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Tigers hold on to beat Raiders in opener

By Jordan Holland 6 min read

McCONNELSVILLE -- Seth Britton and Kobe Alexander carried the load for Marietta Friday night as the Tigers defeated Morgan 13-12.

It was Marietta's first season-opening win since 2019, also against the Raiders.

Down 12-7 late, the visiting Tigers leaned on Britton, who finished with 140 yards on 20 carries, and Alexander, who added 103 yards on 21 rushes.

"We sort of did some different things than we did in scrimmages," said Marietta head coach Jason Schob. "Seth and Kobe did a great job, and give credit to our line, too. When you have two backs running like that, they're obviously creating holes, so give credit to the boys up front, too."

Britton had runs of 12, 15 and 21 yards on Marietta's go-ahead drive, which culminated in a fourth-down touchdown pass from Drew Warden to Will Tornes from six yards out. Warden redeemed himself after overthrowing a potential touchdown pass to an open teammate on the previous play.

"We trust Drew," Schob said. "Drew does a tremendous job. He's very coachable. If he makes a mistake, I still trust him the next time. Got to have a short memory as a quarterback, and Drew has that."

The Tigers' two-point try failed, making it 13-12 with 9:42 remaining.

Morgan got the ball back and picked up a couple first downs, but the drive stalled at midfield and the Raiders were forced to punt. They never got the ball back.

With 6:28 remaining and the ball at their own 28-yard line, Marietta went to work. A nine-yard carry by Britton followed by an 11-yarder moved the chains and put the ball at the 48. Alexander got the ball across midfield with a four-yard gain. Britton carried again for 12 yards and another first down.

Back-to-back four-yard carries by Alexander made it third-and-2 at Morgan's 32-yard line. The Tigers went back to Britton, whose 11-yard carry produced another new set of downs. Alexander got the ball and ran through a gaping hole, but intentionally went down at the 5-yard line after gaining another first down.

Out of timeouts, there was nothing Morgan could do. The Tigers took three straight kneels to kill the clock.

"It helps when you don't give them the ball back," Britton said. "Kobe's a workhorse. He's been working his butt off all season, out of season -- he's the best fullback you could ask for."

Asked about his team's dominant running game, Britton remarked, "We've got the best line around. That's all I've got to say."

Marietta led 7-6 at halftime but left a lot of points on the board. The Tiger's opening drive advanced all the way to the Morgan 5, but the Tigers couldn't convert a 22-yard field goal. After Morgan's first possession resulted in a blocked punt, Marietta got the ball deep inside Raider territory, but ended up turning it over on downs.

Still scoreless, Marietta's third drive was another lengthy one, but Britton lost a fumble right at the goal line. Morgan was unable to take advantage and had to punt from its own 11. The punt went just 14 yards, giving Marietta great field position. Finally, the Tigers made it count as Britton powered his way into the end zone to make it 7-0 with 57 seconds left in the half.

Though Morgan couldn't get much going offensively most of the first, those 57 seconds were all the Raiders needed to answer. Haiden Pauley connected with Hayden Bankes on a 39-yard completion down the sideline. Bankes stepped out of bounds at Marietta's 30 with eight-tenths of a second on the clock. Pauley went deep again, and this time it was Tavian Myers who outjumped Marietta's secondary and hauled in the touchdown. Morgan lined up to kick, but the Tigers were called for a penalty which pushed the ball closer to the goal-line. The Raiders then elected to go for two, but their run try was stuffed, making it 7-6 at halftime.

Morgan threatened to score again to start the third quarter, driving all the way to Marietta's 12-yard line. However, the Raiders came up empty after a missed 29-yard field goal attempt.

The Morgan offense wasn't on the sideline long as Arlis Ponchak intercepted a pass to put the Raiders in business at Marietta's 25. It took Morgan one play to score as Pauley found Myers in the end zone for the second time. They went for two again, this time a pass attempt, but the try failed, giving Morgan a 12-7 lead at the 4:51 mark in the third.

Marietta lost yards on its ensuing possession and was forced to punt. Bankes returned the punt 42 yards to Marietta's 4-yard line, and things were starting to look bleak for the Tigers.

However, two plays later a botched snap by Morgan was recovered by Marietta. That turnover completely shifted momentum in favor of the orange and black. The Tigers went right at Morgan's defense with Britton and Alexander, and those two took the game over.

"We drove the ball and didn't capitalize on opportunities in the first half," Schob said. "Second half, we had to capitalize. When we got the ball back. The thing I was most proud of was that last drive right there -- we milked like seven minutes off the clock. Really proud of the kids."

Marietta finished the game with 48 carries for 240 yards as a team. Warden completed 4 of 10 passes for 55 yards, one TD and one pick. Tornes had two receptions for 36 yards.

Pauley completed 13 of 19 passes for 159 yards and two scores. Bankes caught five passes for 57 yards while Myers finished with 55 yards on his two TD receptions.

"Morgan does a lot of different things that are hard to prepare for," Schob said. "Overall, I was pretty pleased to give up 12 points against a team like Morgan."

Marietta had 86 penalty yards to Morgan's 75.

"It was ugly, but good teams find a way to win games like that," Schob said. "They had plenty of opportunities where they could've packed it in and quit, but our kids kept fighting and kept battling. We definitely need to clean some stuff up to get better as the year goes on, but I'm glad we got out of here with a win."

Schob and Britton agreed it was nice to begin a season with a victory after falling short in their last season-openers.

"I'll tell ya, 1-0 feels a lot better than 0-1, so we're excited," Schob said. "Biggest thing is we can't get complacent. We have to continue to improve and clean up the things we need to clean up and get better each week."

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