Local Sports

Red Devils burn East Liverpool

EAST LIVERPOOL -- Columbus Marion-Franklin rode the bus for three hours to get to East Liverpool for its Div. IV, Region 15 first-round playoff game on Friday night.

After a 42-0 win over the Potters, the ride back to the south side of Columbus promised to be a smooth one.

The Red Devis (7-4) came into the tournament as the 11th seed in Region 15, but did not look like it against the sixth-seeded Potters (8-3).

Using its high-speed receivers and smart quarterback play, the Red Devils were able to pick its spots for big plays against the Potter defense. The Red Devil defense was just as good as it forced five turnovers including 80- and 100-yard interception returns for touchdowns.

“We did everything we could do wrong,” East Liverpool coach Paul Cusick said. “I give credit to those guys. They came in here and played their butts off. They deserve to advance. I’m still proud of our guys. They had a great year and the seniors set a great standard for our underclassmen.”

The Red Devils will travel to No. 3 Millersburg West Holmes (8-2) next Friday for a second-round contest.

Marion-Franklin senior quarterback Makhi Ali completed eight of 14 passes for 200 yards with touchdown passes of 32, 61 and 29. More importantly, the quarterback knew had to work the clock with the lead. Once in front, Ali often let the play clock wind down to 1 before snapping. That allowed the Red Devils to shorten the game.

“I have a veteran quarterback in Makhi Ali,” Marion-Franklin coach Raymond Thomas said. “He’s a four-year starter and a three-year starter at quarterback. We go no-huddle and fast tempo, but when we get a lead he sees the clock and he can chew it up a little bit. I give him the game plan and he can make any check or any audible he wants to do.”

The Devils took the lead with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Ali to DeMariea Laster on the last play of the first quarter. With 1:36 left in the half Ali hit Chris Tatum Jr. on a 61-yard pass to put the Devils up 14-0 at the break.

East Liverpool’s first half possessions went punt, turnover on downs inside the 10, interception, punt and turnover on downs.

“They were extremely fast,” Cusick said. “That was the one thing on film that really stood out. It was like ‘Wow, these guys are electric’. But we have to be assignment sound and they made some plays and just started rolling.”

The Red Devils pushed the lead to 21-0 when Shemar Calhoun hauled in a 29-yard touchdown pass on third and 18 with 5:21 left in the third. After a bobbled punt snap mishap by the Potters, the Devils were quickly back near the goal line and Ali sneaked it in from 1 out to push the Devil lead to 28-0.

In the fourth quarter, Tatum Jr. had an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown and Chris Askew followed that up with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown.

East Liverpool senior quarterback Ben Myers ended his Potter career going 11-27 for 100 yards and four interceptions. Senior running back Xavier Lara had 120 yards rushing for East Liverpool. James Madison University recruit Dre’Keim Abercrombie had five catches for 39 yards.

After starting the season 0-3, the Red Devils have won seven out of the last eight.

“It was about my team tonight,” Thomas said. “We were focused, 100-percent focused. We know we have the best team. It was about the small things and attention to detail to get to 42-0.”

The Columbus City League team has been in the playoffs 17 times, making it to the final four in 2009, 2011 and 2013.

Marion-Franklin’s last appearance in the playoffs before Friday was a 2024 first-round 40-6 loss at St. Clairsville.

GAME NOTES

• A week after the restroom stabbing that left one juvenile hospitalized, the new security measures at Patterson Field were very apparent.

The plaza and pathways around the field had much less traffic than a typical regular season night. Spectators largely stuck to the stands and there seemed to be plenty of security around the stadium.

EL: 0-0- 0-0-- 0

MF: 7-7-14-14--42

SCORING

MF -- DeMariea Laster 32 pass from Makhi Ali (Cristopher Lucero Rivera kick)

MF -- Chris Tatum Jr. 61 pass from Ali (Rivera kick)

MF -- Shermar Calhoun 29 pass from Ali (Rivera kick)

MF -- Ali 1 run (Rivera kick)

MF -- Tatum Jr. 80 interception return (Rivera kick)

MF -- Chris Askew 100 interception return (Rivera kick)

TEAM STATS

MARION-FRANKLIN

First downs: 10; Total yards: 290; Rushes-yards: 21-90; Passing: 200; Comp-Att-Int. 8-14-0; Punts 1-30; Fumbles-Lost 0-0; Penalties-Yards 9-75.

EAST LIVERPOOL

First downs: 11, Total yards 276, Rushes-yards 43-176, Passing 100; Comp-Att-Int. 11-27-4, Punts 2-37, Fumbles-Lost 1-1, Penalties-Yards 7-75.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING -- Marion-Franklin, Makhi Ali 17-56; East Liverpool, Xavier Lara 28-120, Ben Myers 15-56.

PASSING -- Marion-Franklin, Makhi Ali 8-14-200-0; East Liverpool, Ben Myers 11-27-100-4.

RECEIVING -- Marion-Franklin, DeMariea Laster 3-83, Chris Tatum Jr 1-61, Shemar Calhoun 3-59; East Liverpool, Dre’Keim Abercrombie 5-39, Meshach Harris 5-41, Kaiden Goatley 1-20.

INTERCEPTIONS -- Marion-Franklin, Tatum Jr., Chris Askew, Calhoun, My’King Colvin.