Arlington Bowie beats Flower Mound Marcus behind two long touchdown pass plays

A lot of things are usually a work in progress on opening day of the high school football season.

Arlington Bowie’s combination of quarterback Drevvon Ponder to wideout Jimmy Valsin wasn’t one of them.

The duo hooked up on two long touchdown pass plays as the Volunteers downed Flower Mound Marcus 28-14 in the season opener for both schools Thursday at Wilemon Field.

“I just told my quarterback to trust me on those plays,” said Valsin, who took short pass plays that turned into 75- and 81-yard touchdowns. “Our line blocked long enough, so Drevvon could throw the ball, and we got it done.”

Ponder completed 8 of 13 passes for 186 yards. Seven of the completions went to Valsin, who picked up 178 yards receiving.

“I was kind of expecting that from him because I knew it was something that he could do,” said Ponder, who added two rushing touchdowns and 58 yards on the ground for the Volunteers. “The offense was great tonight. The line, the running backs, everything was going good.”

Bowie’s Kameron Sanders sparked the Vols by jumping on a Marauders fumble on the first play from scrimmage, setting up the Volunteers at the Marcus 23-yard line.

Four plays later, Ponder ran a perfect zone read, scoring from six yards out to give Bowie a 7-0 lead with 10:13 left in the first quarter.

Marcus had trouble holding on to the ball early, but that fumble was the only one — of four total — that was lost in the first half.

Marcus answered to tie the game on its next series, driving 75 yards in nine plays, capped by a Ty’son Edwards 2-yard scoring run. Three-star 2021 quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, who has 17 offers, completed two third-down passes on the drive.

With the game tied at seven, the teams traded punts a couple of times before Bowie hit its first big pass play with 7:40 left before the half.

The Volunteers had just picked up a first down at their own 25 when Ponder hit Valsin with a short pass in the flat. Valsin broke tackles and split defenders before outracing the secondary for the 75-yard score.

The duo connected again after Marcus’ second punt of the second half.

It was almost a carbon copy of the first one. This time the play covered 81 yards to give Bowie a 21-7 lead with 4:34 left in the third quarter.

“I’m excited about it,” said Bowie coach Danny DeArman of the Ponder-Valsin connection. “Both of them having a big night tonight ... I’m glad, but it wasn’t expected. I thought we played hard as a team, and that was the goal.”

Edwards was the workhorse for the Marauders with 31 carries for 144 yards. His 1-yard TD run with 8:34 left in the game cut the margin to 21-14. But Bowie countered with a long scoring drive, capped by a Ponder 2-yard run, to put the game out of reach.

Nussmeier completed 17 of 33 passes for 170 yards for Marcus, hitting six different receivers, led by Edwards (5 catches for 46 yards).

Marsaillus Sims added 65 yards on 17 carries for Bowie.

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This story was originally published August 29, 2019 at 11:02 PM.