Millbrook football
Millbrook sophomore Keith Marshall tallied 162 of his 203 rushing yards in the first half of Friday's 39-23 win over Leesville Road. Marshall and the Wildcats visit undefeated WF-R Friday, Oct. 30.
Millbrook, miscues thwart Pride attack
Wildcats clinch win with four consecutive takeaways Friday
For a Millbrook football team plagued by costly turnovers seemingly all season, Friday's 39-23 victory over visiting Cap-7 Conference rival Leesville Road had a certain level of vindication to it.
The Wildcats forced the Pride into seven turnovers — including takeaways on Leesville's last four possessions — scoring a much-needed victory in Millbrook's postseason pursuit. (More importantly, Millbrook turned the ball over just once in their impressive victory.)
Following the win, head coach Clarence Inscore highlighted the parallels between how the Wildcats lost games earlier this season, and how they won Friday.
"What's been killing us all year, helped us tonight," he reasoned of turnovers. "We were finally on the right end of the turnover ratio. Again, that is huge for us. We are a good football team when we don't turn the ball over."
And it wasn't just one phase of the game where the Wildcats' excelled.
Offensively, Millbrook's Keith Marshall abused the Pride defense for 203 rushing yards — including 162 in the first half — on just 16 carries.
QB Trey McFarland was equally impressive, completing nine of 11 passes for 135 yards, with two touchdown passes to Michael Thornton.
Thornton traced the Wildcats' success back to the squad's opening drive as Millbrook needed just four plays to score a touchdown.
Set up at the Leesville 43-yard line thanks to Scott Gray's long kickoff return, Marshall took his first handoff from scrimmage 33 yards.
Three plays later, Thornton broke free in the corner of the end zone and McFarland delivered a strike for a 9-yard TD pass. The PAT failed, but the Wildcats had their spark.
"That first drive set the tone for the game," the senior wideout said. "It was great. We came out and we knew that we had to be pumped because Leesville is a good team. I haven't beaten them in the four years I've been here. All the seniors, everybody, we just wanted to get them."
Click here for highlights from Millbrook's 39-23 win over Leesville Road.
After trading possessions, Leesville took advantage of a short field, going 46 yards on eight plays. Senior running back Dylan Edwards capped off the series, pounding his way in for a score, and the following PAT gave the Pride a 7-6 advantage with 1:39 left in the first quarter.
Millbrook answered back two series later as Marshall took the drive's first snap 66 yards, racing up the middle of the field, then cutting to the sidelines all the way to the end zone.
In just his first varsity season, Marshall has developed a knack for making the big play. Asked what he though of Marshall, Thornton explained the sophomore's a "special" talent.
"When he runs down the field, you just think, "Oh my God, he's really good,'" the senior reasoned.
Added McFarland, "You never know what he is going to do next. He may get you five yards, or he might break it."
Millbrook squashed the Pride's next two drives as Michael Weaver and John Cervera both recorded interceptions.
In between the picks, Jonathan Bowman converted a 25-yard field goal as Millbrook took a 15-7 advantage into half.
After the break, the Pride appeared to right itself, methodically moving the ball 75 yards on 11 plays. But the Leesville drive stalled at the 5-yard line, and the squad settled for a Chris Hawthorne 22-yard field goal.
Millbrook came right back using Dontre Price's 15-yard reception, a 24-yard run by Marshall and a 22-yard catch by Thornton to move into the red zone. After a holding penalty on first down pushed the Wildcats back to the 22-yard line, McFarland hit Thornton for another reception, and again the wideout slipped into the end zone. With the extra point, Millbrook led 22-10, with 3:46 left in the third.
If the Pride's situation already wasn't bleak enough, it fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and the Wildcats converted the miscue into a 32-yard Bowman field goal and a 25-10 advantage.
With the Pride desperate for a big play, senior Thurston Cox responded taking a pitch 77 yards for a touchdown on the next drive. The lengthy run was a sudden jolt of energy, and put the pressure back on the Wildcats to continue to score.
But the Wildcats fumbled two plays later, and the Pride took over, and drove 45 yards for another Edwards' short-yardage touchdown.
Trailing 25-23, with 9:35 left in the final quarter, the Pride went for a two-point conversion, but instead, the game received its first controversial call.
After Edwards fumbled the ball into the end zone, teammate Joey Buccola recovered for a possible score. But the officials signaled the conversion failed.
Following a meeting with Leesville Road coach David Green — and a long break in action — the referees ruled an inadvertent whistle was blown, and the teams repeated the down. On the Pride's second attempt, Millbrook linebacker Austin Merritt swatted the Pride's pass, keeping the Wildcats up two points.
Leesville then forced Millbrook to punt, but when the Pride took over at its own 7-yard line — with a chance to retake the lead — the offense floundered.
After three plays gained just four yards, Leesville had to give up the ball. But Millbrook senior Marcus Plummer sliced through the Pride's punt formation, and blocked the kick.
Millbrook recovered at the 1-yard line and Justus Hoffmann, making his first appearance in the Wildcat backfield, dashed untouched into the end zone. With the PAT, Millbrook lead 32-23 with just under four minutes left.
"That touchdown was a huge relief," Thornton said. "That was Justus just stepping up for us like he always does."
The Plummer block and subsequent Hoffmann score seemingly sealed the victory, but it didn't stop the Wildcats' ball-hawking defense.
Millbrook linebacker Jacon Shaner seemingly single-handedly thwarted the Pride's next two drives, picking off an interception and returning it 41 yards for a touchdown. Three plays later, Shaner recovered a fumble on Leesville's attempted hook and lateral play.
Hoffmann later recorded his own interception.
Thornton said the Wildcats' defense wanted to make a statement early on.
"Our defense, I can't say enough about them," the wideout said. " They came out hitting hard. They just put it together."
Millbrook senior Michael Thornton (left) hauls in the first of his two touchdowns against Leesville Road Friday night. Thornton finished with four catches for 73 yards in the Wildcats' win.
Inscore passed the praise around, pointing out the Wildcats' solid offensive line play, Marshall's down-hill running and McFarland's "poise" in the pocket."
But the coach explained Friday was just the final product of two weeks worth of work.
Because Millbrook's open week was last Friday, the Wildcats had an extra week to prepare, and Inscore said the Wildcats took advantage of the time.
"I thought we had two great weeks of practice," he said. "Since I've been here, this was the best off-week we've had. I thought the kids came in and focused on what they needed to do, and that can be tough when you don't have a game to prepare for."
Although limited because of injuries and illnesses, Green reasoned the Pride were just outplayed.
"They played a lot better than we did," he shrugged. "They didn't make a lot of mistakes, we made a lot of mistakes."
Without starter Josh Stanley at quarterback, the Pride mixed in Austin Berrios and Andrew Wolfe, and mostly Wolfe taking the snaps in the second half.
Green lauded the senior, who completed 10 of 19 passes for 104 yards, for stepping up when the chips weren't in the Pride's favor.
"Andrew did a good job running the offense," the coach said. "We put him in a bad situation where we were down, and we had to throw on every down — and they knew it. It's not a situation you want to put him in. I thought he did a good job with the run game, making his reads, and he had a couple nice runs in there."
Edwards finished with 14 carries for 51 yards, Cox added 88 yards on just four rushes and Nate Whittington had 12 carries for 62. Gordon Martin was the Pride's leading receiver with three catches for 53 yards.
With a bye week leading up to its Nov. 6 meeting with Wake Forest-Rolesville, Green said the Pride's break is welcomed.
"It's coming at a good time," he said. "We need some time to get healthy — at least healthier."
The Wildcats can't enjoy Friday's win too long as they are also slated to face the undefeated Cougars next.
It's a point Inscore drove home during his post-game talk with the team.
"I want you to remember this feeling, and I want you to remember how you got to the place you're at right now," he said. "It's because of what you did Monday through Thursday, not just what you did tonight.
"Tonight we can enjoy it, but tomorrow we start working for Wake Forest-Rolesville."
While Friday's stats and touchdowns won't translate to next week's match-up in Wake Forest, the Wildcats received an added punch of confidence with the win.
"To me, I feel like we can beat any team in the Cap-7 — or any team around here," McFarland said. "If we come as a team, and limited our mistakes, we can beat anybody."
