The East St. John Wildcats gutted out a victory in Double Overtime in Friday night’s 5A playoff game against Woodlawn.
The rain was certainly a factor, making both teams scramble to come up with a strategy to mitigate the damage from a slick ball and a muddy field.
That was the last one 💔 😭c/o21
AGTG pic.twitter.com/PUGoQrqAt6— timothy bennett(ALL DISTRICT ATHLETE) (@d1timm) November 28, 2020
Although the Wildcats would start out with the ball, the first score was a Woodlawn rushing touchdown. They would rack up nine uncontested points in the first quarter.
East St. John replied with the first play in the second quarter, with a rain-defying pass from Marcus Jackson to Kylon Harris for a 76-yard touchdown.
Round 2 @ TheE pic.twitter.com/eu9PRIxvzf
— Kylon “Wildcat” Harris1️⃣ (@HarrisKylon) November 28, 2020
Fumbles were inevitable with the field conditions, and the first fumble recovery went to Woodlawn’s Jordan Matthews. Like the ensuing Samir Bolden interception by the Wildcats, the Panthers were unable to turn the reversal into points.
The Panthers struck again before the half ended, sending Clayton Adams to the house with a 40-yard run to make it 16-6 for Woodlawn after the PAT.
It proved to be all about the 2-point conversions in the second half, slowly allowing East St. John to pull even with the Panthers. The tip of that spear would prove to be Baylor commit Jackie Marshall.
Marshall and Marcus Jackson tied it up halfway through the fourth quarter with a 5-yard touchdown run and a rush for the 2-point conversion respectively.
The two teams remained neck-and-neck through the first overtime. With under a minute to go in second overtime, Woodlawn found themselves down by seven and sitting on the Wildcats goal line. But the conditions finally caught up with the mud-covered players, and the ball popped away from Rickie Collins and company to prevent the Panthers score.
East St. John wins a Double Overtime thriller against Woodlawn 35-28. They go on to host John Ehret in the next round of the playoffs.
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