Marlow’s big rally decks Kingston

Marlow dug itself into a huge hole with a bad first half but the Outlaws found a way to put four touchdowns on the board in the final 24 minutes to beat Kingston, 27-21, Friday in the second round of the Class 2A playoffs.

“We did a lot to shoot ourselves in the foot in both halves,” Coach Matt Weber said. “The main thing is our kids kept fighting and found a way.”

After not having much offensive success in the first half, the Outlaws found a way to get the offense going and produce three touchdowns that had them in position to grab the win.

But Kingston put together a good drive late in the game to score and when the Redskins converted the two-point PAT the game was tied at 21-all with less than two minutes remaining.

After the ensuing kickoff, Harris missed on a first-down pass attempt so he opted to use his legs to gain 21 yards and set the Outlaws up with a first down at the Kingston 42-yard-line.

With the clock now a major factor, Harris dropped back and fired a perfect strike to Hudson Morgan who had slipped past the Kingston safety. He made the catch and scampered to the end zone as the huge crowd of Marlow fans started to celebrate another wild playoff win.

Coming out of halftime, Kingston held a 10-0 lead that it retained through a majority of the third quarter. It wasn’t until Marlow regained possession with almost six minutes remaining in the third that they got its first points of the game.

A weak punt from Kingston set the Outlaws up at their opponent’s 30-yard line where on second down, quarterback Harris found receiver Korbin Dittner who left his defender in the dust, finally getting the Outlaws into the end zone to cut the Kingston lead to 10-7.

On the following possession Marlow’s defense was able to force Kingston into a 3rd-and-25. The Redskins tried to find a receiver downfield, however, the Outlaws’ Jackson Miller came up with the team’s third interception of the game and set his team up in a good position to score at the Kingston 20-yard line.

The Outlaws soon found themselves facing a 3rd-and-goal at the 6-yard line. Harris got good protection and found sophomore wide receiver Jaxson Murray who caught the short pass and maneuvered his way through the defense to reach the end zone as Marlow finally was in the lead at 14-10.

Marlow’s defense continued to aid the comeback, forcing an errant Kingston pass on third down. The Redskins had to settle for a field goal but still trailed, 14-13 with seven minutes to go.

Marlow started its next possession at the 39-yard line. Harris had a couple of tough runs and then hit a short throw that brought the Outlaws to midfield. From there, Harris would find Murray again on the screen pass and the speedster found a hole in the defense and made it to the end zone to build a 21-13 lead with 3:30 left in the game.

With the clock running down, Kingston desperately tried to push the ball down the field against the Marlow defense. The Redskins eventually found themselves facing a fourth down on the Marlow 32-yard line.

Kingston went to the air to try and get the first down but they got it via a penalty as the Outlaws were called for holding, giving the Redskins a a fresh set of downs.

Two plays later, Kingston scored and converted on the two-point attempt to tie the game at 21 and set up the wild finish.

After the game, Weber was thrilled with how his team stepped up in the second half to secure the win.

“I told them I’m proud of them and this is why I love doing what I do,” the coach said. “Some of those kids the coaches got onto hard at halftime. But those same guys we got onto during halftime, made big plays in the second half. That just shows that these kids are hopefully learning life lessons from this too.”

Although Marlow seemed to dominate the second half, the first half was the opposite. Their struggles on offense saw them only run the ball for 12 yards on five carries and the Outlaws completed just two passes.

“That touchdown right before half, that’s easy to get you down, but our kids have been here before,” said Weber. “We were down 21 points earlier this year at half and came back and made it an overtime game. I knew our kids wouldn’t quit and we’d make them have to beat us even being down 10. “

Harris, who took over the quarterback job during pre-season practice, played well in key moments, be it the 21-yard run towards the end of the game to set his team up to score, or the following throw that produced the touchdown, Harris had a great game. He converted on 8-of-14 passes and threw for nearly 150 yards.

Murray was an important piece Friday as he was on the receiving end of two touchdowns as well as gaining 60 total yards from receptions.

With Friday’s win, the Outlaws advance to the 2A state semifinals where they will face off against Millwood. Millwood beat Chandler, 22-7, to advance. Friday night’s contest will begin at 7 p.m. at Noble High School