Rabbits Outrun Marlin To Hop Atop 3A Field

Bill Reynolds- Head Feature Writer

-December 21, 2003 -

In the final analysis, Marlin might as well have played the Atlanta
Falcons as the Atlanta High Rabbits.
    
On the same day the Falcons deposed defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay, Atlanta High sped past the talented Bulldogs for a State grid crown.    
    
The explosive Rabbits showed plenty of hip-hop in their game, rocking MHS 34-0 in the Class 3A Division II State finale Saturday night in Tyler.
    
Atlanta's Energizer Rabbit was none other than the aptly named Dallas Washington, who turned in a capital performance on special teams with sensational punt returns of 90 and 79 yards for scores.
    
It was a rare contest in which Marlin found itself out-quicked.
    
The Bulldogs, who employed blazing speed and amazing athleticism while reeling off 10 straight wins from the midseason point, found a mirror image of themselves in Atlanta.
    
A bona fide track-and-field power, Atlanta on Saturday was able run circles around a Marlin club that's anything but slow afoot.
    
Consider Washington.
    
His two long TD returns gave him five for the campaign, three in the post-season alone.
    
Washington's  dashing and darting 90-yard return got Atlanta on the board in the first period. A Curtis Burns two-yard TD blast and two-point PAT run in the second period extended the Rabbit lead to 14-0 at the break.
  
The heretofore potent Marlin attack, meanwhile, stalled in the wake of Atlanta's go-for-broke pass rush and sideline-to-sideline pursuit.
    
Bulldog quarterback Jeremy Sanders, one of the Centexfootball.com coverage area's more electrifying players, was harried into a seven for-19 night through the air, accounting for just 64 passing yards.
    
Marlin's Tank Smith, whose return from a serious knee injury coincided with the Bulldogs' midseason resurgence, was even stopped in his tracks.
    
Atlanta held Smith to just seven yards on five rushes, and pretty much
eliminated the running game as an option for Marlin after bolting to the early lead. In all, the Bulldogs finished in the red on the ground, ending up with minus-five yards.
    
Totaling just 59 yards in offense, Marlin threatened no closer than the Rabbit 42-yard line.
    
Nor could the Bulldogs make up the difference with special teams. In fact, the opposite was true. Atlanta further distanced itself from Marlin with a great kicking game.
    
Washington, for instance, bookended the game with an insurance 79 yard TD punt return in the final stanza that was perhaps even more mesmerizing in terms of making would-be tacklers miss than was his initial 90-yarder to the house.
    
In between Washington's heroics, Burns played a hot hand for Atlanta. His 36-yard touchdown jaunt in the third period gave the Rabbits an insurmountable 22-0 advantage.
    
Fred Washington (no relation to Dallas), who finished with 83 yards rushing, extended the margin to 28-0 early in the fourth quarter with a one yard touchdown burst.
    
Marlin's loss, while disappointing, couldn't erase the Bulldogs' incredible 10-game winning streak that turned around a season mired at 1-4 five weeks into the schedule. While awaiting the return of Smith, Marlin survived lopsided setbacks to Burnet and Ennis before gelling in District 18-3A play.
    
The Bulldogs yielded just one touchdown in District action, recording four straight shutouts after the Ennis loss.
    
Marlin, contending for its first State title in four decades, entered the playoffs with a misleading 6-4 ledger. The Bulldogs then proceeded to nail down five straight post-season victories.
    
But, in the end, it was Atlanta that was able to drop the hammer and pound out a big win.