‘Dogs Nip Tigers

9/18/08
By: Clint Cox

On a night of many strange twist and turns, the Marianna Bulldogs jumped out to a big lead early and then held on for a 36-28 over county rival Graceville. Marianna cashed in on several early turnovers by Graceville and jumped out to a 21-0 lead. It all started as Tre Long bolted 48 yards for a quick score on Marianna’s first possession. Graceville was moving the ball downfield on the ensuing possession but coughed up the ball and Laramie Dryden recovered for the Bulldogs. Battles took the first handoff and raced 68 yards for another Bulldog score. Again Graceville moved the ball and again they fumbled, this time it was recovered by Fidel Montgomery. Both teams traded punts and with less than two minutes to play in the first quarter Dustin Larkin hit Long on a 53 yard scoring pass.
Up 21-0 going into the second quarter Marianna realized that the Tigers were not going to quit. Graceville went on a 10 play drive behind the running of Leron Hoover and passing of Justin Miles. Early in the second quarter Graceville scored on a 4 yard run by Antrell Wright to cap a 10 play drive that covered 71 yards. The two point conversion run by Miles was good to make it a 21-8 lead for Marianna. In the waning moments of the first half Marianna defensive end Tommy Stephens picked off a Tiger pass and rambled 63 yards for another Bulldog score. Marianna led 29-8 at the half.
Once again the Tigers proved they would not roll over as they took the opening possession of the second half and drove 53 yards and scored on a one yard plunge by Hoover. The two point conversion failed and Graceville trailed 29-14. Marianna responded by putting together a scoring drive of their own when Battles scored his second TD of the night on a 1 yard run. Troy Clemmons point after kick made it 36-14 in the Bulldogs favor. Graceville fired right back after a big kick off return by Hoover to the Bulldog 32 yard line. Miles scored 5 plays later on a 14 yard run and Treyshaun White added a two point conversion run to narrow the gap to 36-22 with just under three minutes to play in the third quarter.
As the game moved into the fourth quarter Marianna appeared to be salting the game away with a long drive that ate up almost five minutes off the clock. But Battles had the ball stripped away from him by Chris Works of Graceville. Works then raced 80 yards down the field untouched for a Tiger score. After a failed two point play the Tigers trailed 36-28 with six minutes to play. The Bulldogs once again put together a long drive and with less than two minutes to play appeared to have a long touchdown run from R.J. Bowers to all but secure the win. But Bowers quickly set the ball down when he thought he had crossed the goal line. But he actually put the ball down before he entered the end zone and Graceville fell on the ball. The Tigers had no timeouts and 99 yards to go to try to tie the game up. But the Bulldog defense held and Marianna hung on for the 36-28 victory.
Battles led the Bulldogs with 126 yards and 2 scores. Tre Long followed with 101 yards of total offense and 2 TDs. Graceville was led by Hoover with 151 yards on 30 carries. White followed with 116 yards of rushing as well. Marianna improved to 2-0 on the season and will be off this week. They will next be in action on September 26th when they travel to Jacksonville to take on Episcopal. Graceville fell to 1-1 on the year and will play host to Holmes County on Friday at 7 pm.