the first quarter.
After the East Marion defense held Resurrection to its second three-and-out series to open the game, the Eagles exploded to score on two plays and go ahead 14-0 with 4:04 remaining in the period. After Daniels kept around right end for 23 yards, Cook blasted around right end, ran past most of the defenders and pushed aside the rest for a 48-yard touchdown run.
Resurrection’s only score at 10:34 in the second quarter closed the margin to 14-7 in East Marion’s favor. However, the Eagles fired back with a 62-yard, six-play drive that was highlighted by Flenard McLin’s one-hand grab of a 36-yard pass from Daniels down to the Resurrection 1-yard line. Daniels finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge for a 22-7 Eagles lead.
After another Resurrection three-and-out series, East Marion scored on a 43-yard, six-play drive sparked by a Daniels-to-McLin connection of 31 yards. Cook tacked on his second TD of the game from 1 yard out for a 30-7 lead with 4:31 until halftime.
The Eagles scored their final touchdown of the game with 1:18 remaining in the second quarter when Daniels found Darrin Haines for a 47-yard touchdown pass and the 36-7 final.
Jackson said after the game the team would be watching videos of Noxapater this past weekend to prepare for the game. “We’re thankful for an opportunity to get into the playoffs and we’ll see what happens.”
However, Jackson stressed the players will have to cut down on the number of penalties during the playoffs.
“We have got to toughen up on offside and encroachment penalties in the playoffs,” he said. “The defensive and offensive lines are still playing a little high-energy. So we’ve got to work on that and get better.
“It’s going to be crucial that we stay low and win the line-of-scrimmage battle throughout the playoffs.”
Pictured Above: East Marion's Wanya Cook tries to break free of a pair of Resurrection Catholic defenders. | Photo by Buster Wolfe
