|
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
||||
|
|
||
|
|
| MARSHALL - Ten teams have tried to knock off Marshall this season and Longview was the 10th to fail. The Lobos were the latest cities as the No. 2-ranked Mavericks posted their first-ever undefeated regular season with a 26-7 win Friday night at Maverick Stadium.
Marshall was led by quarterback Scott Furrh, who threw for a career-best 323 yards and three touchdowns. The senior also scored one rushing touchdown was the Mavericks won the District 12-5A crown - their first championship since 1990 when they won a 5A state title. Longview finished the regular season at 7-3 and posted a 3-2 record in district play. The Lobos will also advance to the postseason, their first appearance in three years. Next Saturday, Longview will play either Dallas Skyline or Bryan Adams in a Division I bi-district matchup at Pennington Field in Hurst. Game time is tentatively set for 1 p.m. Marshall will meet the loser of today's Dallas Carter-Dallas Kimball game in Division II. The site for the game will be either Pennington Field (6 p.m.) or Forrester Field (4 p.m.) in Dallas. John Tyler, which loses the regular season today against Tyler Lee, plays the Carter-Kimball winner. Furrh had a game's performance in the first half, connecting on 16 of 23 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns. He finished 23 of 36 for the night. He did throw a pair of interceptions, picked off by Longview's Shawn Byrdsong and Lee Jackson. Helping our Furrh in the receiving lanes was senior wide receiver David Aaron, who caught 10 passes for 161 yards and scored twice. His 10-yard connection with Furrh helped Marshall take a 20-7 lead into the locker rooms at halftime. He later added a 55-yarder early in the fourth quarter. Longview's only score came with 4:46 remaining in the second quarter. Quarterback Jay Hurst scored on a 3-yard dive up the middle to complete a 12-play, 75-yard drive and reduce the deficit to 14-7. A gusty 3-yard run by hurst for a first down on fourth-and-one at the Marshall 31-yard line kept the series going. Hurst also went to the air twice during the drive, connecting with Ben Price for 12 yards and Steven Bradley for 15. The Mavericks added two costly face mask penalties, including one for 15 yards. The Lobos finished with just 183 yards total offense. On the ground they were limited to 91 with the bulk of that coming on a 44-yard run by Fred Talley. The Sophomore, who already has 1,000 yards rushing this season, was held to 57 yards on eight carries. Marshall's Clifford Bell, who is second in the district in rushing behind Talley, picked up 107 yards on 25 carries. It was Furrh's quarterback sneak with 5:56 left in the opening quarter that opened the scoring for the Mavericks. It finished off a 14-play, 68 yard drive. Furrh was 5 of 8 passing in the drive for 52 yards. One series later, Furrh was back at work, connecting on a perfect 6-for-6 for 58 yards in the 13-play, 88-yard drive. Aaron again was the key target, pulling in three catches for 35 yards. But it was a 9-yard slant toss over the middle to George O'Bryan that increased the Mavericks to a 14-0 advantage at the 10:45 mark of the second quarter. After Longview scored, Furrh came back to engineer another drive covering 67 yards in nine plays. He was 4 of 6 through the air, hitting a diving Aaron, who fell across the goal line with 2:24 left before halftime. |