Indians fall to Marshall in first district game

Between the rain, which came down almost nonstop, and the home team’s potent offense and flagrant unsportsmanlike play, the Jacksonville Fightin’ Indians could not catch a break at Maverick Stadium on Friday night, falling 38-0 in the district contest.

Marshall quarterback JJ Green opened the scoring for the Mavericks with a 26-yard strike to Jakobe Mitchell at about the halfway mark of the first quarter. The PAT by Melvin Salinas put the Mavs up, 7-0, and they would never look back.

The Marshall defense showed its mettle early and often in the ballgame, though not always in the cleanest fashion. With the Indians missing senior speedster Deshawn McCuin at the wide receiver position due to injury, the Tribe hoped to be able to lean on the services of Chris Carpenter to catch the ball throughout the game.

Unfortunately for JHS, Carpenter fell victim to a blatant case of targeting by Mavericks’ defensive back Champ Mathis and was forced out for the remainder of the night early in the second quarter. No flag was thrown on the play, much to the chagrin of Indian fans.

Apart from his receiving duties, Carpenter also opened the night as the Jacksonville punter and backup quarterback. After his injury, the Indians found themselves punting out of their own endzone with backup Jonathan Garcia taking the snap. The Mavs, realizing the situation, brought an all-out block package and forced Garcia to step on the end line, resulting in a safety.

The home team would record the final two scores of the first half – one on the ground and another on special teams. First it was running back Dekendrick Bender who bowled his way in from four yards out at the 1:43 mark of the second quarter. Salinas again split the uprights to put the Mavs up 16-0.

Just before the horn sounded for halftime, the Tribe again faced a treacherous punting scenario. This time, head coach Wayne Coleman sent Jaylon Freeney out to handle matters. Inspired by their success on the earlier attempt, Marshall “brought the house” a second time. Freeney could not handle the sopping wet football in his endzone. The Mavericks partially blocked the attempt, recovering for a touchdown, which Salinas converted. As the half ended in a deluge, Marshall led, 23-0.

During the halftime interval the downpour somehow intensified, to the point that the decision was agreed upon by the coaches to play the second half with a running clock.

The Mavericks, who had opened the game in all-red uniforms, emerged from the tunnel in black jerseys for the second half of play. Though the new threads didn’t stay dry long, they did seem to instill even more confidence into the district-leading home team.

Two more short plunges by Marshall backs Bender and De’Torian Hurd would finalize the scoring in the rapidly-moving second half. Jacksonville managed only a handful of forays into Maverick territory all night and was unable to mount a threat in the final two quarters.

The lone big-play highlight of the night for Jacksonville came back in the first quarter when quarterback Tristen Shewmake uncorked an impressive 40-yard bomb to Brealyn Riden, for his only catch of the evening.

Unfortunately, the Indians were unable to turn the play into points and would sputter and stall in the torrential rains for the remainder of the game.

Jacksonville only managed 65 yards of total offense to Marshall’s 288 despite both teams running 50 plays. Shewmake was picked twice by the Maverick defense and the Indians also lost possession on a fumble. The Tribe “D” was unable to pick Green but did recover one fumble.

Jacksonville, now 1-3 in District 9-5A-Division II play, will look to right the ship on Friday night.

The Indians will entertain the Hallsville Bobcats at Bullard’s Panther Stadium on JHS Senior Night. The Bobcats are winless in district play, coming off a 35-29 loss to Mt. Pleasant.