Tolar avenges playoff loss to Marlin, Rattlers roll and advance to regional semifinals
Peyton Brown led unbeaten Tolar past out-manned Marlin, 71-18, at Crowley ISD Stadium Thursday night in a Class 2A Division 1 area round playoff game.
Brown rushed for 287 yards on 21 carries and five touchdowns as his offensive line provided big holes and he broke tackles and made others miss. The 210-pound sophomore left late in the third quarter with the Rattlers holding a 64-12 lead.
Tolar (12-0) advances to the regional semifinals to face Hamilton.
The win avenges a 52-36 loss to Marlin in the regional semifinals last year.
Tolar, No. 7 in the state, led 50-12 at halftime. Marlin (7-5), though, drew first blood. The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and drove 84 yards in 13 plays for a 6-0 lead. Running back Mario Hopwood made a 360 degree turnaround at about the line of scrimmage, then scampered 12 yards for the touchdown.
On the previous play, Desmond Woodson, Jr. converted a fourth-and-2 for three yards with a quarterback draw. But the subsequent extra point was blocked.
Marlin’s lead lasted all of 14 seconds as Wyatt Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 76 yards for a touchdown. Jones also kicked the extra point giving the Rattlers a permanent 7-6 lead with 5:30 left in the first quarter.
Before the quarter was over, Tolar got two more touchdowns with short fields to work with, 34 and 36 yards. The first came after Marlin failed to convert a fourth-and-4 with another draw by Woodson for only a yard. On the next play, Brown scored his first of four straight touchdowns.
Next, Keaton Morrison recovered an onside kick and five plays later, Brown scored from the 25-yard line and a 21-6 lead. The Rattlers upped it to 35-6 on their next two possessions in the second quarter with scoring runs of 60 and 5 yards by Brown. The last one came courtesy of an interception by Jones that the senior returned to the Bulldog 34-yard line with 2:01 left before halftime.
Marlin scored a touchdown to make it, 35-12. Aha’Mauryon Lofton took a medium range pass from Woodson over the middle and outran the secondary to complete an 82-yard scoring play.
Again though, Marlin didn’t have much time to celebrate. Tolar responded with two more touchdowns before the half ended. Both were passes, two of three for the game, by quarterback Jackson Lecluyse. The first was 24 yards to Garrison Nation and the second was 19 yards to Jeffrey Collie. The latter came after an interception by Nation to the Marlin 23.
On the opening drive of the second half, the Rattlers went 65 yards in four plays capped by an 8-yard pass from Lecluyse to Matthew Behrens on a fade route.
On their next possession, Brown scored from 16 yards out to end a 5-play, 63-yard drive.
This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 1:02 AM.