NATCHEZ &045; Cordera Eason had the Marshall Faulk mentality going on until one play in the third quarter where he did the unthinkable.

He fumbled.

It was the only blemish for the highly touted back, and it may have just made him angry. Natchez High wound up scoring off the turnover, but three plays after that Eason found the end zone to help Meridian claim a 36-13 win over the Bulldogs Friday night at Tom F. Williams Stadium.

&uot;I let my team down,&uot; said Eason, who finished with 194 yards on 13 carries with three touchdowns. &uot;It was a big situation, but I fumbled and I had to come back and get the team back. They knocked it loose, and it got my adrenaline going. It made me want to go out there and make another big play.&uot;

Eason certainly did that. The 6-1, 230-pound back who’s received letters from every school in the Southeastern Conference made enough big plays to keep the Bulldogs at bay on the scoreboard &045; even while battling a sickness in the first half.

He didn’t get the most carries out of the offense &045;Cedrick Blanks had 17 carries for 107 yards &045;as the Bulldogs ran for 343 yards on the Bulldogs.

&uot;He was feeling bad in the first half,&uot; Meridian head coach Ed Stanley said. &uot;He was nauseated and had to get some treatment, and Cedrick Blanks came in and did good job fitting in with Cordera. But it all starts up front with the offensive line.

&uot;The first and second ball games (Eason) fumbled, but he hasn’t fumbled since. Any time a guy gets the ball as many times as he does, it’ll happen every now and then. It kind of inspired him, I think, to do a better job of holding on to it.&uot;

It was his only flaw of the entire game. At one point earlier in the game the Bulldogs’ front got in the backfield early with two players hitting him before he could take a step. But Eason stayed up and turned it into a 9-yard game.

Yet when he fumbled, Natchez High linebacker C.J. Wright picked it up and ran 17 yards to the Meridian 13. Two plays later Latarus Frazier ran it in for a 5-yard touchdown to trim the lead to 23-13.

The Wildcats started at their own 47, and Eason took it the first three plays with the third netting a 32-yard touchdown run for a 29-13 lead.

&uot;He didn’t look sick to me,&uot; Natchez High head coach Lance Reed said.

&uot;He ran pretty well. I hate to see him when he’s not sick. We didn’t tackle like we had to against their team. We needed to tackle a little better. We didn’t make the tackle when we had to. But we’re not quitters. We’re going to come back, go back to work and get ready for Oak Grove.&uot;

Even with the damage of Eason’s runs, the Bulldogs still had some momentum in them and weren’t out of the game. Quarterback Jason Bruce hit Latarus Frazier on a short pass that Frazier turned into a 41-yard gain, and the Bulldogs got down to the Meridian 18.

Yet when Bruce rolled out to his right, he lost the ball near the sidelines. Roshad Byrd scooped it up and returned it 81 yards for a touchdown for the game’s final score.

It started a sout streak for the Bulldogs from there on out &045; six plays, three turnovers &045;with Tanarus Robinson coming up with two interceptions.

&uot;Our defense made some big, big plays with the fumble for a touchdown,&uot; Stanley said. &uot;That was real big for us in putting the game away. We knew they were going to throw the ball a whole lot. We worked real, real hard this week stopping their pass. They scored on us, but we felt we like we held them to a minimum.&uot;

The Wildcats had a 16-0 lead at halftime and punched it in again at the start of the second half when Eason ran it in from 31 yards out.

The Bulldogs &045; who had only one first down on their own power in the first half &045;scored via the big play after Eason’s score when Bruce hit DeKeedrian Jackson for a 58-yard touchdown pass.

&uot;It’s just some of the things we talked about,&uot; Reed said. &uot;We didn’t do things as a program that has to be done. When you play play big-time football, it shows. We were exposed of the things we don’t do right as a program. We were introduced to 5A football for this season, and we’ve got to rebound from it. We’ve got to learn how to play a complete game.&uot;