Isaiah Marshall's game-winning TD run lifts Southfield A&T over Detroit Cass Tech

Southfield A&T senior quarterback Isaiah Marshall walked to the line of scrimmage in a fourth-and-5 situation at the Detroit Cass Tech 16-yard line with a minute to play and his team down, 27-23.

The Warriors broke the huddle with an empty backfield and Marshall checked out the backside safety before zeroing in on the line.

“If the D-Line gives me any type of hole,” he told himself, “I’m going to take it.”

Sure enough, Marshall took the snap from center and there was a hole in the middle of the line. It wasn’t exactly the parting of the Red Sea, mind you, but it was a hole nonetheless.

“I saw the middle was wide open,” he said, “I just had to take it.”

He took it, all right. He took it to the house.

Marshall scored on the 16-yard run with 54 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a hard-fought 29-27 victory over Cass Tech on Saturday afternoon in the opener for both teams at the Prep Kickoff Classic at Wayne State.

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The Warriors were able to overcome a tremendous performance by Cass Tech sophomore Corey Sadler, who started his first game at quarterback and ran for 109 yards on 12 carries and almost singlehandedly kept the Technicians in the game until the final play.

A year ago Southfield beat Cass, 56-54, in the opener and initially it looked like this was going to be déjà vu all over again.

On the second play from scrimmage, Marshall hit Tashi Braceful on a 74-yard scoring play.

“We already had it in the game plan early that we were going to take shots on them,” said Braceful, who has committed to Toledo. “We know they’re a younger crew and their DBs aren’t as good and we took advantage of it early.”

After reaching the end zone Braceful spiked the ball and did a version of a celebration dance, which cost Southfield 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff.

“It’s emotions; I play with a lot of emotions,” Braceful offered. “We’re going to fix that. I’m going to make up for it. Pretty sure I made up for it this game.”

Indeed, he did. Braceful caught nine passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns.

Marshall, who has committed to Kansas, had an exceptional game, completing 15 of 25 passes for 210 yards and the three scores.

He also gained an additional 80 yards on eight carries, including the game-winning score.

“Isaiah’s the best quarterback in the state so if he sees something he’s going to take it,” said Braceful. “Isaiah went and took what was best for the team.”

In the first half Southfield couldn’t seem to be able to get out of its own way, permitting Cass to take a 13-8 lead.

Southfield was on the verge of scoring several times in the opening half, but kept coming up short.

“I think the first half, we kind of beat ourselves,” Marshall said. “We should have scored more than eight points in the first half, but it’s part of the game. We bounced back in the second half and scored every possession.”

The Warriors seemed like a different team in the second half because Marshall took control of the situation and calmed down his teammates at halftime.

“He’s just poised, man,” said Southfield coach Aaron Marshall, Isaiah’s uncle. “The stage is never too big. He’s really good in the big moment of just relaxing. And when he relaxes everybody around him relaxes and that’s so important for us.”

Cass Tech’s lead grew to 20-8 on the opening possession of the third quarter when Southfield’s offense finally responded.

Marshall had consecutive touchdown passes of 12 and 5 yards to Braceful as the Warriors took the lead with 9:57 left in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve been playing with him since I was 12,” said Marshall. “So him making plays, I trust and believe in him.”

Southfield appeared to be in command, but Sadler had something to say about that. On a fourth-and-2 play, Sadler took the ball and rolled out. There were defender all around him, but he seemed to squirt through three would-be tacklers and raced 46 yards for a 27-23 lead with 4:53 remaining.

“He’s amazing,” said Coach Marshall. “The guy had one (good) foot. I see why he’s the No. 1 2026 guy in the country. He’s a special kid.”

Sadler also played in the Cass secondary and did his best to keep Marshall from getting too many scoring opportunities.

“Corey’s my guy,” Isaiah Marshall said. “I play seven-on-seven with him. He was a little hurt, which he played through. I’m proud of him.”

Sadler, who also starred for Cass Tech’s Division 1 basketball state championship in March, was disappointed in the loss, but ready to move on.

“We came up a little short, but we’ll be alright,” he said. “I feel like our passing game was good. We only dropped one or two passes. We didn’t have our receivers in, but no excuses. We still came out here and played. We still showed up. We still fought hard.”

For the most part the Southfield defense did a good job containing the Cass offense, especially compared to last season’s fiasco.

“You guys remember the score last year, right?” Coach Marshall asked. “Our defense came a long way. We return eight of 11 starters so that’s pretty huge for us on defense.”

Mick McCabe is a former longtime columnist for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at mick.mccabe11@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @mickmccabe1. Save $10 on his new book, “Mick McCabe’s Golden Yearbook: 50 Great Years of Michigan’s Best High School Players, Teams & Memories,” by ordering right now at McCabe.PictorialBook.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Isaiah Marshall's TD run lifts Southfield A&T over Detroit Cass Tech