Widefield grinds out victory against Harrison

Kevin Stringer threw with confidence. Marquis Coddington ran with a full head of steam. The anchors of Widefield’s explosive offense came to play – and they put on a show.

Stringer passed for a pair of touchdowns, one apiece to twin brothers Mario and Eugene Sanabria, and Coddington scampered for a score Friday, as Widefield rebounded from a sluggish start by exerting its dominance in a 27-7 whipping of host Harrison.

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In a drastic change from last year, when the 4A Gladiators rolled to a 28-0 win, Widefield (2-1) needed almost every bit of the 257 yards total offense it gained, having to overcome an interception by Stringer, a fumble by Mario Sanabria and 88 yards in penalties. And it struggled to contain the triple-option attack of 3A Harrison, which ran for 194 yards, yet had its only lead at 7-6 in the second quarter on a 4-yard option keeper by Josh Terpak.

Harrison (1-2) often shot itself in the foot – a botched fake punt on its opening possession that led to a 19-yard touchdown pass from Stringer to Mario Sanabria; facemask and false start penalties that halted promising drives; two turnovers on downs; a fumble by Terpak; and two interceptions by Terpak, one of which was returned for a TD by Carlos Bowdre.

“People sit back and try to gear up for the run,” said Widefield coach Fred Marjerrison, whose team won for the first time in his 14-game career without a rusher hitting the 100-yard mark. “We’ve run the football pretty effectively. But we have to throw it. We’ve got to be able to get people off of us a little bit and move some people out of the box.”

“We mixed it up,” added Stringer, who completed 6 of 9 passes for 108 yards and rushed nine times for 81 yards, increasing his touchdown count to seven. “They started to catch onto us, but (Marjerrison) had some plays to keep them off balance.” He noted that he’s “a lot more comfortable and poised. … We run play action, and we’ve got a man open.”

Coddington said his offensive line was “giving me what I got, and I just took it,” en route to a 78-yard night with a 4-yard touchdown run that gave Widefield a 12-7 halftime lead. When Stringer is capable of throwing the ball, “it makes us a lot better,” Coddington said. “It makes us have two different offenses. We can throw the ball, and then run the ball.”

WIDEFIELD 27, HARRISON 7

Widefield        6          6          0          15 – 27

Harrison         0          7          0          0 – 7

First quarter

WID – M. Sanabria 19 reception (Fairthorne kick failed), 9:50

Second quarter

HAR – Terpak 4 run (Piper kick), 6:59

WID – Coddington 4 run (Coddington run failed), 0:23

Third quarter

No scoring

Fourth quarter

WID – E. Sanabria 18 reception (Pace reception), 9:07

WID – Bowdre 26 interception return (Fairthorne kick), 5:13

First downs – WID, 15. HAR, 17.

Rushing yards – WID, 196. HAR, 194.

Passing yards – WID, 108. HAR, 25.

Comp.-Att.-Int. – WID, 6-9-1. HAR, 4-14-2.

Penalties-yards – WID, 9-88. HAR, 4-28.

Fumbles-lost – WID, 2-1. HAR, 3-1.

Punts – WID, 4. HAR, 3.

Rushing – WID, Stringer 9-81, Coddington 20-78, Bellamy 4-17, E. Sanabria 3-9, M. Sanabria 1-7, Pace 1-2, Wainright 1-2. HAR, Shepherd 10-62, Terpak 15-56, Davis 9-42, Wingo 12-34.

Passing – WID, Stringer 6-9-108. HAR, Terpak 4-14-25.

Receiving – WID, E. Sanabria 3-66, Pace 1-21, M. Sanabria 1-19, Evans 1-2. HAR, Shepherd 2-12, Peppers 1-9, Davis 1-4.