Holtville is back in the playoffs.
Coming off a huge overtime win over Valley last week, the Bulldogs got a tough football game from their rival Bulldogs from Marbury.
A couple of mishaps and turnovers did not help Holtville’s cause early on, but a 28-0 win put the road-tripping Bulldogs into the playoffs for the seventh straight year.
“We wanted to start off fast and that’s what we did,” Holtville coach Cory Lee said. “We stumbled a bit in that second quarter but the guys came out in the second half and did what they needed to do.”
Holtville running back Daishaun Zeigler had a pair of short touchdown runs on his way to a 107-yard, 30-carry game. His two-yard run started the scoring with 7:18 left in the first quarter. He ended the first Bulldog drive in the second half with a one-yard plunge to give Holtville (4-5, 3-3 Class 5A, Region 4) a 21-0 lead with 3:39 left in the third quarter.
Also in the first quarter, Connor Aplin took a direct snap and bulldozed him way for a 7-yard touchdown to give Holtville a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
Holtville quarterback Jacob Burgess dropped back and threw at 56-yard touchdown strike to Elijah Headley, who finished the long catch-and-run along the Holtville sideline for the final margin.
Marbury (0-9, 0-6) finished its senior night with 143 yards of total offense but had some promising moments.
Marbury recovered a muffed punt and drove the ball to the Holtville 26, but a missed field goal ended Marbury’s best chance to score. Marbury committed four turnovers.
“We’ve got a young team with eight sophomores on defense, and they played really hard,” Marbury coach Houston Powell said. “We’ve got one more next week (at Elberta next Friday), and we want to win for our seniors and to end our season on a good note.”
Marbury quarterback Alex Hamby finished with 82 total yards, completed seven passes and had 20 carries for 33 yards while throwing two interceptions. Austin Fallon had 32 yards on eight carries.
Burgess completed 9 of 18 passes for 138 yards and a touchdown. Headley caught four passes for 70 yards. Dylan Price and Brock Godwin had interceptions for the Holtville defense, which got three sacks of Hamby.
Holtville will finish its regular season at Tallassee next Friday. Holtville will be seeking its first playoff win since 1993 when the postseason begins in two weeks.
“It’s another chance for us to get a win on the road,” Lee said. “This was a tough game for us after we win in overtime last week. We’ll have to get the kids ready again after a big win. We’re in the playoffs now.”
