Chipley JV 7 - Marianna JV 0

9/11/08

The two junior varsity teams warmed up, the national anthem was played, the coin flip ceremony was performed at center field, Marianna lined up and kicked off to Chipley, the ball flew to the 25 yard line where it was fielded by a Chipley back, he broke through the center of the oncoming pack, moved left to avoid a tackle, and raced 75 yards for a touchdown. That was followed by a perfect extra point kick. From that point the crowd might as well have packed up and gone home…the game was over.
For the ensuing four quarters of play it was a defensive battle, with neither team able to muster a meaningful offensive attack. The entire game was played between the thirty yard lines as both defensive units effectively shut down the opposing offense.
The Marianna squad under the coaching expertise of Adam Gray was sorely missing the presence of star running back Chris Bowers, who was pulled up to the varsity squad a few days before this JV contest.
The offensive half of the team appeared to be unprepared to play a game, as was demonstrated by numerous off side incursions, alignment problems, and backfield motion penalties which effectively shut down the effort when any offensive momentum was begun. There were several fumbles which appeared to be caused by lack of the practiced timing required for effective play execution. Additionally, it appeared that the offensive unit had a very limited play library, as the same plays were run over and over with little result.
This was a bitter loss for this group of upcoming Marianna players, since this same group of youngsters had experienced two years of undefeated middle school play, under the coaching of Hunter Nolen. They are not familiar with the emotion of losing.