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Steven Locust, Aaron Busch and Brandon Cheater scored touchdowns for Marble City to lead the Warriors to their second-straight title with a 24-16 win over the Wildcats.
“As a coach, you’re always pleased to see your players reach their ultimate goal and this was our ultimate goal,” said Marble City head coach Amos Morgan.
The victory gave Marble City a perfect 10-0 record and Locust gave them a perfect start on Saturday, when he returned the opening kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown. Locust ran for the two-point conversion as well.
Aaron Bush capped a touchdown drive in the second quarter with a one-yard quarterback sneak and then ran for the two-point conversion to push the Warriors’ lead to 16-0.
Moffett took the ensuing kickoff and Jaquielle Franklin’s touchdown run got the Wildcats on the board before halftime. D’Andre Owens ran for the conversion to make it 16-8.
The Wildcats scored again in the third quarter when quarterback Dominic Blue scrambled for a touchdown and Owens added the two-point conversion to knot the score.
With the game tied 16-16, Morgan said the Warrior defense stepped up.
“At that point, we were down and the momentum was against us, but it seemed like the defense picked up after that and played more aggressive than we had in the whole ball game,” said Morgan.
A fourth-down stop by the Marble City defense set up the Warriors’ winning touchdown. The offense drove the ball down to the goal-line and Brandon Cheater scored on a fullback dive from a yard out to break the tie with 35 seconds left in the third quarter. Locust ran for the conversion.
Marble City’s defense stopped Moffett on fourth down on two more occasions and the Warriors were eventually able to run out the clock to clinch the championship. It was the third year for the Warriors to reach the finals. They lost to Rocky Mountain in 2006 and avenged the loss in the 2007 championship game.
Moffett head coach Craig Coulter said the Warriors’ experience was a factor on Saturday.
“We did pretty good, we just couldn’t quite beat them in the end,” said Coulter. “They’ve been there before and it was our first time, so our kids were more nervous and that’s not good.”
Moffett ended its season with a 10-2 record with both losses coming against Marble City. The Wildcats defeated Belfonte and Peavine in the first two rounds of the playoffs and beat Jennings in the semifinals.
Marble City had a first-round bye and beat Spavinaw 46-20 in the second round of the playoffs. The Warriors knocked off Rocky Mountain 44-36 in the semifinals to advance to the title game.
Morgan said his team benefited from a 28-24 win over Tenkiller early in the season.
“One thing that helped us be prepared for the playoffs was playing Tenkiller in the third game of the year,” said the Marble City coach. “At one point, were 10 points behind and we were able to come back and win the game. They’re a Division I school and they won the state championship, so I think that game was crucial because it showed us we were a good football game and we could play with the big boys.”
Morgan also credited the Warriors’ linemen for stepping up.
“At the beginning of the season, I wasn’t real sure how we would react because we lost five starters from last year’s team and we had a lot of untested linemen. I’m not saying we’re the most talented in the world along the line of scrimmage, but we’re pretty smart. They block the way we ask them to block and if we asked them to adapt, they did,” said Morgan.
