Although the final score made it seem like a one-sided affair, the East Marion Eagles were in it until the end in a 26-8 home loss to Franklin County Friday night.
What hurt the Eagles (3-6, 3-1) was untimely turnovers and allowing Franklin County to recover several onside kicks.
“We were in it the whole way. We were down 14-8 at halftime, then we completed a long pass to get to the 5, and I feel if we punch that in it’s a different ball game,” head coach Brad Hughes said. “Momentum is a monster in games. You get a big play like that and potentially take the lead, it could have went a whole different direction.”
The Eagles defense started off the game in style, getting Franklin County into a third-and-9 on the opening possession and scoring a touchdown. The Bulldogs tried to throw an under route, but Deundre Ruffin read it the whole way and tipped the ball up into the waiting arms of Ladarrius Watts, who returned the interception 37 yards to pay dirt to give East Marion an early 8-0 lead.
But Franklin County answered right back with its ground game marching it into Eagles territory until quarterback Ja’Marlin Green fooled the Eagles on a read option that went for a 23-yard touchdown to tie it up 8-8. Then the Bulldogs stole a possession with a successful onside kick as the Eagles failed to attack the ball.
However, East Marion made up for it, picking up a key red zone stop. The Bulldogs got down to the East Marion 14 and faced a fourth-and-3, but Green’s pass was off target and led to a turnover on downs.
Though their initial drive started off promising with Jadarrius Mallard breaking off an 18-yard run on the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage, it was quickly derailed by a turnover. It appeared quarterback Demetrius Allen was trying to connect with Amere Woodham on a post, but there was some form of miscommunication with the pass going straight to the free safety while Woodham was at least 10 yards away.
Franklin County reached the East Marion 25 on the ensuing possession, but a high snap went through Green’s hands on fourth down for a loss of 12 yards to give the Eagles the ball back. On the very next play, though, Leon Andrews, who was taking his first snap under center in relief of Allen, fumbled the snap, and the Bulldogs recovered.
East Marion’s defense then forced yet another fourth down, but Green was able to convert it this time with a 23-yard pass on a wheel route. On the next play, Traquian Conerly gave the Bulldogs a 14-8 lead with a 9-yard touchdown run with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half. Then Franklin County stole another possession with a second onside kick. This time East Marion’s Deuce Johnson went after the high-bouncing kick, but he couldn’t corral it, allowing the Bulldogs to recover it.
East Marion forced a quick three-and-out before going three-and-out on offense, but Franklin County muffed the punt to gift the Eagles the ball back. It didn’t amount to anything, though, with the Eagles turning it over on downs again. The Bulldogs got into the red zone again right before the end of the first half, but Deundre Ruffin picked off Green to end the threat and go into halftime. East Marion had just 30 yards offensively in the first half.
To start the second half, the Eagles got into Franklin County territory and nearly set themselves up with a first-and-goal from the 6 with Ja’Quarious Jones connecting with Woodham on a 37-yard pass out of Wildcat, but an illegal shift was called on Jones, negating the big play. East Marion was subsequently stuffed and forced to punt.
“That was questionable to me because he took a step back as the ball was snapped,” Hughes said. “That hurt us bad.”
After forcing a three-and-out, behind some nice runs by Mallard and Kevin Johnson, East Marion got to the Franklin County 32, where it faced a fourth-and-3. But Andrews fumbled the snap under center again, leading to another turnover on downs deep inside Bulldogs territory.
“It just seemed like anything that could go wrong, did. We had one of those nights,” Hughes said.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, Franklin County created some distance on the scoreboard as Conerly powered his way into the end zone for a 3-yard score that made it 20-8. Then the Eagles once again misplayed an onside kick that the Bulldogs recovered. Hughes said he doesn’t know what the issue was with the onside kicks but that they “just couldn’t field the jokers.”
“That was probably the difference in the game, too,” he said. “We barely had the ball in the first half because we got the ball, threw an interception, got back on offense and fumbled the snap, then the onside kicks. It seemed like we played defense the whole night.”
East Marion was able to force a turnover on downs once the Bulldogs got into the red zone, but Franklin County managed to take off about five minutes off the clock.
East Marion quickly went four-and-out and gave the Bulldogs the ball back at the Eagles 24. Just a few plays later, Green hit Jawara Jackson in the back of the end zone off play action for a 3-yard touchdown to make it 26-8. The Eagles tried out Jones at quarterback for the final drive after he showed off a nice arm out of Wildcat previously, but they went nowhere and the clock ran out.
When Franklin County was forced to try and drive the full length of the field, East Marion got stops and even got stops a couple of times when the Bulldogs started in Eagles territory.
“Our defense has really been playing well. I can’t complain about that side of the ball at all. They stepped and are playing hard,” Hughes said. “Our offense has gotten better. We’re just making bad mistakes. We just have to fix those little things. It just felt like Friday night that every time we needed to make a play, we just couldn’t. We were always just one play away from breaking loose.”
The Eagles will play at Newton (3-3, 1-3) to end the regular season, and Hughes said Newton is athletic and likes to air it out. He said he thinks the matchup will be similar to East Marion’s games against Collins and Franklin County in that it will likely be a game that isn’t decided until the fourth quarter.
