Tiger Sharks Slip By Bulldogs

By Clint Cox

For the second straight week the Marianna Bulldogs lost a close contest at home as they fell 23-22 to the visiting Tiger Sharks of Port St. Joe. The Bulldogs trailed by nine points with just under three minutes to play in the game. But the ‘Dogs rallied with a Tre Jackson touchdown and two point conversion with just :33 seconds left on the clock. Now trailing by one point, Marianna then executed an onside kick and Craig Leslie recovered the ball to give the Bulldogs the ball at the Tiger Shark 48 yard line. Marianna picked up 11 yards on a Jackson to R.J. Bowers pass but that was as much as they could muster before the clock expired.

Marianna had taken the opening drive of the game and went on an eight minute drive before being forced to punt. Port St. Joe, starting at their own 10 yard line, scored on their third offensive play as Calvin Pryor went 82 yards for the touchdown. But on the ensuing kickoff Jackson showed that Marianna could come up with the big play as well when he bolted 92 yards on a kickoff return for a score. Marianna converted a two point play on the extra point on a shovel pass from Jackson to Chris Bowers. That was all the scoring for the first half as Marianna led 8-7 at halftime.

Port St. Joe added 9 points in the third quarter on a touchdown and 27 yard field goal. The Tiger Sharks took a 16-8 lead going into the final quarter. Early in the fourth quarter Marianna put together a 10 play six minute drive that covered 82 yards. It culminated with a 15 yard scoring run by Marjean Dean with just under five minutes to play. Marianna went for two but failed, thus they trailed 16-14. Port St. Joe took the ensuing possession and scored on a 30 yard half back pass on a fourth down play. That put the Tiger Sharks up by nine points.

With the loss Marianna fell to 4-5 on the year and will have an open date this week. They are next scheduled to play at Sneads on November 13th. However there is a chance that they may play on November 9th in a district runner up tie breaker. See “Bulldog Playoff Picture” on page B4 for more details.