Matt Tillson
The Duncan Banner
MARLOW —
First-year head coach Jeremy Gage said that for the Marlow Outlaws to win in Friday night’s game against Lone Grove, they would have to have great effort from every player. The Outlaws gave that effort as they defeated the Longhorns 27-0 in the season opener at Outlaw Stadium.
“It’s like I’ve said before, we are going to win our games with good defense, a sound kicking game and taking advantage of good field position,” Gage said. “I was proud of our team tonight (Friday) and felt that we did a lot of things right.”
The first half was a back-and-forth battle between the two teams, as neither team was able to dent the scoreboard.
Senior defensive back Kody Harvey recovered a Lone Grove fumble on the Marlow 34-yard line during the Longhorns’ second drive of the game. The Outlaws gave the ball right back on a high snap on a punt, but the Longhorns failed to get on the board, missing a short field goal attempt.
“Our special teams did a really good job for us throughout the night,” Gage said. “Other than that high snap, I was pretty pleased with the way they played.”
The second quarter of the game was filled with numerous penalties, as the Longhorns racked up 45 yards on seven penalties compared to Marlow’s two penalties for 10 yards.
“We took advantage of the field position that they were giving us,” Gage said. “We made some mistakes as well, but we took advantage of the mistakes that they made.”
Outlaw Holden Davis had a good night on offense, rushing for 128 yards.
“He (Davis) did a really good job for us,” Gage said. “We had him on both sides of the ball at the start, but had to pull him out of the defense during the second quarter because he was just getting so worn out.”
Davis scored three of the Outlaw’s four touchdowns. Gage said that one of those touchdown runs was one of the key plays of the game.
“We had two key plays on offense that really opened up the game for us,” Gage said. “Holden’s big touchdown run and the (38-yard) pass from Wakley (Bergner) to Ethan (Elroy). Those two plays were really key for us tonight.”
Ethan Fullerton and the Marlow defense had a big night holding Longhorn quarterback Jacob McClennahan to four pass completions for 29 yards and 59 yards rushing. The Outlaw defense also held senior running back Dalton Keeton to 52 yards on the ground and seven yards receiving.
“Lone Grove is a tough team and I was worried that if we hit any adversity against them we would not react well to it,” Gage said. “Our team did face some adversity, but they overcame it.”
Junior defensive back Jon Anderson hauled in an interception late in the ballgame for the Marlow Outlaws, a play that sealed the win for Gage and his team.
“I was not comfortable until we got that interception in the fourth quarter,” Gage said. “After that, I could finally breathe and feel comfortable.”
At halftime, Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins declared Sept. 3 as Bill Carter Day in Oklahoma, as she honored the Marlow assistant coach for all that he has done through the years.
— Matt Tillson is a reporter for the Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354 Ext. 143 or via e-mail at matt.tillson@duncanbanner.com.
