By: Clint Cox
The Graceville Tigers and Marianna Bulldogs both went on the road this past Friday night and clinch their respective district runner up slots and notched a berth in the upcoming FHSAA football playoffs.
The Graceville Tigers traveled to Cottondale to take on their western county rival in the Hornets. It was all Graceville as the Tigers racked up a 50-14 win. Antrell Wright had a big night, rushing for 196 yards and 5 scores to pace the Tigers. He helped the Tigers jump out to 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Cottondale narrowed the margin to 14-8 after a touchdown run by Dominique Webb and two point pass play from Jesse Freeman to Nick Jackson. But Graceville came right back with another score from Wright to make it a 20-8 game. Justin Miles then hit Florian Litim on a 38 yard scoring strike late in the first half to make it 28-8. Wright added two more touchdown runs in the third quarter to salt the game away at 44-8. Webb led Cottondale with 110 yards on 12 carries. With the loss Cottondale fell to 4-5 and travel to Vernon for their last game of the season. Graceville improved to 7-2 and will host Chipley for their final regular season game. On November 21st Graceville will travel to Jacksonville to take on Eagles View in the first round of the playoffs.
The Marianna Bulldogs also pulled out a win to make the playoffs but it was much harder than Graceville’s win. The Bulldogs trailed 21-14 at the half to Walton County and had their star running back on the sideline with an ankle injury. But the ‘Dogs rallied in the second half and pulled off a "gut check" 34-21 district win. Walton scored on their first two offensive plays of the game while Marianna got a quick score from Bradley Battles. With less than 5 minutes gone in the game Walton led Marianna 14-7. The Bulldogs tied the game at 14-14 with a 1 yard run by R.J. Bowers late in the first quarter. But on the first offensive play in the second quarter for Marianna Battles went down with an injured ankle. While the trainers worked on Battles on the sidelines, Walton reclaimed the lead at 21-14.
Battles made a brief reappearance but was unable to go in the second half. But the Bulldogs did not let that discourage them and Fidel Montgomery scored on a 3 yard run in the third quarter. Troy Clemmons tied the game at 21-21 with his third extra point kick of the night. After a Walton punt Marianna put together what is arguably the longest drive in Bulldog history. They got the ball at their own 3 yard with just under 5 minutes to play in the third quarter. They methodically plowed their way down the field on an 18 play drive. Bowers scored with 5:41 left in the game on a 1 yard run. The drive ate up 11:02 off the game clock and put Marianna up 28-21. Walton fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Marianna’s Demetrious Straker recovered for the Bulldogs. They took another four minutes off the clock and scored with just under two minutes on a 25 yard pass from Dustin Larkin to Fidel Montgomery. Another Clemmons kick put Marianna up 34-21.
Head Coach Rob Armstrong was obviously proud of how his squad didn’t fold when Battles went out. "The way everything went against us early on our kids could have quit. But they didn’t bat an eye. There is no "quit" in this team and I’m extremely proud of them," Armstrong commented. Marianna improved to 7-2 and now travels to Port St. Joe for their last regular season game. The Bulldogs will then travel to Madison to take on the Cowboys on November 21st in round one of the playoffs.
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