WESTSIDE-Jhamaal Marsh shook off some early game jitters and responded with a magical performance in leading Ribault to a 34-0 win over host Ed White last night at Commanders Stadium.
Early on it had all the makings of a typical spring game, with numerous fumbles and several costly penalties; however in the end one team stood victorious.
One of those fumbles occurred on the games fourth play as Marsh lost the ball on the center exchange and turned the ball over. The fumble didn’t amount to anything though and the Trojans took over a few plays later.
After back-to-back three and outs, the Ribault offense began to click as Marsh scrambled 16 yards to the 46 yard line to pick up a first down for the Trojans.
A play later, Marsh hit a wide open streaking Mike McCray around the 30 and McCray went in easily for the 54-yard touchdown completion giving Ribault an early 6-0 lead.
It wouldn’t be the last big play either.
Two possessions later, McCray took a handoff from Marsh and weaved his way 39 yards untouched down the left sideline for an apparent touchdown but it was called back for holding.
Later in the game Marsh had McCray wide open down the sideline but under threw whiping out what would have been a 54-yard touchdown catch.
Marsh made a bad read and forced a ball in the end zone, which was picked off by Omari Fiffer and returned 40 yards.
However, the momentum would be short lived as the Commanders would turn it over as a bad snap over quarterback Isaiah Flowers head would repeatedly roll backwards after players would try to pick up and fumble it again.
Ribault recovered it back at the 45-yard line and went back to work on offense again.
After McCray’s 39-yard touchdown was called back, the Trojans answered quickly. Marsh connected with senior to be wide receiver Kenneth Channelle for a 10 yard catch down to the 24-yard line.
Marsh found McCray open for a 10 yard completion before McCray was pushed out of bounds at the 11-yard line.
On the ensuing play, Marsh avoided a sack on the right side of the field, cut back left and went untouched for a 11-yard touchdown run increasing the lead to 12-0 minutes into the second quarter.
While the offense was just warming up, the defense was constantly in the backfield stopping senior to be tailback Caleb Steward, who picked up offers from UCF and Boston College on Friday.
When they weren’t stopping Steward, they were harassing junior to be quarterback Isaiah Flowers.
Three plays after the Trojans second score of the night, Flowers lost the grip on the exchange giving it back to the Trojans.
Marsh went back to work with completions to McCray for 8 yards, Channelle for 15 yards and McCray again for 7 yards down to the 1 yard line.
Just like earlier, Jhamaal “Whoodini” Marsh scrambled right was under heavy pressure and cut back left ran 10 yards untouched for the 6-yard touchdown run and 18-0 lead with 5:19 lead before half.
Five plays later, the Commanders turned it over again with another fumble and the Trojans made them pay for it again.
On the ensuing play, Marsh found Kenneth Channelle wide open in the end zone for an alley-oop fade play increasing the lead to 25-0 with 2:31 left till half.
Like McCray, Channelle came up big on offense as well accounting for 4 catches for 66 yards and one touchdown.
The defense put pressure on Flowers again forcing him to throw the ball out of bounds while in the end zone. Officials ruled intentional grounding and a safety for Ribault and 27-0 lead with under a minute left till half.
Getting the ball back too, the Trojans were not satisfied with the lead they had and came out throwing as Marsh connected with Channelle for a 7 yard gain and again to McCray for a 53 yard Hail Mary play to end the first half.
The starters came back out for one drive each in the third quarter before turning it over to the backups.
Marsh found McCray wide open down the sideline but underthrew him whipping out what would have been a 54 yard touchdown completion. On the ensuing play, Marsh connected with Channelle who was then lit up by a Commander defender and fumbled the ball away.
With the starters out of the game now, the backups were in and a running clock was implemented.
The Ribault secondary featuring rising senior safety Devon Matthews, who picked an offer from Memphis two days ago, was rarely tested on the night with the Commanders run first offense; but came up big late in the game.
X Wilson picked off a rare White pass in the end zone preserving the shut out with 5 minutes left in the game.
Minutes later, C Fedd connected with T. Robinson for a 46-yard touchdown capping the score at 34-0 with under three minutes left in the game.
Marsh finished the night 14 of 24 for 223 yard, 1 interception and 2 touchdowns; while McCray had 7 catches for 123 yard and one touchdown and Channelle had 4 catches for 66 yards and one touchdown.
The defense posted a shutout and held the Commanders to four first downs on the night.
Both teams return to the field in August, when the Trojans host Atlantic Coast August 18, while White hosts Matanzas August 17 in the Kickoff Classic.
