By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
She’Marrion Matthews hauled in three touchdown passes from Jamarion Robinson last Friday, October 25, but it wasn’t enough to prevent a 45-22 win by Class 3A’s playoff-bound Hillcrest-Evergreen.
Hillcrest’s Jaguars took a 19-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Robinson and Matthews connected for the first time in the second quarter to make it 19-8, but ECHS never got closer.
The Evergreen team posted 19 more points in the second period and added a third-quarter score. Robinson and Matthews connected twice in the third period, but it was too little, too late for the Blue Devils, who finished the campaign at 2-8. Hillcrest, which wound up the regular season at 8-2, will reportedly travel to play Southside-Selma on November 8 in the first round of state playoffs.
“Hillcrest-Evergreen is a good team, and I think we’ll see them competing for a state title,” ECHS Coach Vincent Harris said.
Harris said he was pleased with the TD tosses but pointed out that earlier scores were wiped out or drives brought to an end when passes were not held onto by the receivers.
“Our offense played pretty well; we just had some timely drops that derailed some drives early,” Harris said. “She’Marrion and Jamarion both stood out.”
The ECHS coach said he would try to put this season, which came one year after the Blue Devils posted a 6-4 mark and just missed the Class 4A playoffs, behind him and look to the future, which includes 25 juniors who will move up a grade next year.
“We’ve got 25 seniors coming back,” he said. “It’s time for us to begin the off-season and get back to work These kids stuck with the program, and I’m proud of them. All the glory goes to God.”