Citronelle coach Jason Rowell addresses his players after a 17-6 loss to Marbury in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs in Deatsville Friday night. (Bonita Roberts/Call News)
Citronelle quarterback Walker Lynch throws a pass to Jacob Knight during Friday night’s playoff game against Marbury. Lynch, who completed 15 of 26 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown, and Knight, who scored five touchdowns the week before against Escambia County, will; be among the many returning starters on the Wildcats’ offense next season. (Bonita Roberts/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
DEATSVILLE — Citronelle coach Jason Rowell has seen moments both rewarding and nonsensical while building a football program designed to compete at a championship level but nothing like what he and his Wildcats experienced on Friday night.
Rowell has taken Citronelle to the playoffs in three straight years, something only his mentor, Ronny Massey, had ever done at the school.
Rowell has also constructed his program the old-fashioned way — mostly with players who were raised in and around the proud old oil town. He had only five transfers on his 2026 roster.
The Wildcats even came into the playoffs riding the largest margin in back-to-back victories (79 points) since Billy Coleman’s 1969 team pummeled Grand Bay and Baker by a combined 132 points.
But on Friday night, Rowell experienced a first he’d rather not have seen. His defense forced seven turnovers and Citronelle still lost to a backup quarterback who rallied his team in the fourth quarter.
Cam Bryson came off the bench and executed to perfection, throwing two touchdown passes to Jahanthony Morrell in the fourth quarter as No. 10-ranked Marbury overcame all the turnovers to beat the Wildcats 17-6 in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever been involved in a game where we had six turnovers or seven turnovers, whatever it was, and lost,” said Rowell, who had a difficult time keeping track of all the interceptions and fumbles his tenacious defense collected, all to no avail. “That’s a hard pill to swallow. It really hurts because you feel like the better football team lost this game.”
Citronelle lived off of Walker Lynch’s 60-yard touchdown pass to Kobe Weaver in the second quarter for most of the game, leading 6-3 going into the fourth quarter after repeatedly deflecting all the incoming ammunition from the Bulldogs.
But Marbury coach Jason Wallace had also seen enough and removed starting quarterback Alex Hamby at the beginning of the fourth quarter after he had thrown four interceptions and lost two fumbles.
“I wish they’d left him in,” Rowell mused afterward. “You have to give their backup credit. It was a heck of a job by that kid.”
The Wildcats kept Hamby from getting comfortable and the Bulldogs from getting away — all of Marbury’s regular-season wins came by at least three scores and until the fourth quarter Citronelle was maintaining a statistic that almost always ensures it will win — it is 48-2 since 2000 when allowing under 10 points.
“We rolled some coverages and did some check-with-me stuff,” Rowell said. “I know that probably confused him. We moved safeties late and we’d roll down and play some cover three. I think all those moving parts just messed with his head.”
Bryson, on the other hand, was unperturbed by the Wildcats’ ravenous defense, which used confusion to seemingly suck in turnovers with every breath. Bryson was 6-of-6 passing for 88 yards and the touchdown passes of 11 and 44 yards to Morrell.
“We had to do something different,” Wallace said. “The game was kind of getting into our quarterback’s head a little bit. He had a rough night but everybody has a rough night. We just wanted to take some of that pressure off him and kind of change the energy a little bit. I felt like if we just kept playing the next play, things would turn and that’s what those boys did and that’s what I’m so proud of. They just kept on chugging.”
Bryson entered the game on the first possession of the fourth quarter and led a 75-yard, 11-play drive — including a 12-yard pile-moving run up the middle on a fourth-and-2 — before throwing an 11-yard scoring pass to the 6-3, 205-pound Morrell, who bodied up on a smaller Citronelle defensive back in the end zone to take a 10-6 lead with 6:25 remaining.
The Wildcats (8-3) — who managed only 1 yard rushing in the second half — were rebuffed on a fourth-and-2 at their 42 when Weaver was stopped six inches short after a measurement.
Three plays later, Bryson found Morrell open on a slant and he raced 44 yards for the game-clinching touchdown.
“Jahanthony is that type of athlete,” said Wallace, whose team broke a seven-game first-round losing streak. “When the game’s on the line, guys like him and Jamar (Brown) and the rest of those receivers — it could have been either one of them. He stepped up when his number was called and he made a play.”
Brown also contributed to the go-ahead drive, latching on to an 11-yard pass from Bryson while digging over the middle on a third-and-12.
The Bulldogs (10-1), who never punted, outgained the Wildcats 420 yards to 214. Lynch was 15-of-26 passing for 180 yards and Weaver had three catches for 101 yards.
Marbury also got a 34-yard field goal in the first quarter from deaf placekicker Dysen Mangham, who couldn’t hear the crowd jammed into the stadium but, like Rowell, could certainly see its effect.
“This was a tough road environment,” Rowell said. “Hats off to their crowd. They affected the football game and we’ve got to learn from it. We’ve got to grow. It’s one of the things that we’ve got to continue working on.”
His offense didn’t take advantage of any of the seven turnovers, five of them coming at the Bulldogs’ 41, 36, 46, 48 and 44.
“I know it feels like your heart’s been ripped out,” Rowell told his players, some of whom were sobbing.
He recounted all the missed chances to have buried Marbury before the fourth quarter.
Defensive back Kyrin Grice intercepted Hamby at the Bulldogs’ 41 and 36. Linebacker Tim Rivers had an interception at Citronelle’s 33. Defensive back Curvin Noyd had an interception at Marbury’s 46. Linebacker Michael Balentina recovered Keenan Williams’ fumble at Citronelle’s 28 and Hamby lost two fumbles to Grice and defensive lineman Kohen White at the Bulldogs’ 48 and 44.
“We had multiple opportunities on their side of the 50 to put up some points,” Rowell said. “You feel like even if you put one score in there in the second half, it may be over. If you get it to 13-3 right there, it might be over. But hats off to Marbury and their defense. We couldn’t get anything going offensively. They’ve got a really good box.”
The Wildcats’ defense — which forced almost as many turnovers Friday night as it had all season (12) — had come into the game unbeaten and allowing only 7.3 points per game against teams not named Vigor and Williamson.
“Citronelle is a good football team,” Wallace said. “We could have done some things differently where our eyes were but, man, they’re a good football team and they created those opportunities.”
Rowell expects the Wildcats to continue improving and return to the postseason after falling to 2-12 in first-round road games. He returns 15 starters next year, including Lynch, Weaver, Jacob Knight and Javorious Coleman.
“I think we’ve turned the corner,” he said. “The kids have learned how to practice. Our kids understand what it takes to compete. I thought we got better in a lot of areas. There’s a ton of room for growth. There’s three or four, maybe five sophomores playing on offense. These guys will be back and we’ll be primed for a run next year.”
