Marianna Junior Varsity Loses Again

9/18/08
By Sid Riley

Florida High defeats struggling Marianna Junior Varsity Team 28-18
On Thursday the Marianna Junior Varsity squad traveled to Florida High in Tallahassee hoping to atone for their first loss to Chipley the preceding week. It was not to happen.
The team, which is coached by Adam Gray, showed some improvement over the preceding contest, but lack of basic execution development for the offensive unit made the difference in the game. There were moments where the raw athletic abilities of running backs Elliot Batson and Emanuel Batson enabled them to break loose for long runs to score Marianna’s three TD’s, but the team was never able to put together a sustained offensive drive to the goal line. As in the previous game, every possession was halted by a penalty, fumble, or other execution failure.
Once again, the defensive unit performed well. During the third quarter it appeared that Marianna was establishing some momentum as they scored their third touch down and moved to within four points of Florida High. However, they again repeated the basic error that caused the loss to Chipley, by allowing the ensuing kick off to be returned 65 yards for a hope killing touchdown by Florida High.
The truth of the tale is in the statistics. The offensive squad accumulated 442 yards, with 401 of those being from the line of scrimmage. That should be enough to win most games. However, at the same time they endured an astounding 18 penalties with 125 penalty yards. They also had five turnovers. Off Sides, procedure penalties, motion penalties, and delay of the game penalties stopped almost every drive.
Again, the number of plays in the team playbook seemed to be very limited, as the same plays were run repeatedly. The offense still looked unpracticed. However, Emanuel Batson had a great game with two touchdowns, and Elliot Batson had one touchdown. Edward Perry also made several powerful runs. All three extra point attempts failed.
Florida High had only 175 offensive yards from scrimmage, and 260 total yards. They had 6 penalties for 45 yards, and three turnovers.
The final score was …Florida High 28, Marianna 18