Hawthorne runs for 208 yards, 3 TDs
Published 8:10 am Saturday, November 15, 2014
Markell Hawthorne put the LaGrange Gators on his back and cruised into the regional round of the Class 4A state playoffs with a 50-20 win over Fair Park at John J. Mims Memorial Stadium Friday night.
The win was the Gators’ (7-4) seventh in-a-row as they advanced out of the first round for the second consecutive year and will hit the road to face No. 6 Landry-Walker next week.
“This feels extremely good, any time you can win a playoff game it says a lot about your program,” LaGrange head coach Jules Sullen.
Hawthorne rushed for 208 yards and three touchdowns and added 63 yards receiving and another touchdown before being rested in the fourth quarter.
“What more can I say about Markell Hawthorne?” Sullen said. “He is a dynamic back. He understands what we are trying to offensively and he opens up everyone else around him.”
Sullen attributed much of Hawthorne’s success to his offensive line.
“Our offensive line did a dynamic job,” Sullen said. “Our offensive line coaches do a great job with our line.”
The Gators started by forcing the Indians (6-5) to punt. Hawthorne would soon begin his onslaught, picking up every yard of a nine-play, 56-yard drive, capping it off with a 3-yard touchdown and the 2-point conversion.
The Indians answered with a long drive and touchdown, but Hawthorne answered on the next drive with his second score.
On the ensuing drive, Fair Park quarterback Se’Derrick Smith was picked off by Tarik Wellmaker at the Indians 12-yard line. Wellmaker practically walked the pick right back into the end zone for a touchdown, swinging the momentum forever back in LaGrange’s favor.
“That was a very big play for us,” Sullen said. “We had a linebacker suffer an injury the play before that so we were trying to adjust and for him to make that play right there was huge. That helped our morale a lot.”
The Indians gained a total of 259 yards, most of which came in mop up time. Smith led the way with 103 and a touchdown through the air and 47 on the ground.
“I do believe our defense bends, but it doesn’t break,” Sullen said.
Jeremiah West completed 8 of 13 passes for 119 yards and three touchdowns for the Gators. The second of those touchdowns came on a 36-yard screen play which Hawthorne broke five tackles en route to the end zone.
Jaylun Myles and Dondal Lewis also caught touchdown passes.
