Moments in Santa Fe Football History - Marcus Jones' trip to the Orange Bowl Part 2 (2005)

[Mike DaRoza]

By Mike DaRoza

MIAMI – The stroke of midnight came and went virtually unnoticed by Marcus Jones last Thursday night.
Just minutes before, the noise created by more than 60,000 frenzied football fans was all but earsplitting.
The Orange Bowl, and the electrifying atmosphere within it, rocked at a fevered pitch as the home team completed a miraculous comeback.
That noise, however, would ultimately pale in comparison to the deafening silence that greeted Jones and his No.17 Louisville Cardinals teammates as they exited the visitor’s locker room one by one, the sting of a last-second, 41-38 heartbreaking loss to the No. 3 Miami Hurricanes and the bitter taste of “what might have been” still lingering in their mouths.
Within the short span of four quarters of football, Jones, a former Santa Fe Raider standout, had journeyed from one end of the spectrum and back.
In one aspect, he fulfilled the dream of playing in the biggest game of his life, and in another, experienced the nightmare of losing that game – all in the same night.
“We came down here to win this game,” Jones said.
“But we’re only leaving with respect.”
That respect, though still harsh to Jones’ pallet, was displayed in the college football polls this past Sunday.
Heading into the Miami game, Louisville was the underdog; many of the experts didn’t even give them a chance.
But by halftime, the Cardinals settled down after a shaky start to build a 24-7 halftime lead, and experts, as well as the Orange Bowl, were quiet.
Jones, who just one week before said he could almost see himself sacking Miami’s Brock Berlin in his dreams, did so early in the second half.
“I was just doing what I always try to do, and that’s trying to put pressure on the (opposing) quarterback,” Jones said.
“We were able to get him moving around in the pocket on that play and I just caught him from behind.”
And just like that, Jones’ dream had come to fruition.
His mother, Gail Jones, was there watching – barely containable – from high above in the stadium.
“I was up there screaming and hollering,” Gail Jones recalled.
“Just about everyone around us turned around and said, ‘you must be Marcus’ mom,’ and I said ‘yes, that’s my baby.’ I get excited and nervous every time he gets out there.”
The night was setting up to become one of the most memorable moments in the Jones’ life.
Miami, unfortunately for Louisville and the Jones’, had other plans.
The Hurricanes – grabbing momentum with a turnover, a punt returned for a touchdown and an awakened offense that seemed non-existent in the first half – not only erased the 17-point deficit, but also stole the game from the Cardinals, scoring the go-ahead touchdown with just 49 seconds left to play.
Jones said it was difficult to put a finger on what exactly went wrong.
“It’s hard to say,” he said.
“I guess it was the punt return that hurt us most. But the bottom line is that we didn’t make the plays in the second half and they did.”
On the surface, the loss seemingly snatched the wind completely out of Louisville’s sails, as evidenced by the way one dejected Cardinal after another walked – or limped – out of the locker room one by one late into the night.
The mood, according to Jones was a halfhearted attempt to paint a silver lining on crushing defeat.
“We just talked about keeping our heads high,” Jones said.
The conversations swirling in that locker room – as Louisville and the rest of the nation would find out later that weekend – only served to be prophetic, as the Cardinals, instead of dropping in the polls, moved up.
In fact, Louisville moved up as high as No.15 in the Associated Press writer’s poll.
Yet, none of that is likely to matter to Jones, who, around a quarter till 12 last Thursday was willing to settle for nothing less than a victory.
The senior defensive end made his five tackles, recorded the quarterback sack and finally brought to life the dream he once dreamed growing up in the small town of Alachua.


But, the dream he had wished for didn’t end the way he had envisioned it for so many years.
And by 12:01 a.m. last Friday, Jones’ final words – as he walked out of the Orange Bowl and toward the team bus to start the long ride back home – demonstrated just how quickly a bad memory can sometime dash a lifetime of dreams.
“It’s already gone,” he said.
“It’s already gone.”