BY NOLAN RUTH
X – @RealNolanRuth
ARLINGTON— The Arlington Colts and Martin Warriors have one of the fiercest rivalries in Arlington ISD as the two have shared a home stadium for many years, and they always end up towards the top of their district. Most recently the two teams have shared Choctaw Stadium, the former home of the Texas Rangers. However, this time they returned to their former shared home of Maverick Stadium on the campus of UT-Arlington. And this year, the two found themselves fighting for a playoff spot rather than a district title.
All the Colts needed was to win, while Martin needed to win by at least 13 to claim a spot. It was tight from the start with the Warriors leading early, but Arlington left no doubt and rode a strong second half performance to victory by a score of 49-31.
“We have not been in this situation in a long time,” head coach Scott Peach said after the game. “We weren’t in the playoffs yet. And it almost played in our favor. Because instead of coming out thinking we just had to get through the ball game, we had a chip on our shoulder. We had something to prove. There was a chance we were going to get left out. For us to play at the level we did tonight is exciting.”
The Colts had 10 different offensive players handle the ball in the game, totaling 491 yards. Out of those yards, 319 of those came on the ground.
“We’re blessed to have those pieces,” Peach commented. “The good Lord has been good to us because we’ve been healthy all year.”
Both teams started the game with long sustained drives that ate up almost the entire first quarter. The Colts got the ball first and drove well into Martin territory before ultimately having to settle for a 24-yard field goal from Daniel Brezzell. The Warriors responded with a drive that ended with Brooks Brigance going over the top to make it 7-3 Martin after one quarter.
The next drive for Arlington was a repeat of the first as Brezzell was called upon to kick a 31-yard field goal to make it 7-6. It did not take long for Martin to respond with a Hunter Squires touchdown pass to Daylon Cobb over the middle from 30 yards out, extending the lead to 14-6. That was the last time momentum was securely with the Warriors.
The Colts got a short field on a failed onside kick attempt and quickly tied the game when Isaiah Robertson scored from the two, and Coleman Cravens found Tayshaun Goston for the two point conversion to tie the game at 14.
Arlington then recovered an onside kick of its own and took the lead three plays later when Jamar Burton got to the outside and ran 32-yards to paydirt. However, Martin was able to get one more response when Squires found Brody Williams streaking down the sideline for the 31-yard touchdown pass.
That score for the Warriors left the Colts with just 64 seconds to respond. They only needed 35. A long pass from Cravens to Robertson set up Arlington at the Martin 18 yard line, from where Abe Otokiti finished the job to take a 28-21 going into the locker room.
The Warriors were able to manage a field goal on the opening drive of the second half, but the Colts were determined to reach the postseason. They found the endzone twice in the third quarter. The first score came on a two yard keeper by Cravens to make the score 35-24. Then after a defensive stop, Cravens only needed one play to find Goston on a 50-yard scoring pass to once again extend it 42-24 going into the fourth quarter.
Arlington got the ball back quickly and opened the fourth quarter with another score by Robertson on a 28-yard touchdown run. Martin was quick to get one last response to make the score 49-31, but that was it. The Colts were able to run out the clock and clinch a playoff berth for the tenth straight season.
“We’ve really been preparing for this for nine months,” Peach mentioned. “It’s a question if ‘did we prepare our guys in the past nine months to win a big football game?’ We did tonight.”
Arlington will face Richardson Pearce in the first round of the playoffs with a time and place to be determined. Meanwhile for Martin, they find themselves out of playoff contention for the first time since 2005, also officially ending a streak of five-consecutive district titles.
