Arlington Martin football runs away with bi-district playoff win over Richardson Berkner
The Arlington Martin Warriors ran, ran and ran some more, totaling over 350 yards rushing en route to their 42-16 win over the Richardson Berkner Rams in a bi-district playoff game at Arlington Sam Houston High School.
With constant rain and 10 mph winds, the Warriors only had two pass attempts. The first was incomplete and the second was called back because of an offensive pass interference penalty.
It didn’t matter. Martin was dominant and the key, said head coach Chad Rives, was ball security on offense and taking the ball away on defense.
“Whether it’s 100 degrees and sunny or a night like this, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Nobody cares, you have to protect the football and I’m extremely pleased how we were able to do that.”
The Warrior defense had one forced fumble that was recovered and forced Berkner to turn the ball over on downs three times.
Martin protected the football well except for one fumble that was recovered by the Berkner defense. However, the Warrior defense had the offense’s back, forcing the Rams to turnover on downs.
The Warriors took advantage of the Rams’ spoiled opportunity, handing the ball to running back Daylon Cobb for a 71-yard rushing touchdown.
Cobb was just trying to one-up his teammate, wide receiver Brooks Brigance, who had a 65-yard rush on the first play of the game for the Warrior offense. He stretched for a touchdown, but went out of bounds before the ball crossed the plane.
Brigance still got his touchdown, but it was only 3 yards instead of 69.
Neither offense was shy about showing off their explosiveness.
Cobb controlled another drive later in the game, rushing the ball twice. Once for 15 yards and again for a 46-yard touchdown.
For Berkner, running back Jamary Williams took the reins. He had two rushing touchdowns, one for 39 yards and one for 99 yards.
The Rams were pinned on their own 1-yard line following a punt from Arlington Martin, but that was no problem for Williams. He took the ball on the first, and only, play of the drive to the house.
However, that was all the Warrior would give up, which Rives saw as a positive.
“Berkner has a very talented offense,” he said. “Their guys are as good as we’ve seen all year, so for us to be able to hold them to two touchdowns… I’m extremely pleased.”
The Warriors had their own play that went from end zone to end zone.
After Williams’ first touchdown, the 39-yarder, the Rams kicked off to the Warriors. The kick was caught inside the 5-yard line, but returner Zavien Abercrombie tucked and ran all the way back for a 90+ yard kickoff return touchdown.
“It’s my favorite play of football, the kick return,” said Rives. “And usually you’re doing a kick return because someone scored, so to be able to take all the momentum they had a minute before and switch it in our favor, there wasn’t a play that could have propelled us forward more.”
Despite a lack of passing, Martin’s quarterback was still a weapon in the rundown. Tristan Bittle, listed as a running back on the roster, rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns.
Aside from a multitude of penalties, the only other blemish on the Warriors’ offense was a safety given up on a punt attempt while pinned inside the 10-yard line late in the fourth quarter.
Martin will move on to the second round of the playoffs, where it will play powerhouse Allen, who defeated Lewisville 18-17 in its first round matchup.
“We’re extremely excited to move on to the next round, but we’ve got some things to clean up or we won’t play much longer, that’s the truth of the matter,” said Rives.
The Eagles will be a challenge for the Warriors and Rives is ready to start preparing for it.
“We played them earlier in the season and they beat the dog out of us, so we’re gonna have to get in there and start figuring out what we need to do to be better than we were last time,” he said.
