Friday, Nov. 14, 2008

It’s Trinity

MHS Football

By Kevin Lonnquist

Staff Writer

It seems only appropriate that as demanding, frustrating and exciting as the season has been, Marcus (5-5) must begin its playoff journey Saturday against the No. 1 team in the nation and the defending state champion Euless Trinity (10-10) at approximately 4 p.m. at Texas Stadium.

The Trojans, who have won 26 consecutive games and are the District 5-5A champions, have been unforgiving toward most of their opponents. Only two games have been decided by single digits. Marcus has been in a street fight just about every week but is coming off a disappointing performance in a 35-21 loss to Hebron to finish the regular season.

"No doubt, we got a tough challenge," coach Bryan Erwin said. "But it’s also an opportunity. We’re preparing to win a football game."

Facing Trinity really shouldn’t be an overwhelming proposition. The Marauders played a very difficult schedule. Six of their opponents – Katy, Tyler Lee, Plano West, Hebron, Carroll and Coppell – are in the 2008 postseason. Marcus went 1-5 against them.

For the Marauders to pull off the upset, they need a great game from junior running back Stephen Hopkins (1,638 yards), a strong complementary role from Degan Newsome (460 yards), and junior quarterback Brad L’Huillier is going to have to be more than acceptable. He has to be exceptional. That’s a difficult assignment as Trinity has the area’s third-best defense allowing 223 yards per game.

Conversely, the Marauders defense has been subject to surrendering the big play. It also doesn’t help that junior nose guard Daniel Noble will likely miss the game because of an illness.

The Trojans are averaging 390 yards per game. For the season, they have run for 2,306 yards, led by Tevin Williams’ 764. Quarterback Denarius McGhee has been steady with 1,555 passing yards

The physicality of the game is like none the Marauders will see this year. But, as Erwin said, they are going to have to fight back.

"They’re not immortal," Erwin said. "They’re human beings, albeit big ones. But we’re not going to back down one bit."

Why It’s Trinity

When a district enacts its rules, it should account for everything. Apparently, District 6-5A didn’t.

When three-way ties were resolved to determine the playoff participants, the district used its +/- 14-point tiebreaker system. There was nothing to determine playoff seedings.

So when Marcus lost to Hebron last Friday, the Marauders thought they had the top seed in Division I and Coppell had the second seed. Wrong.

Because Marcus, Coppell and Carroll all finished with 3-2 district records, the tiebreaker was needed to determine seeding. Carroll was already ticketed into the Division II bracket. The Dragons were +3 with their four-point loss to Coppell and seven-point win over Marcus. But Coppell got the top seed because of its win over Carroll and five-point loss to Marcus. The Cowboys were -1. Marcus was -2 with its results.

District officials checked with the University Interscholastic League, which told them to use the playoff participant tiebreaker.

Notable

Wide receiver Michael Sidberry (undisclosed injury) is unlikely to play Saturday.

Wide receiver Michael Finley (foot) returned to the lineup last week and was limited. However, Erwin is hoping he will be stronger Saturday. However, senior Joel