“It’s history,” West Marion senior Jartavious Martin said following the Trojans’ 38-6 home win over defending state champ Jeff Davis County. “We’ve never scored against JDC on this field; we never won against JDC on this field. For us to come out and execute on the district level and showing everybody that we can play on a high level and we’re not doing it against pushover teams, it’s a great confidence booster.”
The Trojans (4-1) were knocked out of the playoffs last year by Jeff Davis on their home field, but they avenged that loss with a statement victory on senior night Friday.
They weren’t the only Marion County team with an impressive, though, as the Columbia Wildcats (5-0) blanked the Tylertown Chiefs to begin Region 8-3A.
While West Marion and Columbia continued to show why they’re the cream of the crop in 3A, East Marion (0-5) and Columbia Academy (0-7) both remained winless with lopsided losses.
West Marion-38 Jeff Davis-6
While the final score was pretty, the start of the game was anything but for the Trojans. After West Marion went three-and-out on the opening possession, Jeff Davis caught the Trojans secondary napping on its second play from scrimmage with a 61-yard halfback pass to get inside the West Marion 10. Two plays later the Jaguars were in the end zone to go up 6-0 less than four minutes into the game.
Then Trojans quarterback Jayden Duncan was picked to give Jeff Davis great field position, but a never-before-seen sequence flipped the momentum. Jeff Davis committed six false start penalties on the ensuing drive that brought the action to a screeching halt.
Early in the second quarter, a 32-yard catch-and-run by Octavious Harvey, who had his biggest game of the year, finally jumpstarted the Trojans. Three plays later, Martin followed a couple nice blocks on a counter and scampered 18 yards to pay dirt to knot the game up 6-6.
West Marion got the ball back with just 1:09 to play in the first half with only one timeout, but it turned out the Trojans needed just one play to go into halftime with a lead. Qavonte Swanigan ran a go route, burned the cornerback and caught a 62-yard touchdown in stride from Duncan to make it 13-6.
In the third quarter, Harvey had a sack and a big tackle for loss on back-to-back plays that preceded Jaydon Clements coming down with an interception. Then Swanigan caught another deep ball from Duncan for a 54-yard score to put the Trojans up 20-6.
Following another sack by Harvey, he broke free for a 46-yard touchdown run on the ensuing drive. He appeared to be wrapped up by two Jaguars defenders but managed to wiggle free to increase the lead to 26-6 going into the fourth quarter.
On West Marion’s next drive, the Trojans ran the ball nine straight plays for 72 yards with the imposing drive capped off by a 17-yard Jakaden Mark touchdown. They added one more score before it was all said and done with Jatavius Brooks running in an 8-yard touchdown.
West Marion has another tough test next week as it travels to take on Magee (3-0).
Columbia-47 Tylertown-0
The Wildcats left nothing to chance on their senior night as they rolled the Chiefs 47-0.
Columbia has a chance to exorcise the same playoff demon as West Marion as the Wildcats play host to Jeff Davis next week. The Jaguars defeated Columbia in the South State Championship last year.
Lamar School-51 Columbia Academy-0
The Cougars’ rough season continued on their homecoming night as they were shut out in a 51-0 home loss to Lamar School.
Despite being winless so far this year, CA can finish the year .500 in district play with a win over Wayne Academy at home next week. However, Wayne (5-2, 1-0) beat Bowling Green earlier in the season, and Bowling Green beat CA so the Cougars mathematically can’t make the playoffs.
Copiah Academy-37 East Marion-8
First-year head coach Brad Hughes is still searching for his first East Marion win as the Eagles fell 37-8 at Copiah Academy. The Colonels scored 15 points in both the first and second quarters to run away with the game.
East Marion begins Region 8-2A competition next week as St. Patrick visits Columbia.
