Cardinals earn first win

 As the final seconds ticked off of Jacksonville's first victory this season Friday night, coach Ben Marsh edged onto the field and clapped his hands over his head. Repeatedly. The Cardinals were winless no more.

Quarterback William Coleman scored on a 3-yard keeper with 4:49 left and then picked off a pass in the final seconds at the goal line to help lift Jacksonville to a 26-24 victory over Wilmington Laney in a Mideastern 3-A/4-A Conference game.

"I'm so excited for the kids because they deserve this. They earned it," Marsh said. "Everybody catches a lot of heat when you're losing ballgames, and our kids answered the bell tonight. It seemed like every play was a big play tonight."

A week ago Jacksonville nearly came up with its first win before falling 14-10 to another Wilmington foe, Ashley. This time around, on homecoming no less, the Cardinals would not be denied.

"It just does my heart good as a coach to see kids have success like they had tonight," Marsh said. "Our guys hung in there and kept fighting. It would be real easy when you haven't won and we went down like we did, and we gave up the bombs for them to hang their head and pack it in. But they didn't. I think that really is why they were able to come back and win."

Jacksonville (1-6, 1-1) rallied after falling behind 24-13 early in the second half after Laney (1-4, 0-1) scored on its third long bomb of the night, a 76-yard pass from Andrew Olson to Ernest Andrews.

But it took awhile.

The Cardinals, who had a 66-yard touchdown pass called back in the first half because of a chop block, pulled within 24-20 when Dayton Campos, who finished with 119 yards rushing, scored on a 4-yard run with 9:35 left to cap a 12-play drive. The march included a 7-yard run by Coleman on fourth-and-4 at the Laney 11-yard line.

After Jacksonville's defense, which was led all night by linebacker Andrew McPeak, held the Bucaneers to a three-and-out on their next series, the Cardinals were back for more behind a nifty 28-yard reverse by Brent Schwartz to give Jacksonville first-and-goal at the 7.

Two plays later Coleman, who rushed for 80 yards, scored on a 3-yard keeper. It was Coleman's third touchdown of the night. He also turned a sneak on third-and-1 into a 32-yard run to tie it at 7-7.

"I hit the hole hard. The offensive line set a great block,"Coleman said. "Anyone would have scored."

And he scored on a 24-yard run on the Cardinals' next series that came after a 38-yard run by Campos on fourth-and-1 at Jacksonville 35, a decision Marsh made after he thought the Bucaneers were setting up for a punt block during a timeout.

"Quite frankly I looked at my assistant coaches and said, ‘What have we got to lose here?"‘ Marsh said. "And I had confidence in our power set and went in there and told the guys to get it, and they did."

The kick failed on that second touchdown - as it did on Coleman's go-ahead score because of a bad snap, which opened the door for Laney. But Coleman shut it. With time running out, the Bucaneers drove to the Jacksonville 28 but Coleman put an end to the threat, leaping high at the front of the end zone to pick of Olson's pass with 32 seconds left to seal the victory.

"The defensive line and the linebackers got good pressure on the quarterback," Coleman said. "There's nothing else I could do but catch the ball."

Laney      7 10 7 0 _ 24

Jacksonville 7 6 0 13 _ 26

First quarter

L  -  Mills 35 pass from  Olson (Klockman kick)

J - Coleman 32 run (Mayo kick)

J - Coleman 24 run (kick failed)

L - Mills 46 pass from Olson (Klockman kick))

L - 47 FG

L - Andrews 76 pass from Olson (Klockman kick)

J - Campos 4 run (Mayo kick)

J - Coleman 3 run (kick failed)

                               Lan              Jax

First downs                    11               15

Rushes-yards               26-63          51-292            

Passing                      231               57            

Comp-Att-Int               9-20-1           5-13-0            

Fumbles-Lost                 1-0              1-0

Penalties-Yards             10-94             4-34            

Punts                        4-28           5-22.4            

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-L : Jackson 19-76, Bryant 2-8, Morales 1-3, Mills 1-(-3), Olson 3-(-21). JHS: Campos 20-119, Coleman 10-80, Murrell 19-66, Schwartz 1-28,Montford 1-5,

PASSING- L: Olson 9-20-1 231; JH: Coleman 5-13-0 57..

RECEIVING-L: Mills 3-114, Andrews 1-76, Elington 1-17, Hill 1-12, Bryant 2-10; JHS: Schwartz 3-44, Murrell 1-9, Montford 1-5.