Central May Face Arlington Martin in Round 1 of Playoffs, So We Spied on Them This Week

FORT WORTH, TX — Arlington Martin faced Fort Worth Paschal Friday night, November 1. On San Angelo Central’s bye week, we traveled to Fort Worth’s Scarborough-Handley Field to see how good the Arlington Martin Warriors really are.

If the most likely payoff scenario happens, San Angelo Central Bobcats will face Martin in the first round of the UIL 6A playoffs in Division I.

This Friday night, Euless Trinity clinched a playoff berth with a big win over Abilene. Richland clinched a playoff berth with a win over Weatherford. San Angelo Central didn’t play this week but moved closer to clinching a playoff berth because of the win by both Euless Trinity and Richland. Bell’s loss to Haltom tonight means Central must defeat Haltom next Friday to guarantee a playoff berth.

The Martin Warriors dominated the Paschal Panthers, racking up 331 total yards to Paschal’s 217. However, the score reflects Martin’s ability to run the clock down with its offense on the field. Martin converted 17 first downs to Paschal’s 9. Two of Martin’s scores, 14 of its 49 total points, were the result of two interceptions by defensive back #10 Christian Traylor who ran the ball to score both times.

Martin is a diverse team behind a capable young quarterback. The junior quarterback #6 Zach Mundell is a steady playmaker but not explosive like we see from San Angelo Central’s Malachi Brown. He ran a diverse offense with 192 yards passing and 139 yards rushing. Mundell had 9 receptions on 12 attempts with 3 passing touchdowns. When Mundell wasn’t passing the ball to 2 capable receivers (junior WR #13 Cal Robinson—3 receptions for 73 yards and senior WR #88 Jonathan Carter—3 receptions for 29 yards) and his 2 running backs (senior RB #3 Dwayne Williams — 2 receptions for 32 yards, and senior RB #41 Chris Craft — 1 for 40 yards), he was handing the ball off to backs Alonzo Banks (3 carries for 27 yards), Dwayne Williams (1 for 27 yards), and Jaden Miles (4 for 25 yards). Paschal never found an answer to stop the diverse Martin offensive attack.

Martin went into halftime with a comfortable 49-0 lead.

After halftime adjustments by Paschal didn’t seem to be working at the start of the third quarter, Martin removed their first string from the field and maintained the lead except for one touchdown by Paschal in the 4th quarter. The final score was 49-7 Martin.

Martin’s personnel on the offensive and defensive lines are big, averaging about 250 pounds each. The linemen appeared to be 2-3 inches taller than their Paschal opponents.

For this game, Martin’s playbook was standard with a spread offense and no fancy bells or whistles. Because of the depth of talent, Martin was able to play two good running backs that allowed them to get the running game going fast, opening up the receivers early in the game.

Martin is the DFW version of Cedar Park, to whom Central lost in the last seconds this year. Manny Diaz will provide more analysis of our chances against Martin, should the Bobcats face them in the playoffs, in this weekend’s #COVER1: Bobcats video episode.

Getting into the playoffs is the priority now, and guaranteeing Central’s spot requires the Bobcats to defeat Haltom in DFW Nov. 7. Game time is 7 p.m.