MARVELL - Should the Woodlawn coaching staff ever decide to put a movie rating on the Bears’ game film against the Marvell Mustangs this past Friday night, they might want to consider making it for mature audiences only.
Woodlawn played what Bears Coach Zach Meyer said was their “worst four quarters of football” this season before finally finding their bearings in the fourth quarter to pull away late for an ugly 40-20 win on homecoming night in Marvell.
The South Conference victory moved Woodlawn to 4-1 in league play and 7-1 overall while the Mustangs fell to 1-4 and 2-5. The Bears can claim the South’s no. 2 seed and earn a home game in the first round of the playoffs by knocking off Spring Hill this Friday night on the road (see story elsewhere).
“It was a trap game - looking forward to Spring Hill next week,” Meyer said about his team’s mindset after wrapping up the game. “I feel like they were looking forward to that game… Sometimes ‘a win is a win’ ... That was sloppy. That was the worst four quarters of football we have played all year.”
If there was ever a time for a trap game, this was it.
Woodlawn was coming off an emotional 38-28 home loss against top-ranked Mountain Pine that would have given the Bears the inside track to win the conference title. On top of that, their final game of the regular season this Friday night at Spring Hill will determine the no. 2 seed in the conference and a home game for the first round of the playoffs.
Marvell, meanwhile, had just two wins on the season - both coming against winless teams which made it easy for Woodlawn, which has been ranked as high as no. 2 in the state, to overlook a team that had more speed and athleticism than the record might indicate.
Add to that most of the Bears’ offensive line had to miss practice much of the week due to illness, it was setting up nicely for the Mustangs to pull off an upset.
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