Arlington Martin blows out Richardson to start 6A D1 playoffs at Globe Life Park

You might think that the Arlington Martin football team might be a little rusty after only playing one game in over a month.

That wasn’t the case on Thursday night as the Warriors dominated every phase of the game in their Class 6A Division 1 bi-district playoff with a 58-14 thumping of Richardson at Globe Life Park.

Martin (9-1) moves on to the area round and will face the winner of the Lewisville (6-3)-McKinney Boyd (4-6) game being played on Friday.

“It’s been a long and challenging journey,” said Martin head coach Bob Wager. “We’re appreciative of every single time we get an opportunity to play this great game that we love and we’re excited to be in the round of 32.”

The Warriors wasted little time in putting away an over-matched Richardson squad. Martin scored touchdowns on five of six first half possessions to build a big lead behind quarterback Zach Mundell.

Mundell, a 3-star Army commit, torched the Eagles for three touchdown passes and added a punt return for another score to build a 37-0 lead. The senior finished with 220 passing yards and hit 12 of 17 attempts and four TDs. He added 40 rushing yards on seven carries.

Richardson (5-6), which was in the playoffs for the first time since 2012, pulled out all the stops against the Warriors.

The Eagles opened the game with an onside kick that was recovered by Martin’s Morice Blackwell Jr. at the Richardson 47. Martin fought through a holding penalty on the drive, but scored on a 17-yard pass from Mundell to Cal Robinson. After Javien Toviano ran in the conversion try, the Warriors led 8-0 with 9:06 left in the first quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Eagles tried a lateral across the field to try to fool Martin, but the play gained only 18 yards.

Richardson picked up two first downs in the first half with both coming on the ensuing drive, one on a successful fake punt. When the Eagles did kick the ball away, Mundell gathered it on the run at the Warriors’ 29 and outraced the Eagles down the right sideline to the end zone.

Martin pulled a little trickery of its own on a 14-play, 86-yard drive late in the second quarter.

The Warriors’ drive stalled and the team lined up for a 29-yard field goal.

But Blackwell, a 4-star University of Texas commit, took the snap, rolled right and hit 4-star junior Ernest Cooper IV with a 12-yard scoring pass to up the lead to 22-0 with 5:54 left before halftime.

Mundell added a 16-yard TD pass to Cydd Ford before an interception by Martin defensive back Lenard Lemons gave the ball back to the Warriors at their own 38. The pick set Mundell up for a 62-yard scoring strike to Robinson on the next play to up the lead to 37-0 at the 34-second mark of the second quarter.

“Just the team doing what we do,” said Mundell, who opened the third quarter with a 22-yard TD pass to Blackwell. “In order to be successful, we have to be good up front and we have to have good receivers on the outside. Everyone did their job.”

The Martin defense dominated allowing 40 yards of total offense in the first half.

Richardson quarterback Aaron Bertrand and running back Judah Allred did wind up with 63 and 87 yards rushing, respectively, and a touchdown a piece, but much of the yardage came after Martin substitutes entered the game.

Lemons capped a terrific night for Martin special teams with a 96-yard kickoff return with 4:52 left in the third quarter that gave the Warriors a 51-7 lead.

“From June 8th, the first day they allowed us to come back and start our summer strength and conditioning camp, we’ve been preaching and working for one more day,” said Wager. “If we can just play one more day. It’s the only normalcy that our kids have and it’s keeping our kids mentally stable.

“I think we have a greater appreciation now and a greater gratitude now than we’ve ever had. No kid has ever had to do this before and I think it shows in the way that they play.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 12:00 AM.