One touchdown is enough for John Marshall in victory at J.R. Tucker

Each day, they endure the grind. 

Sometimes, though, they ask themselves: Is the effort worth it? Or is it all for naught?

The answer notwithstanding, the John Marshall Justices return. They always return.

Somehow, you see, they dig deep into their collective well of strength, they persevere, and they stay the course. It’s tough duty, for sure, when the scoreboard doesn’t always reflect their dedication, improvement, resilience and resolve.

“I love the game of football,” said Taeshawn Eberhart, Jayem’s 6-0, 170-pound junior quarterback. “I said I was going to quit when he (coach Dakota Reeves) had us running a lot in the offseason, but I never quit. I couldn’t let my team down, so I had to step up.”

Friday at J.R. Tucker, Eberhart stepped up yet again.

Despite constant pressure from a Tigers defense that recorded five sacks and an interception, he completed 9 of 13 passes for 123 yards and one touchdown, and the Justices prevailed 7-6 on the turf at Tucker’s Fred W. Wells Stadium.

The razor-thin victory on this clear, cool night with a brilliant waxing gibbous moon hovering overhead did not come easily or smoothly, but it was  much needed, and that was sufficient cause for Reeves’ guys to celebrate.

“It feels great,” Eberhart said. “It feels very great.”

The Justices (2-6) struck early.

Three plays into their first drive, Eberhart found Nikell Parson wide open deep in the secondary on a go route and delivered a laser into his outstretched hands.

Parson then sprinted untouched into the end zone to complete a 79-yard catch-and-run touchdown and, at least for a moment, quiet the excited senior-night crowd.

“I have a lot of trust in my wide receivers,” Eberhart said afterwards as the Tucker band played its final set as it exited the stadium. “As soon as I saw (the defensive back) sag off, I threw the ball, and that was it.”

Harrison Gahan added the point-after to put the visitors up 7-0 at 7:30 of the first quarter.

Tucker answered quickly when Aidenn Hanks raced 67 yards for an apparent touchdown on the second play of the ensuing drive, but the play was negated by offsetting penalties, which foreshadowed the frustrations that both teams experienced.

Twice in the first half, the Tigers (0-9) stopped promising Jayem drives, once late in the first quarter near midfield and then on the final play of the second when they sacked Eberhart for a 5-yard loss on a play that began on the 1.

With emotion high following their defensive stop, the Tigers returned on fire after the break, but their own promising drive that reached the red zone ended abruptly with a quarterback sack on fourth-and-7 from the 12.

“We had to stop their running game,” Justices junior defensive end Arieon Henderson said. “We had to contain the outside and win up front.”

Late in the third quarter, the Tigers reached the red zone once again, but Jayem’s Zahmere Mills broke up a fourth-down pass in the end zone to thwart that drive.

After stopping the ensuing John Marshall drive late in the fourth and forcing a punt, Tucker took possession on the visitors’ 38 with 1:02 remaining in the game.

A 29-yard Avi’yon Bolden-to-Kevin Jones connection put the ball on the 9.

At 0:29, Bolden followed his O-line into the end zone from a yard out, but the game-tying, point-after attempt was unsuccessful.

Tucker recovered the ensuing onside kick, but with the clock ticking and the Tigers scrambling, Jayem forced a fumble near midfield, Henderson recovered, and Eberhart ended the game by taking a knee from the victory formation.

“We panicked a little bit, but we got our focus back,” Henderson said. “This (win) means a lot.”

The Tigers accumulated 250 yards (160 rushing, 90 passing) on 50 plays.  Hanks contributed 168 of those yards with 23 carries for 149 and one reception for 18.

John Marshall’s ledger read 196 yards (73 rushing, 123 passing) on 43 plays. 

“We played hard,” said Reeves, a former E.C. Glass and Virginia State lineman and first-year head coach after serving stints as an assistant at Monacan, Life Christian and Huguenot. “We’ve been building a team this whole season. 

“We’re on a path to build a really successful program. You do that by building rapport with your guys. You get them to trust you. You show them that you love them day in and day out. You stay consistent with them. You go through the ups and downs with them. It’s taking some work, but I have a slew of guys who can get it done on Friday night.”