Huntsville overcomes early deficit, downs Marshall 35-34 in final seconds to advance to regional final

Photo by Samuel De Leon

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FRISCO -- Huntsville (12-1) took down Marshall (10-3) on Saturday night at the Ford Center, 35-34, clinching a regional final meeting with Fort Bend Marshall. The Hornets weren’t able to get much going in the first half and trailed 21-7, their largest deficit of the season and the first time they had been trailing at halftime this season.

“At halftime, I told them that they need to settle down, we were playing into some hands with some stuff,” Huntsville head coach Rodney Southern said. “We were so resilient and we came out there and played a great second half.”

Huntsville came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and stocky running back Jaeryne Green was extremely tough to bring down. Green finished the night with 87 rushing yards, 38 receiving yards, and two touchdowns.

“Jaeryne always runs hard. He was a little bit frustrated in the first half because we couldn’t establish a rhythm. He hung in there and stuck with it. He kept fighting out there,” Southern said.

With the win, the Hornets will advance to the regional final on Friday night and play Fort Bend Marshall (13-0), who beat Port Neches-Groves 53-14. Southern said that his staff has already had the chance to scout the Buffalos and are impressed by their speed.

“We’ve had a chance to take a look at them,” Southern said. “They’re a good football team, they are (13-0) for a reason. They have some extremely fast guys out there. We have to heel up and get better, but that’s everybody this time of year.”

Conversely, Marshall had several chances to win the game but just couldn’t finish. The most glaring example came when the Mavericks scored a touchdown with 13 seconds remaining to narrow their deficit to 35-34. Head coach Claude Mathis elected to go for two, but quarterback JJ Green’s jump pass was incomplete.

“We had 18 penalties in this ball game, I don’t know how many they had but I bet it wasn’t in double digits,” Mathis said. “So, that right there determined my decision to go for the game. We had already worked on the play in practice and our kids wanted to do it.”

Despite the loss, senior receiver Tahj Washington had an incredible outing and the Mavericks looked to get the ball in his hands nearly every time they passed the ball. Washington finished the night with 124 receiving yards, including a 30-yard touchdown grab with 13 seconds remaining.

“Tahj played unbelievable, he’s one of those guys that we told to take it up to another level and he did that tonight,” Mathis said. “A lot of schools are missing out on him, he played an incredible game.”

In his second season as head coach, Mathis says that a culture change is underway at Marshall and that reaching the regional semifinal is a stepping stone in that development.

“We have changed the culture here at Marshall, our kids are going to fight to the end,” Mathis said. “They now understand that they are going to have to play four quarters. It’s a bond, it’s a family.”

The loss ended the high school football careers of 20 Marshall seniors, including Washington and feature back Treylin Lewis.

“I am going to remember their leadership and their fight. I didn’t have to say too much at times because they took over," Mathis said. “They just never gave up, they believed in me. When you get to this point, the ball has to bounce your way a little bit and unfortunately, it didn’t happen tonight and it’s sad for us.”

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