Rutherford beats county rival Arnold (See Photos, Video)

Rams secure first win over Marlins in three meetings

October 30, 2009 10:45 PM

By BRAD MILNER / News Herald Writer

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Rutherford’s marquee win eventually turned out to be bittersweet on Friday.

Rutherford defeated Arnold 23-14 at the Mike Gavlak Sports Complex with a dominant second half. Rams’ quarterback Cordarryl Rogers again carried his team, this time with 182 yards rushing and a score to help them beat the Marlins for the first time in three tries.

But a few minutes earlier, Choctawhatchee eliminated Rutherford from playoff contention by defeating Bay on the other side of the bridge. Rutherford coach Greg Rivers knew little of the outcome, but was pleased the Rams improved to 5-4 overall and 4-2 in District 1-3A.

“This was a win we really wanted,” Rivers said. “They beat us close the first two times and we knew this was going to be another good game.”

The game turned on three drives, all in the third quarter. Arnold touched the ball on the opening kickoff and let it trickle out of bounds at the 7-yard line to open the second half with the score tied 14-14. Ashton Lewis, who was 7 of 11 passing for 62 yards and a touchdown, was stopped by two Rams in the end zone for a safety.

Arnold recovered the free kick at its 45. It drove 30 yards on 12 plays, but the drive stalled at the Rams’ 25. A 42-yard Jordan Masker field-goal attempt was blocked.

Rutherford tried to recover the ball, but it was knocked into the end zone, where the referees ruled it a touchback. An argument by Arnold coach James Hale fell on deaf ears and Rutherford took over at the 20.

Seven plays later, Rogers, 4 of 7 for 76 yards through the air, found Javien Elliott at the 35. The junior leaped for the ball, grabbed it, shrugged off a defender and went the rest of the way untouched to cap the scoring.

“That right there did it, we start off with bad field position then get a safety,” Hale said. “We felt if we could move the ball and run the clock that we might be able to score on the last drive, but it didn’t work out.”

Arnold (4-4, 2-4), losers of four in a row, made good on two long plays of 86 and 38 yards in the first half. The first was a reverse pass from Blake DeBoard to Eddie Williams to give the Marlins a 7-0 first-quarter lead. Williams, who was not used at quarterback all night, finished with 110 yards on four receptions.

The second came when DeBoard hauled in a 38-yard pass from Lewis to tie the game 14-14 at halftime. Arnold’s offense was stagnant aside from that, amassing 78 yards on 13 plays in the first half and 254 for the game..

Rutherford had 38 more yards in the first half, including 158 on the ground by Rogers. He added a 42-yard scamper with 4 minutes, 14 seconds to play in the half to give Rutherford a 14-7 lead.

Rivers stopped short of calling it a perfect game, although his defense was solid and limited Arnold running back Jeremy Hester to 91 yards and only one run of more than 8 yards.

“We haven’t played a complete game yet, but hopefully we can next week,” Rivers said.

Rutherford hosts Pensacola West Florida Tech in its season finale. Arnold hosts Pensacola Washington next week.