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Football: Marcus tops Hebron for higher seed in Division II playoffs
BY JUSTIN THOMAS, jthomas@acnpapers.com
FLOWER MOUND — With playoff berths already secured, Friday’s contest between Marcus and Hebron determined who would be the top seed from District 8-5A in Division II of the UIL Class 5A playoffs.
The nod went the way of the Marauders, who will hit the playoffs with momentum after defeating the Hawks, 42-28.
Marcus (9-1, 6-1) enters the postseason as the No. 1 seed in Division II from the district (finishing second overall in 8-5A) and will face Keller Fossil Ridge (fourth in District 7-5A) at 11 a.m. next Saturday at Cowboys Stadium — part of a quadruple header between 8 and 7-5A. Hebron (6-4, 4-3) earns the second seed and will face Denton Guyer at 2 p.m. The other half of the festivities — in Division I — pits Plano East against Southlake Carroll at 5 p.m., while unbeaten district champ Allen takes on Keller Central at 8 p.m.
Something had to give with a Marauder team that pounds the football on the ground facing a Hebron defense that allowed just 122 yards per game rushing.
But on Friday the Hawks had no answer for Marcus’ running attack as the Marauders gashed the Hawks for 332 yards, including a game-high 191 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries by Jeff Smiley. Harvey Giddens chipped in 142 yards on 24 attempts with a pair of touchdowns. Quarterback Cole Erwin completed all seven of his pass attempts (all in the first half) for 85 yards, including a 25-yard strike to Cody Apfel to set up a score. Apfel led the squad with three receptions for 31 yards.
“They were just a better team than us tonight,” said Brian Brazil, Hebron coach. “We just couldn’t match their scoring. It was one of those things where if we scored, they came right back and scored and we just couldn’t keep up.”
Trailing, 28-9 at halftime, Hebron kept it entertaining in the second half, in part because of the performance of running back Dezmond Wortham, who gained 133 yards on 15 carries to go with 26 yards receiving. Quarterback Joe Farley completed 19-of-25 passes for 229 yards and score, including a 15-yard touchdown pass to Connor Richmond in the fourth quarter.
Late in the third quarter, a 59-yard touchdown scamper by Wortham cut the Marcus lead to 35-22. However, the Hawks were unable to recover the ensuing onside kick and the Marauders took advantage of the solid field position driving 50 yards for a 1-yard scoring run by Giddens for a 42-22 lead four seconds into the fourth.
“We haven’t seen a run game like theirs,” Brazil said. “They do such a good job of power football. We haven’t seen anybody do it like they do. You can try to simulate it in practice all week long but it’s hard to actually do it. We have to watch the film and learn from it.”
Both teams got out to fast starts, marching for quick scores on their opening possessions. The Marauders received the ball first and drove 80 yards for the score capped by a 34-yard touchdown run by Smiley despite having his jersey nearly torn off during the run.
The Hawks responded with a 64-yard scoring drive resulting in a field goal. Wortham opened the drive with runs of 14 and 13 yards but would be limited to negative yardage the rest of the half. Hebron wouldn't hit the scoreboard again until midway through the second quarter when Wortham capped a 62-yard touchdown drive with a plunge from 1 yard out to cut the Marauder lead to 21-9.
Perhaps the game's biggest turning point occured early in the second quarter, when Marcus' Josh Carraway sacked Farley in the end zone forcing a fumble that was recovered by Zachary Miterko for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
“That was a big swing,” Brazil said. “We actually got a stop and forced them to punt and got the ball. But we fumbled and they kind of got hot from there.
“But I was real pleased offensively, especially in the second half when we scored on every possession. We looked good moving the ball and throwing the ball down the field. I thought Joe did a great job and those are things we can look at and build on.”
Hebron is making a return to the postseason following a one-year hiatus.
“We’ll start getting ready for Guyer,” Brazil said. “The thing is every week is a different game. You just have to move on from it and put it in the past. [Marcus] has a good team over there. I told coach Erwin earlier this week, ‘hopefully we’ll see you in four weeks’. They have a good team and a great chance to make some noise, but I like our chances as well. You can’t measure a 10-week season on the way you played one game. We played really well for nine weeks and we’ll learn from it.”
Marcus, meanwhile, looks for a win in the bi-district round after falling last season in the first round in a heartbreaker against eventual Division II state finalist Denton Guyer.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time,” Erwin said. “We have to get better in all three phases and focus 100 percent on Keller Fossil Ridge. We’re real excited and ready to get started. We have some things to fix and we’re going to keep working hard to prepare.”
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