Dallas South Oak Cliff Too Much For Marshall, 55-35
TYLER -- The Marshall Mavericks never found an answer for Dallas South Oak Cliff's dynamic duo of running back Jordan Stevenson and receiver JF Thomas. And they were the difference Friday night.
Stevenson rushed for 264 yards and three touchdowns, Thomas caught four touchdown passes, and the Bears rolled to a 55-35 win over Marshall in their Class 5A Division II area-round playoff at Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium.
SOC (9-3) advanced to the Region II semifinals where it will face Frisco Heritage next week. Marshall ended its season at 7-5.
Stevenson, a Texas commit, carried the ball 30 times on the night and scored on runs of 21, 12 and 15 yards. Thomas, who has pledged to TCU, overmatched the Marshall secondary with scoring receptions of 20, 17, 38 and 75 yards. He finished with eight catches for 181 yards.
SOC quarterback David Johnson completed 13 of 21 passes for 223 yards with the four touchdowns to Thomas and one interception.
Marshall, which struggled early on offensively, finished the game with 365 yards of offense -- 188 passing and 177 rushing.
Mavericks sophomore Cameron Haller led Marshall with 78 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. He also added a 35-yard touchdown pass in the losing effort. Junior quarterback Justin Hart was 19 of 26 for 152 yards with two interceptions.
With Marshall trailing 26-14 late in the first half, Hart was intercepted by Texas commit Jamile Johnson, who returned the pick 37 yards to the Marshall 38 with 38 seconds remaining in the half.
And on first down, David Johnson connected with Thomas for a 38-yard touchdown to give SOC a commanding 33-14 lead it carried into halftime.
After the Bears scored on their opening possession of the second half on Stevenson's 12-yard run, Marshall answered with a 20-yard touchdown run by Chavis Mills, which cut the deficit to 40-21.
But on the second play of the ensuing SOC series, David Johnson fired a strike to Thomas in the middle of the field, and the speedy receiver did the rest by outracing the Marshall defense for a 75-yard score, which pushed SOC's lead to 48-21 after a successful two-point conversion.
Marshall scored the game's next two touchdowns to pull within 48-35 early in the fourth quarter on a Haller 2-yard run and John Love 42-yard scoring burst, but SOC put the game away on its next possession.
The Bears went 57 yards in eight plays and notched the game's final points on Stevenson's 15-yard dash with 7:25 remaining.
Things could not have begun worse for Marshall, which spotted SOC two points right out of the gate when an errant snap got past Hart, who kicked the ball out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
The Mavericks then unsuccessfully tried an onside kick, giving SOC favorable field position at the Marshall 35. The Mavs' defense tightened up and held the Bears to a 27-yard field goal by Yovanni Garcia, which pushed SOC's lead to 5-0 barely two minutes into the opening quarter.
Marshall went three-and-out on the ensuing drive, and SOC answered with a seven-play, 54-yard drive that culminated with a 20-yard touchdown pass from David Johnson to Thomas, giving the Bears a 12-0 lead at the 4:56 mark of the first period.
The Mavs answered with a six-play drive covering 66 yards. Haller's 8-yard touchdown run got Marshall on the board, trimming SOC's lead to 12-7 with 1:55 showing on the first-quarter clock.
SOC recovered another failed onside-kick attempt, and Stevenson later scored on a 21-yard run to increase the Bears' lead to 19-7 in the final seconds of the quarter.
Marshall's next drive was stopped on downs at the SOC 47, and the Bears again met little resistance from the Mavs' defense. David Johnson's 17-yard touchdown strike to Thomas increased the lead to 26-7 with 8:07 to play in the half.
Hart was intercepted by X'Zavien Ausborne on the next possession, but Marshall returned the favor when Micah Smith stepped in front of David Johnson pass and returned the interception 25 yards to the SOC 38.
Two plays later, Haller connected with a wide-open Trel Patton for a 35-yard touchdown, which cut SOC's lead to 26-14 with 5:05 remaining until halftime.
Dallas South Oak Cliff 55, Marshall 35
Class 5A Division II
Region II Area Playoff
At TMF Rose Stadium, Tyler
Marshall 7 7 14 7 -- 35
SOC 19 14 15 7 -- 55
First Quarter
SOC--Safety, ball snapped out of back of end zone, 11:15.
SOC--FG Yovanni Garcia 27, 9:52.
SOC--JF Thomas 20 pass from David Johnson (Garcia kick), 4:56.
MAR--Cameron Haller 8 run (Alan Martinez kick), 1:55.
SOC--Jordan Stevenson 21 run (Garcia kick), :21.
Second Quarter
SOC--Thomas 17 pass from Johnson (Garcia kick), 8:07.
MAR--Trel Patton 35 pass from Haller (Martinez kick), 5:05.
SOC--Thomas 38 pass from Johnson (Garcia kick), :17.
Third Quarter
SOC--Stevenson 12 run (Garcia kick), 9:11.
MAR--Chavis Mills 20 run (Martinez kick), 6:02.
SOC--Thomas 75 pass from Johnson (Jaylon Wooten pass from Garcia), 5:37.
MAR--Haller 2 run (Martinez kick), 1:20.
Fourth Quarter
MAR--John Love 42 run (Martinez kick), 10:06.
SOC--Stevenson 15 run (Garcia kick), 7:25.
MAR SOC
First Downs 22 24
Total Yards 365 482
Rushes-Yards 33-177 36-259
Passing Yards 188 223
Comp.-Att.-Int. 20-27-2 13-21-1
Punts-Avg. 2-16.0 1-40.0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-0
Penalties-Yards 6-50 6-60
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Marshall, Cameron Haller 15-78, John Love 7-59, Chavis Mills 8-54, Justin Hart 2-(-3), Team 1-(-11). South Oak Cliff, Jordan Stevenson 30-264, Lamont Johnson 1-8, Ladarryl Blair 1-5, David Johnson 4-(-18).
PASSING--Marshall, Hart 19-26-2--153, Haller 1-1-0--35. South Oak Cliff, David Johnson 13-21-1--223.
RECEIVING--Marshall, Love 6-57, Deonte Jordan 6-41, Mills 3-20, Deondre Osborne 2-13, Trel Patton 1-35, Cordell Archeid 1-14, Haller 1-8. South Oak Cliff, JF Thomas 8-181, Prentice McKinney 2-25, Lamont Johnson 2-8, Blair 1-9.