WOODLAWN - Quarterback Jaxson Martin’s 48-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second half ignited a 30-point third-quarter explosion by the Woodlawn Bears as they turned a one-possession halftime lead into a 60-14 blowout of the Brinkley Tigers in the first round of the eight-man playoffs last Friday night at the Carl Jones Sports Complex.
Woodlawn, the no. 2 seed from the South Conference, advances to play the Izard County Cougars, the no. 1 seed from the North Conference, in an eight-man state semifinal game at 7 p.m. Friday at Izard County High School in Brockwell.
Jaxson’s big touchdown run on the first offensive play of the second half seemed the turn the game on its head.
After his score, Woodlawn recovered three consecutive onside kick attempts and turned every one of them into touchdowns. By the 5:28 mark of the third quarter, the Bears had scored 30 points and had invoked the mercy rule with a 52-16 lead.
It as a far cry from how the game had played out over the first two quarters as the Bears had taken a two-score lead only to see the Tigers hit a couple of big pass plays to get back in it before halftime.
Woodlawn went up 6-0 lead at the 3:44 mark of the first quarter when Fisher Hale sprang for a 20-yard touchdown run, capping an 11-play, 81-yard drive on the Bears’ first possession of the game. Jaxson Martin’s conversion run was stopped.
After taking over on downs at the Woodlawn 40 on the Tigers’ ensuing possession, the Bears covered the 60 yards in eight plays with Jaxson Martin hitting Hale for a nine-yard touchdown pass. Jaxson Martin tacked on the two-pointer to make it 14-0 with 11:03 left in the second quarter.
Brinkley, which struggled to get much going on the ground in its first two possessions, started testing the Bears’ secondary on its third series. Facing second-and-10 at the Woodlawn 39, Tiger quarterback Mitchell Hicks tried to hit his targeted crossing the middle of the field only to have the pass deflect off the hands of both the receiver and defender, and into the hands of Joseph Havner, who as about 15 yards downfield from the play. Havner snagged the careen about two feet off the ground and took it into end zone for an easy score. Jeremiah Harris powered in for the conversion, and the Bears’ lead was sliced to 14-8 with 9:05 left in the second quarter.
Woodlawn answered with a third consecutive touchdown drive as Jaxson Martin cut back against the Brinkley defensive pursuit to go 38 yards for the score with 6:45 left in the second. Hale added the conversion to make it 22-8.
The Tigers came back with a score of their own. Facing third-and-15 at their own 43, Hicks found Havner streaking down sideline, hooking up for a 57-yard TD with 4:19 left. Another conversion run by Harris made it a six-point game again, 22-16, with 4:19 left in the second.
Woodlawn looked as though it was going to close out the half with a fourth consecutive scoring drive as the Bears used a bruising rushing attack to move 50 yards to the Brinkley 1. On third down, however, a fumbled snap resulted in no gain and then the Tigers came up with a big stop on fourth down to deny the Bears at the 1 with just 32 seconds left.
Woodlawn Coach Zach Meyer admitted that was a deflating end to an otherwise successful first half, especially it would have re-stored a two-score lead for the Bears.
“Some of our guys’ heads were down, but we had a whole another half,” Meyer said about the halftime locker room. “We missed a block. Nobody’s perfect, and I’m not perfect. That’s what I told the guys.
“That’s an old play,” Meyer said he told the team. “We’ve got to focus on two halves. And I thought we did that at halftime: we re-grouped, re-focused and forgot about that and didn’t dwell on it.”
Brinkley attempted an onside kick to start the second half but the Tigers touched the ball before it went 10 yards, giving Woodlawn possession at the Brinkley 48.
On the first snap of the half, Jaxson Martin swept to his left before cutting back against the pursuit, leaving a lane open between the defensive front and the secondary. Martin angled his way to the sideline, racing past the defenders to go the distance with just seven seconds off the clock. Caleb Martin ran in the conversion to give Woodlawn another two-score lead, 30-16.
With the momentum now fully on the Bears’ side and the Woodlawn student section in a frenzy, kicker Landen Booth executed what would be the first of three successful onside kick attempts.
Payton Leveritt recovered the first onside kick at the Brinkley 47. Seven plays later, Jaxson Martin was under pressure as he sprinted to his right before throwing a 24-yard dart to his brother Caleb in the end zone. Hale’s two-point attempt was stopped but Woodlawn had pushed its lead 36-16 with 8:52 left in the third.
Booth followed with another onside kick, and this time the Bears’ Aiden Moore pounced on it at the Tiger 46. Five plays later, Caleb Martin scored from seven yards out. Hale added another conversion run, and Woodlawn led 44-16 with 7:28 left in the third.
This time, Ethan Oliver came up with the onside attempt at the Woodlawn 49. Fifteen-yard runs by Hale and Jaxson Martin set up Caleb Martin’s second straight TD, this time from six yards out. Hale ran in the two-pointer, and suddenly the Bears were up 52-16 with 5:28 left in the third, invoking the running clock for the rest of the game.
Woodlawn’s final score came on a five-yard run by Ethan Adair with about 11 minutes left in the game. Aiden Moore converted on the two-point attempt to make it a 60-16 final.
Meyer said Jaxson Martin’s big run played a big role in setting up the third quarter explosion.
“That just allowed us to take a breath, and (exhale),” Meyer said. “After they stopped us down here at the end of the second quarter, that kind of took the breath out of us. We scored quick there, and Jaxson made a real good cut and finished the run.”
Meyer also had high praise for Booth, who was on top of his onside attempts. Nearly all of his kicks had a nice spin on them with many taking a big hop just as about seven to eight yards down field.
“If Arkansas ain’t recruiting him, they may ought to be,” Meyer joked about his senior kicking specialist. “Those kicks were beautiful… We should have got the other two.”
Meyer and Booth both said they saw the opportunity for the onside on game film as well as in the first half.
“They weren’t adjusted quite right about how Coach (Alan) Neill was thinking they would be between the first and second half,” Booth said. “Coach Neill kept saying kick down the middle right there, and we got lucky enough to get it out.”
Booth’s primary role is his starting job in the defensive backfield, but the onside kicks seem to come natural to him. “To be truthful, I really don’t do much (practicing onside kicks) at all,” he said.
Woodlawn ended up dominating the game played in cool temperatures that had a few brief periods of light rain.
The had their most productive game of the season on offense, amassing 500 yards for the game. Woodlawn used seven rushers to roll up 436 yards on the ground while Jaxson Martin hit four-of-six pass attempts for another 64 yards.
Woodlawn’s three-headed monster in the offensive backfield - Jaxson Martin, Caleb Martin and Fisher Hale - all had more than 100 yards of total offense in the game.
Hale was the game’s leading rusher with 159 yards rushing on 17 carries while Jaxson Martin had 146 on 16 attempts. Caleb Martin was just shy of the century mark, finishing with 96 yards on 17 rushes.
Caleb Martin was the team’s leading receiver, snagging two passes from his brother Jaxson for 42 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass. Hale caught two throws for 22 yards, including a nine-yard TD.
Defensively, the Bears carried over the physical play they had on display in their 34-14 win at Spring Hill, often meeting the larger, faster Tigers at the point of attack. Brinkley finished with 204 of offense: 102 yards rushing and 102 yards passing.
Woodlawn registered six tackles for losses, and much of the Tigers’ rushing yardage came on 30-yard run in the final seconds of the first half by Mitchell, and 26-yard burst by Havner.
To access content, please login or purchase a subscription.