Raising the bar
- Updated: October 5, 2019
White Plains gets milestone third victory, opens big early lead, holds on to edge Cleburne County;
By East Alabama Sports Today
White Plains opened up a 19-0 lead and then made two big defensive plays in the fourth quarter to preserve a 31-27 victory over Cleburne County that made first-year coach Chandler Tyree’s team the winningest at White Plains since 2013.
The win was the Wildcats’ third of the season, eclipsing last year’s win total. The last White Plains team to win at least three games was the 2013 team that went 5-5.
It’s the earliest a White Plains team has picked up its third win of the season since 2009, when that team did it in its fifth game.
“We won a close game and we haven’t been able to do that in a couple years,” Tyree said. “This is a big win for us over a school that has a lot of tradition, but I told them it’s not a finish for us, it’s a start. We can’t get complacent with that. Our kids put in a lot of effort to get where they’re at.”
After opening their big lead, the Wildcats had to hold on and overcome their past. They had taken leads into the fourth quarter last year only to see them slip away.
It was 31-27 and Cleburne County got two chances to break Wildcats’ hearts. Carson Tyree ended the first threat with his second of White Plains’ four interceptions. The Tigers had the ball in the final minute. This time, they unloaded a Hail Mary pass that Tyler Daniel knocked away.
Mortimer Jordan 34, Clay Central 28
LINEVILLE – Mortimer Jordan only needed to find one answer to beat Coach Danny Horn and the Volunteers. That answer was quarterback Kourtlan Marsh, as his presence was felt all over the field and was virtually unstoppable scoring all five of the teams touchdowns.
Marsh rushed for 146 yards and four touchdowns, and completed 12 of 17 passes for 207 yards and another score.
The Volunteers were able to get their first points of the game on the board when Cam Simmons scooped up a Blue Devils fumble on their opening kickoff and returned it back to the end zone on a 17 yard run.
An early misfortune for the Blue Devils went on to pay great dividends in more ways than one throughout the night. From a fourth-and-7, Marsh faked the punt and managed to use his legs to find the first down needed to keep the drive alive. The early gutsy call paid its first dividend with Marsh leading the offense down the field to cap off his first score of the game on a 9 yard run. The extra point by Feriram Sanchez hitting the up-right.
A lost fumble by the Volunteers on the following possession paid off again for the Blue Devils. Marsh led the offense back down the field on two plays. He took the first play 41 yards and capped off his second score of the game on the next play on a 12-yard run.
Elisha McNeil provided a sparkle of life for the Vols to start the second half by taking the opening kickoff 96 yards to the end zone. The 14-13 lead wouldn’t hold long as the Blue Devils would score three unanswered times.
The Volunteers defense were unable to find consistency in stopping Marsh throughout the game, as he went on to score two more on the ground from (2 and 1 yards) and one through the air, connecting with Garrison Mccleney on a deep pass for an 84 yard touchdown.
The 20-point deficit was too great for even Horn to overcome late in the fourth. It’s not the end of the road for Central of Clay County; it’s starting to feel like Déjà vu all over again. Last year the Volunteers lost back to back to Jasper and Mortimer Jordan and found themselves playing at Jordan-Hare Stadium for a Class 5A Championship in December. – Jeremy Wortham
| MJ (34) | CC (28) | |
| 13 | 1st D | 16 |
| 178 | Rushing | 113 |
| 207 | Passing | 224 |
| 1 | Fum lost | 1 |
| 7-70 | Pen-yds | 5-60 |
Mortimer Jordan 0 13 14 7 – 34
Clay Central 7 0 7 14 – 28
Scoring plays
C – Cam Simmons 17 fumble return (Clay Yates kick), 10:40 1Q
M – Kourtlan Marsh 9 run (PAT failed), 7:29 2Q
M – Kourtlan Marsh 12 run (Feriram Sanchez kick), 6:03 2Q
C – Elisha McNeil 96 kick return (Clay Yates kick), 11:48 3Q
M – Kourtlan Marsh 2 run (Feriram Sanchez kick), 7:01 3Q
M – Garrison Mccleney 84 pass from Kourtlan Marsh (Feriram Sanchez kick), 1:59 3Q
M – Kourtlan Marsh 1 run (Feriram Sanchez kick), 11:48 4Q
C – Quentin Knight 5 run (Clay Yates kick), 5:14 4Q
C – Javon Wood 21 pass from Boyd Ogles (Clay Yates kick), 3:20 4Q
Hokes Bluff 35, Ashville 14
ASHVILLE – Darrian Meads rushed for three touchdowns and Ashton Gulledge passed for two more as Hokes Bluff beat Ashville for the 10thstraight time.
Meads rushed for 212 yards on 22 carries and scored on runs of 4, 67 and 59 yards. He also caught one of Gulledge’s touchdown passes for 97 yards. Gulledge’s other touchdown pass was a 12-yarder to Tristin Billingsley. Gulledge was 8-of-12 passing for 195 yards and rushed for 121 yards..
The Eagles amassed 535 yards of total offense, 340 of it on the ground.
Ashville quarterback Kevin Harris passed for 261 yards.
| HB (35) | Ash (14) | |
| 20 | 1st D | 15 |
| 36-340 | Rushing | 24-80 |
| 8-12-0 | C-A-I | 19-30-0 |
| 195 | Passing | 277 |
| 1-1 | Fum-lost | 2-2 |
| 3-27.0 | Punts | 5-38.6 |
| 11-90 | Penalties | 3-35 |
Hokes Bluff 7 14 14 0 – 35
Ashville 0 14 0 0 – 14
Scoring plays
H – Darrian Meads 4 run (Jadan Burns kick), 8:17 1Q
A – Luke Harris 13 run (Nathaniel Williams kick), 9:02 1Q
H – Darrian Meads 67 run (Jadan Burns kick), 8:01 2Q
H – Darrian Meads 97 pass from Ashton Gulledge (Jadan Burns kick), 4:24 2Q
A – Luke Harris 18 run (Nathaniel Williams kick), 1:55 2Q
H – Tristin Billingsley 12 pass from Ashton Gulledge (Jadan Burns kick), 6:07 3Q
H – Darrian Meads 59 run (Jadan Burns kick), 2:25 3Q
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