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Second-half turnovers cost Marcus district football title
BY RICKY MOORE, Staff Writer
COPPELL n Playing mistake-free football brought Marcus’ football team on the verge of winning its first district title since 1997.
Friday night, Marcus turned the ball over on three consecutive second-half possessions as Coppell rallied to beat the Marauders, 17-13, in both team’s District 6-5A finale at Buddy Echols Field.
“We came out and scored on the first possession of the second half and then turned it over on the next three,” said Marcus coach Bryan Erwin. “You aren’t going to win many football games doing that.”
Marcus will play Keller at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in a Class 5A Division I bi-district playoff game at Justin Northwest. The Marauders, which will be making its first playoff appearance since 2003, beat Keller, 23-0, on Sept. 21.
“We just have to learn from this,” Erwin said. “We’ve had a lot of success this year and you have to learn from that success. The good news is we get to come back next week and play for a bi-district championship.”
Leading 13-10, late in fourth quarter, Marcus seemed poised to put the game away when it marched to the Coppell 3. But after Coppell stuffed a pair of runs, Marcus quarterback Jared Jacobs tried to make a play as he was being sacked and threw an interception with 3 minutes, 27 seconds left.
“It was a bad throw. Jared was trying to make a play,” Erwin said. “He should have just thrown it away and you know, we’d have kicked the field goal and move on.”
Marcus had turned the ball over on its two previous drives when running back Stephens Hopkins, who gave Marcus a lead on a 2-yard that capped the opening drive of the second half, fumbled at the Coppell 5 and the Marcus 43.
Coppell took over at its own 22 and moved the ball down the field with receiver Devin Smith taking over at quarterback. Smith broke off runs of 4, 7, 7, 11 and finally 9 yards to move the ball to the Marcus 41.
On his last run, Smith was hit hard and had to leave the game. Starting quarterback Dalton Williams took over for Smith, who completed 2 of 3 passes for minus 1 yard on the drive, and two plays later found Willie O’Quinn over the middle for a 41-yard score with 36 seconds to play.
Marcus’ attempt to score the game-winning touchdown on the ensuing drive failed and the Marauders remained winless in four tries since Coppell moved to Class 5A.
In the first half, Coppell scored after Marcus turned the ball over on down at its own 43. Five plays later, Smith scored from a yard out for the 7-0 first quarter lead.
Marcus closed to within 7-6 on back-to-back drives that ended with field goals of 23 and 32 yards by Eric Frazier. The first drive took 15 plays and covered 55 yards, while the second was a nine-play, 29-yard affair.
Late in the first half, Coppell took over with 26 seconds to play at its own 10. In two plays, a 22-yard run by Evan Okotcha and a 43-yard screen pass, the Cowboys moved into position for Griffin Mobley to kick a 40-yard field goal as time ran out for a 10-6 halftime lead.
“We wanted to win the district championship,” Erwin said. “In the grand scheme of things, the loss doesn’t hurt us. We just have to learn from it. I don’t like not playing well and making those mistakes. We have to get that corrected.”
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