Martin routs Bowie as Army commit accounts for 7 TDs, gets better of Navy counterpart
Arlington Martin’s Zach Mundell and Arlington Bowie’s Drevonn Ponder have sparked up quite the quarterback rivalry over the past couple seasons and their battles won’t stop after high school.
Mundell is an Army commit. Ponder is a Navy commit.
The two squared off what likely will be the final time at the prep level on Friday at Wilemon Field. Navy leads Army all-time, but it was Mundell who made sure he left his mark in this series.
Mundell threw for five touchdowns and accounted for seven and the Warriors, ranked No. 17 in the Class 6A state rankings, beat up on the Volunteers, 55-23, in a District 8-6A contest.
Martin wins its sixth straight game to improve to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in district. Bowie loses its first game of the season and falls to 4-1 and 2-1.
The Warriors win their fourth straight over Bowie. They’re 9-2 in the past 11 meetings with the Vols and 20-9 all-time.
The Volunteers started the night perfectly with touchdowns on their first two drives thanks to Ponder.
Bowie led 7-0 with 8:15 left in the first quarter on Ponder’s 29-yard touchdown run.
Following a Martin punt, Ponder extended the lead to 15-0 on the next play with a 44-yard TD run and ensuing 2-point conversion less than two minutes later.
But the Warriors scored 35 unanswered in a 15-minute span to put the game out of reach.
“We went from a I hope nothing bad happens mentality to a young confident football team mentality and there’s a big difference between those two things,” Martin coach Bob Wager said. “We grew up a little bit down 15-0.”
Martin got on the board when Mundell hit Cal Robinson on a 16-yard TD with 7:22 left in the second quarter. The 2-point failed and Bowie led 15-6.
Four minutes later, the Warriors pulled within 15-13 on Mundell’s 40-yard TD run.
The Warriors scored just before intermission and took a 20-15 lead into the locker room when Mundell hit Robinson on a wide-open 43-yard scoring pass.
“Adversity is good. That’s something we preach here at Martin,” Mundell said. “When something hits you hard, you have to punch back.”
Martin scored on its first two drives of the third quarter, a Mundell 12-yard pass to Kyron Askey at the 8:54 mark and a 26-yard TD pass from Mundell to Angel Merida, which extended the lead to 35-15 with 4:59 to go in the period.
Bowie snapped its scoring drought when Ponder hit Trint Scott on an 18-yard scoring completion with 7:10 to go, but Martin added three more TDs to the push the margin over 30 points.
Mundell and Merida connected on a 64-yard TD just one play after Bowie’s score and after a short Vols’ punt, Mundell picked up the bounce and returned it 14 yards for six with 5:16 remaining.
DK Smittick capped off the Martin onslaught with a 27-yard TD run late.
Mundell completed 21 of 26 passes for 278 yards and five TDs, and added 65 yards on eight carries and one score. Martin finished with 433 yards of total offense.
Robinson had 11 catches for 117 yards and two TDs. Merida had six grabs for 135 yards and two TDs.
“We knew we had to pass the ball tonight,” Mundell said. “It hasn’t been the best couple of games so we had to do something to pick it up. We’re not going to back down. We’re going play and fight until the end.”
Bowie gained 259 yards of total offense. The Vols rushed for 218 yards on 45 carries.
“[The defense] has been the constant throughout the season and with the offensive output we had tonight, we start talking about complimentary football and that’s what we’re trying to get to,” Wager said. “Best offensive output this season, just have to keep fighting and getting better.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 9:47 PM.
