Crowning Moment

Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 14, 2004

Highland Home's defense won't be able to forget No. 3 for the rest of the season.

Marbury High School's star running back senior Undrea Sails ran all over the Squadron's defense as he led the Bulldogs spoiled Highland Home's Homecoming with a 48-16 win.

"I would have to go back and look at the film to tell you what actually happened here tonight," Highland Home's head coach Bob Farrior said. "I haven't got a clue to what happened. We killed ourselves the first half, we started out the third quarter looking like we were going to do okay and in the fourth quarter we started biting our own tails, falling apart and wanting to point fingers. The wheels fell off for us."

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Sails carried the ball 37 times for 200 yards and scored three touchdowns, one two-point conversion and threw for another score. Farrior said Sails' strength was too much for his Squadron "D".

"In my opinion, we are so weak physically, that you take a player that probably benches 320 and squats nearly 500 pounds, we don't have the physical ability to pull him down," Farrior said. "He's an outstanding athlete. Nobody can stop him and we certainly didn't. For two years, they got their heads beat in and they fought through it, like we're going to have to fight through it. Hard work makes a lot of difference. We've got a good group of young players coming up and we're going to be alright in the future."

The Bulldogs' offense added 83 yards through the air, which was highlighted by a 63-yard touchdown reception.

Marbury Head Coach Kyle Glover said utilizing Sails' talents was the Bulldogs' game plan.

"We knew our running game was our strength coming into the game," Glover said. "We felt like we could control the line of scrimmage and with our running backs and what our quarterback can do with the option, we felt like we could do that. With the dangerous athletes that Highland Home has, you sure don't want to give them the ball right back. You need to eat some clock and eat up some ground and when you can put some points at the end of that drive that sure helps you out. That's what our objective was."

The Squadron (1-5, 1-3) jumped out to an early lead when senior Tony Merriweather stripped the ball from a Bulldog runner, made a u-turn and raced 66 yards for the touchdown. Deymond Sankey connected with Derrick Dulaney on the two-point conversion to give Highland Home an early lead. That would be the only time the home team would lead.

The Bulldogs answered back eight plays later with a score of their own and a two-point conversion to tie the game at 8-8. Sails threw for the touchdown and ran in the two-point conversion.

Sails scored on a three-yard run three plays into Marbury's ensuing possession to give the visitors the lead for good.

He later scored in the second quarter on a 20-yard scamper.

At the half, the Squadron was still very much in the ballgame, trailing 21-8. Highland Home's offense was only able to chalk up 54 yards in the first half in comparison to Marbury's 128 total yards.

Sails started the second half where he left off in the first, scoring on a 12-yard gallop early in the third quarter. The score capped off a10-play, 68-yard drive in which he ran for all 68 yards.

The Squadron's offense came to life two plays later when senior O.D. Bryant raced down the sideline 61 yards for a touchdown. Sankey ran in for the two-point conversion to cut into Marbury's lead 28-16.

The Bulldogs continued to dominate the rest of the game scoring two more offensive touchdowns. Brandon Parker scored the visitors' last touchdown on a 22-yard interception return for a score.

Bryant led the Squadron's offense with 102-yards rushing and a touchdown on eight carries for an average of 12.8 yards per carry.

Highland Home will travel to take on region foe Horseshoe Bend Friday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.