DETROIT -- In football, if you don’t have trust your quarterback, you’re not going to win a lot of games.
On Saturday afternoon, the Southfield A&T coaching staff put their faith in star senior quarterback Isaiah Marshall and he rewarded faith with a game-winning decision.
With Southfield A&T trailing Detroit Cass Tech, 27-23, with exactly one minute to play, the Warriors were desperate for some late game magic as they faced a fourth-and-5 at the Cass Tech 16 yard line.
The Warriors emptied the backfield and trusted Marshall to be able to do something with the five wide receiver set. Despite having his choice of talented wide receivers to sling the ball to, Marshall ended up betting on himself to get the job done.
Seeing the coverage develop, Marshall showed why he is the most dangerous weapon in the A&T offense when he took off up the middle to the end zone for a 16-yard score.
“We had some routes called, and it was like, ‘If that ain’t there and that ain’t there, go be Isaiah,’” said Southfield A&T coach Aaron Marshall. “And he read one-1,000, two-1,000 and then he was Isaiah.”
With the A&T offensive line having done it’s job and the Cass Tech secondary falling back into coverage, no one could lay a finger on Isaiah Marshall as he flashed his track speed to turn a 27-23 deficit into a 29-27 lead with 54 seconds left to play.
He made it look easy.
“If there is any hole, I’m going to take it because I knew I was going to make it,” Isaiah Marshall said, who owns a PR of 11.00 in the 100-meter dash.
In the remaining seconds, the Warriors defense managed to stop Cass Tech a yard short on a fourth-and-2 to officially cement the 29-27 win.
The late score capped a big day for Marshall, who is considered a contender for this year’s Michigan High School Football Player of the Year award. Along with his late rushing score, the University of Kansas commit totaled 80 yards on the ground while also going 15-for-25 for 210 yards and three more touchdowns in the passing game.
“He’s just poised, man,” said Aaron Marshall, who is also Isaiah’s uncle. “The stage is never too big. He’s really good in the big moments of relaxing. When he relaxes, everyone around him relaxes, so that’s so important for us.”
A&T actually trailed 20-8 past the midway point of the third quarter, but the connection between Isaiah Marshall and senior wide receiver Tashi Braceful proved to be overwhelmingly impactful for the Warriors as the game pressed on.
On the drive following Cass Tech’s touchdown to make it 28-8, Isaiah Marshall and Braceful connected on passes of 16 and 12 yards on the ensuing drive, the latter of which was for a touchdown to make it 20-15 with 5:49 left in the third quarter.
On the next A&T drive, the duo connected on a 27-yard pass on the second play. The drive was capped by a five-yard touchdown pass between the two to give the Warriors a 23-20 lead with 9:57 to play.
“You know, it’s just a great combination,” Isaiah Marshall said. “I’ve been playing with (Braceful) since I was 12. So we’re just making plays. I trust and I believe in him.”
The chemistry was evident on the second play from scrimmage to start the game as Marshall hit a streaking Braceful in stride for a 74-yard touchdown reception. A two-point conversion run by Mathias Davis gave A&T an 8-0 lead just 54 seconds into the game.
“First touchdown pass, we already had it in the game plan early that we were going to take shots on them,” Braceful said. “They’re a younger crew and their DBs aren’t as good, so we took advantage of it early. Going in, that was the game plan right there.”
Braceful went on to finish the game with eight receptions for 153 yards with five catches going for more than 12 yards.
“He’s the best receiver in the state,” Aaron Marshall said. “I don’t know why everybody don’t think that, but you see it.”
Although the two didn’t connect for the winning touchdown, Braceful was more than happy to watch Isaiah Marshall streak into the end zone to take the late lead.
“Isaiah is the best quarterback in the state,” Braceful said. “So, if he sees something, he’s going take. Isaiah went and took what was best for the team. The call wasn’t necessarily a quarterback draw, but Isaiah is the best. He makes stuff happen.”
Despite A&T’s quick strike to open the game, it quickly lost momentum after a bad kickoff gave Cass Tech the ball just 38 yards from the end zone.
Four plays into Cass Tech’s opening drive, it found the end zone as a 31-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Corey Sadler to Will Sykes Jr. set up a two-yard touchdown run for Carson Lovett to cut A&T’s lead to 8-7 with 9:22 still left in the opening quarter.
Cass Tech also started on A&T’s side of the 50 yard line for it’s second drive and added a 22-yard field goal by George Sanchez-Murillo to make it 10-8 with 2:16 left in the first.
Sanchez-Murillo added a 44-yard field goal as time expired in the opening half to make it 13-8 going into the break.
Cass Tech then opened the second half with great field once again as it opened on the A&T 36-yard line after a 20-yard kickoff return. Seven plays later, Jaylen Spates rushed in from five yards out to make it 20-8 with 7:36 still to play in the third.
“We knew who we would be playing,” Aaron Marshall said. “That’s a great (Cass Tech) program led by coach (Marvin) Rushing. But it was important for us to just stay locked in. They won the field-position battle in the first half and that was huge. Coming out in the second half, we knew we had to have a good kick game (and) we had to flip the field. Once we flipped the field, we were able to play some football.”
Cass Tech never started a drive on the Warriors’ side of the field after the opening drive of the second half as A&T’s offense settled in under the leadership of Isaiah Marshall. By the end of the game, A&T out-gained Cass Tech, 333-272.
Sadler, starting in his first game for Cass Tech at quarterback, had a strong debut. He was 7-for-10 passing for 86 yards but was also Cass Tech’s leading rusher with 109 rushing yards on 12 carries, including a 46-yard touchdown run with 4:53 left to give the Technicians a 27-23 lead.
Sadler, who starred at wide receiver last year while waiting his turn to take over at quarterback this season, went down briefly with a calf cramp in the middle portion of the game. Although he sat out for just one play, he appeared to be favoring it from time to time throughout the second half. He was noticeably absent from the kick and punt return game in the second half.
“Corey is my guy,” Isaiah Marshall said of his counterpart. “I play 7-on-7 with him. He was a little hurt but he still played through it and I’m proud of him.”
Aaron Marshall made sure to credit his defense, especially after Southfield A&T gave up a ton of points in a 56-54 opening-season win in 2022.
“You guys remember the score last year, right?” Aaron Marshall quipped. “Right? So our defense came a long way. We returned eight out of 11 starters, so that’s pretty huge for us on defense.”
Mauricio Clayton helped run down Corey Sadler on Cass Tech’s final possession to stop the talented quarterback one yard short of the first-down with a handful of seconds left.
“Mauricio Clayton did a phenomenal job,” Aaron Marshall said. “Understand, he was battling a little knee injury at halftime. I asked if he wanted to come out and he looked at me like I was crazy. He’s a senior, right? That’s how they kind of step up to the plate. Real big for us.”
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