By Veto Roley/Sports Writer

ST MARTIN — Lightening delayed the start of the game between St. Martin and East Central Friday night before lightening took over the game in the form of Yellow Jackets Dawsen Sullivan and Seth Crockett. The two accounted for five touchdowns, all on explosive plays, to lead St. Martin to a 35-6 win over East Central.

The game, which was chippy throughout with a number of personal foul penalties called, was also marred by a major fight after the game as players lined up for handshakes near the St. Martin sidelines. After the fight, which took a minute or two for coaches to separate the players, coaches quickly took both teams back to their locker rooms.

“What happened at the end of the game was unacceptable,” said St. Martin coach Woody Cagnolatti. East Central coach Sam Huff was talking to his players after the game and the team declined comment after the game.

Outside of the explosive scoring plays, East Central (0-2) managed to hold the Yellow Jackets (2-0) to just 37 yards and one first down. But, St. Martin more than made up for the lack of consistent offense through explosiveness.

On St. Martin’s second possession of the game, Sullivan found Crockett all alone for a 78-yard pass and run for the game’s first touchdown. On the the Yellow Jackets’ next possession, after an incomplete pass to start the drive, Sullivan sprinted 55 yards to make the game 14-0.

The Yellow Jackets started their first possession of the second quarter on the Hornets 49. On the first play, Sullivan connected with Zavion Wells on a 49 yard pass play. St. Martin got the ball back with 2:41 left in the half. Sullivan connected with Bryson Meaut on a 25-yard pass play to the Hornet 25. After two short running plays, Crockett sprinted 20 yards to give St. Martin a 27-0 lead at the break.

Because of the big plays, St. Martin only ran 10 plays in the first half.

St. Martin’s final score of the game would come early in the fourth quarter. After Crockett ran for 11 yards to pick up a first down at the Hornets 38 and a running play that lost two years, Sullivan fumbled the snap from center, picked the ball up and raced around the right end for 40 yards and St. Martin’s final touchdown, with the two-point play giving the Yellow Jackets a 35-0 lead.

While Cagnolatti was happy with the big plays, he was not pleased with his team’s inability to move the ball consistently on the Hornets.

“We can’t live by the big play,” he said. “We have to be able to consistently move the ball. I’ll take the win, but it was a sloppy win.”

‘After St. Martin scored its final touchdown, East Central took over at their own 13 with 11:19 left to play in the game. Behind quarterback Kash Litton and running backs Koen Myers, Landyn Hicks, and Trevor Stork, the Hornets embarked on an 18-play drive eating up all but the last four seconds on the clock, converting two fourth downs and grinding out six first downs to avert the shutout. Myers put East Central on the scoreboard with a 4-yard score.

Aiden Jackson and Richard Dossett had six stops each to pace the Yellow Jackets defense with Liam Walters adding five tackles.

Because of the Hornets long drive that ate up most of the fourth quarter, St. Martin only ran 10 plays in the second half and only 20 plays in the game. Miles Coleman had an excellent game for the Hornets with five tackles in those 20 plays.

“East Central played really, really well,” said Cagnolatti. “They always play tough and grinded all the way through the game.”

Cagnolatti said the lightening delay, which pushed the kickoff back to 8:15 from a scheduled 7 pm kick, may have played into the Yellow Jackets not getting a consistent offense going. “We didn’t get a good start,” he said.

With the win, and last week’s win 56-14 victory over Vancleave, St. Martin can claim the Jackson County School District title, though Cagnolatti said that was not a goal of the team.

“We have Stone County coming in next week and they’re going to be good,” Cagnolatti said. “We’re focused on the next game. Every game, every play has its own heartbeat.”

East Central will try to get back on schedule hosting Pearl River Central (2-0) next Friday night.