Jaxxon Marie put up PlayStation numbers, passing for 246 yards and 5 touchdowns, while rushing for 188 yards and 4 touchdowns, against the Yoakum Bulldogs. The Gobbler signal caller accounted for 9 total touchdowns, all of them needed, as the Gobblers defeated their rivals 61-49, in what was the highest scoring game of the rivalry.
“I gotta give props to the O-Line. They were great. Without them, I couldn’t do what I did tonight,” Marie said.
The Gobblers drove the ball to the 1, on their opening possession, before a TD dive by Marie. After the Bulldogs scored on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Trae Cuellar to Kennan Dilworth, Marie scored again, from the 3 yard line, with 1:41 left in the 1st Quarter.
Early in the 2nd, Yoakum’s Trae Cuellar fumbled the ball and Aiden Stafford recovered it, setting up the Gobbler offense inside the 20. A few plays later, Marie found Davyon Varela for a 17 yard touchdown, extending the Gobbler’s lead to 21-6.
Yoakum would answer with an 8-yard run from Cuellar. After a successful two-point conversion, the score was 21--14.
A big kickoff return by Tony Perez led to Marie finding Walker Dietze in the back of the endzone for a 30-yard score. After a Yoakum punt, Marie hit Brayden Hernandez on a 39-yard strike down to the Bulldogs 30. Marie then found Dietze along the sideline for another 30-yard touchdown. The score was 3414 with 2:20 left in the half.
Yoakum then scored on a 70-yard direct snap to the speedy Xavier Barnett. The score was 34-21.
Tony Perez received the ensuing kickoff and had another big return, setting up the Gobblers final score of the half. After a 23-yard run by Marie, he then found Dietze again from 3 yards out, making the score 41-21 at Halftime. The Gobbler receiver finished the night with 7 receptions for 92 yards and 3 touchdowns.
The Bulldogs returned the 2nd half kickoff deep into Gobbler territory and scored on their 1st play from scrimmage, a 28-yard pass from Cuellar to Jamar Hopkins. The score was 41-28.
The Gobblers were forced to punt on their 1st possession of the quarter, but the Bulldogs failed to capitalize, fumbling the ball on their second play. Landon Pelot was there to recover the fumble.
Marie found Tony Perez a few plays later on an 18 yard touchdown. The score was 48-28.
The Bulldogs scored a little over a minute later on another pass from Cuellar to Hopkins-this time from 18 yards out. The score was 48-35 at the end of the 3rd.
Marie opened up the 4th Quarter with a 23yard pass to Hernandez, before scoring his third rushing touchdown from the 11 yard line. The Gobblers led 55-35.
The Bulldogs refused to go away. A Donovan Troussaint run set them up in the redzone. They scored a few plays later on a run by Cuellar. After a Gobbler fumble, Yoakum trimmed the Cuero lead to six with another Cuellar run. The score was 55-49 with under four minutes left.
Any hopes of a comeback were dashed, when Marie took the next play from scrimmage for a 70 yard touchdown run. The final score was 6149.
About the high-scoring game, Coach Fikac said, “Sometimes you get into these things when you play teams with great athletes. Yoakum is a phenomenal team. They got good kids. I was just proud of our kids for bouncing back, just continuing to fight and play one play at a time.”
The Gobblers(2-1) will face CC Miller on Friday at Gobbler Stadium.
