Parkway’s Terrace Marshall Jr., considered the top wide receiver in the nation in the Class of 2018 by some recruiting experts, suffered a broken leg in the Panthers’ 50-27 loss to Pearl, Miss., Friday night in the Battle on the Border at Independence Stadium.
Marshall suffered an apparent broken fibula (calf bone) and dislocated ankle, according to a Twitter post by Sam Spiegelman, who covers LSU and Louisiana recruiting for SEC Country. He has already had surgery and is expected to miss six to eight weeks, meaning he could return for the end of the regular season and/or the playoffs.
The injury occurred late in the first half as Marshall came down after going up for a ball contested by a Pearl defender. He was taken off the field on a gurney. At the time of his injury, Marshall had four catches for 53 yards, including a 34-yard grab.
Parkway coach Neil May couldn’t be reached for comment Saturday afternoon.
It’s the second devastating injury to a Parkway player in as many weeks. Senior quarterback Justin Rogers, a TCU commit and one of the top quarterbacks in the nation, suffered a dislocated knee in the season opener against Booker T. Washington and is out for the season.
Even with a healthy Rogers and Marshall, the Panthers would have had a tough time defeating a Pearl team ranked No. 1 in Class 6A in Mississippi. The Pirates were the state runners-up last season.
According to Parkway stats, Pearl rolled up 510 total yards, 323 rushing and 187 passing. Parkway finished with 360, 193 rushing and 167 passing.
Parkway senior Eric “EJ” Williams went over 100 yards rushing for the second straight week with 172 on 21 carries. He also scored three TDs for the second week in a row on runs of 2, 4 and 45 yards.
The 45-yard run came early in the third quarter and cut Pearl’s halftime lead of 30-14 to 30-20. The Pirates answered with three straight touchdowns — two in the third and one early in the fourth — to put the game out of reach.
Parkway junior quarterback Amani Larry completed nine of 20 passes for 167 yards and a 23-yard TD to Israel Mukuamu in the fourth quarter. Mukuamu had two catches for 71 yards.
Caleb Reese led the Panthers defense with 11 solo tackles and six assists, per Parkway stats. Derious Bradford had four solos and six assists. Jaylon Hall had five solos and five assists. Christian Galvan had two solos and five assists.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Panthers next week as they travel to Little Rock, Ark., to take on three-time Arkansas Class 5A defending state champion Pulaski Academy. The Bruins improved to 2-0 with a 56-20 victory over Ridgeway of Memphis, Tenn., on Friday night.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bosserpress.com
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