No. 10 Langley 21, Marshall 14

Saxons Rally for Their Third Victory of the Season

The Marshall Statesman and Langley Saxons entered tonight�??s game with identical, 2-1 records, both teams looking to take the next step toward competing for a Liberty District championship.

It was the visiting Saxons who emerged the real contender, coming from behind to claim a 21-14 victory.

The game started with two defensive stands, but opened up on Marshall’s second drive. That’s when Doug Howell turned two consecutive carries into gains of 9 and 11 yards. Quarterback Harold Sweet then connected with Chris Hurlbert on a 15-yard screen pass. Two plays later Sweet scored on a quarterback sneak and Marshall jumped to a 7-0 with 3 minutes, 27 seconds left in the first quarter.

	After being stopped on their next two possessions Langley was looking for a spark, and got it when outside linebacker Mike Sarson delivered a crushing blow and sacked Sweet. The blow forced a fumble, which was recovered by a Langley teammate on the Marshall 3-yard line. Langlye’s Derek Eklund plowed in from there for the score. The Saxons missed the point-after-touchdown kick, leaving Marshall with a slim, 7-6 lead. With just over two minutes remaining in the half and both defenses really playing well, Marshall Coach J.T. Biddison decided to try his luck through the air. Sweet dropped back and delivered a 36-yard strike  to wide receive Joshua Earl down the left sideline. Sweet followed that throw with another, five-yard pass to Earl with about a minute remaining in the half.
Langley Coach John Howerton addresses his team after a 21-14 win over Marshall.

Two plays later it was back to the pass, where Sweet once again hit Earl for a 10-yard touchdown pass and a 14-6 Marshall lead at half time.

Langley received the second-half kickoff and decided to pass a little themselves. On the second play of the half, quarterback Danny Pritchett hit Matt Evans, who broke a tackle and took the pass 69 yards to the Marshall 1-yard line.

Pritchett took the next snap in on a sneak and also converted the 2 point conversion to tie the game at 14.

Langley’s defense forced a fumble on the Statesman first of the half, play but the offense was unable to put points on the board. The next Marshall possession ended on a blocked punt by Eklund, who had scored earlier. The ball was placed on the Marshall 15-yard line, but again, the Langley offense could not score after a sack on fourth down by Statesmen linebacker Craig Murphy.

After forcing another punt, Langley finally was able to put a drive together toward the end of the third quarter. The Saxons nine-play drive was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown run by David Helmer with 9:09 left in the game.

Marshall’s ensuing drive looked promising when Sweet converted on a fourth down to extend the drive, but the Statesmen later turned the ball over on downs. With 4 minutes remaining the Saxons were able to run the clock out with three first downs.

Both teams are at home next week as Langley hosts Oakton and Marshall takes on Stuart.