Dogs Nip Hornets

Nobody told Cottondale that they weren’t supposed to put up such a fight against the county’s largest school. If they did, the Hornets paid no attention as Cottondale gave Marianna all they wanted and then some last Thursday night. It took a two yard touchdown run by Hakeem Holmes with :27 seconds to play for Marianna to escape with a 26-22 victory over the Hornets.

The game had been moved to a Thursday night so football fans from the other county schools could come to watch. Those fans as well as the Bulldog and Hornets fans certainly got their money’s worth. The Bulldogs took the early lead when Chris Bowers scored on a 20 yard run on the Marianna’s opening drive. The extra point attempt was blocked, giving the Bulldogs a 6-0 lead. The Bulldog defense then did their job in forcing a Hornet punt on Cottondale’s opening possession. Other than the blocked extra point Marianna’s game plan was going well in the early going. But the Bulldog offense began to sputter, fumbling twice and punting once in their next three possessions. Cottondale wasn’t any better though as they had to punt on their first two possessions and then gave it up on downs on their third possession. Late in the first half Marianna made it a 12-0 game when Holmes scored his first TD of the night on a 4 yard run. That lead held at the half.

The third quarter was a shoot out as Cottondale came out smoking. They quickly marched down the field on the opening possession of the second half and got on the scoreboard with an 11 yard run by Shondre McAroy. Dominique Webb added a two point conversion and just like that Cottondale trailed 12-8. Marianna responded though with a touchdown on their second possession of the half with a 14 yard run by Tre Jackson. That touchdown was set up when Bulldog safety Clayte Rooks picked off a Hornet pass and returned it to the Cottondale 14 yard line. With Marianna leading 18-8 the Hornets went back to work. They put together an impressive 8 play drive that went 60 yards. CJ Smith capped with off with a 10 yard run for a score and then hit Webb on a pass play for the two point conversions. The Bulldog lead had dwindled to 18-16 as the third quarter came to a close.

Both offenses appeared to have run out of bullets for much of the fourth quarter. But late in the game Cottondale found a few slugs. The Hornet defense stopped Marianna on downs at the Cottondale 9 yard with just under three minutes to play. Smith hooked up with Webb for a 30 yard pass play and then Smith launched a high pass down the field to Jacquez Walker. Two Bulldog defenders went for the ball and missed. Walker hauled in the pass and went the distance for a 61 yard scoring strike with just over two minutes to play. Cottondale took a 22-18 lead as Hornet fans and players were ecstatic.

But Marianna took possession at their own 42 yard line and Bowers went to work, picking up 23 yards and then 9 yards. Jackson then had back to back runs for first downs and moved the ball to the Hornet two yard line with under :30 seconds to play. Holmes then took it in for what proved to be the game winning TD.

Marianna racked up almost 400 yards on offense and were led by Jackson with 143 yards on 11 carries. Bowers added 69 yards and Holmes had 51 on the ground. Cottondale countered with 348 yards of offense, led by Webb with 93 yards and Evan Davis with 76 yards. Smith was 10-24 in the passing game for 178 yards.