COURTLAND
Southampton Academy head coach Dale Marks was unsure whether his team would be able to play an official game against Hobgood Academy on Friday, so he advised The Tidewater News to cover a different game altogether. The visiting team was expected to be shorthanded, thus forcing the teams to scrimmage.

“They had just enough [to play an actual game],” Marks said “I know how they feel because when I came back here in 1991 [to coach a second stint], I didn’t know if I’d be able to field a team in that situation.”

Hobgood is the smallest school on Raiders’ schedule, and Marks said there won’t be any more issues in the eight-man football league moving forward.

“They just had a couple of kids graduate and they didn’t have enough kids to bring up from junior varsity,” Marks said. “Some of the schools we play, like Arrendel Parrot, they’ll have enough kids to platoon.”

Southampton Academy moved to 3-0 with the 62-6 win, but it didn’t come without its own challenges.

“We had to play seven on seven at times when they had a kid come out,” Marks said. “Your human nature also kicks in when it got lopsided and we made sure we weren’t trying to run the score up.”

Marks had his second team offense running the show by the end of the first quarter, leading by four touchdowns.

“It’s also good for our program to get those kids playing time, too,” he said. “We saw some things in film that we need to work on.”

The offense was well balanced also with 160 yards passing and 199 yards on the ground. Starting quarterback Andrew Lowe was 5 for 6 for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Running backs Jalen Myrik and Roy Hill totaled four carries for 104 yards and three touchdowns rushing, while receiver Brooks Holland racked up four catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.

“The Hobgood coaches complimented us on our sportsmanship throughout the game, whether it was running the ball for most of the game or helping kids from their team up,” Marks said. “I was really proud of our kids.”