Although the 2022 season has been less than ideal for the West Marion Trojans, they still have one more opportunity to finish strong and muster momentum that can be carried into the offseason. Friday night they'll host Ouichita Christian Eagles with a chance to play spoilers in the Eagles' quest for a dominant season.
The playoffs are out of reach for the Trojans (1-8, 0-4) following back-to-back painful district losses to Perry Central (42-24) and Jeff Davis County (60-8). They lost several players to injuries during that span as well, making it even more difficult to regroup and move forward. But head coach Brandon Thornhill said his team still has plenty to play for this week, the biggest goal being to garner more experience for a really young roster that needs to learn as much as it can in order to turn things around next fall.
"That’s what we’re working on now — just learning the game of football," Thornhill said. "Our defense has taken a beating this season, and we've lost quite a few to injuries in the process. We're just really young and small up front, so you can only afford to lose so many kids before it starts having a major impact on football games. But almost all of these guys are going to be back with us next fall, and we've got to take advantage of every opportunity we get to learn and grow as a team. Hopefully we'll make strides this week, and we'll be better on Friday than we were last Friday or the Friday before that."
Defeating the Eagles (7-1, 3-0), a Class 1A contender out of Monroe, La., won't be an easy task. They're riding a three-game winning streak into Friday's matchup, averaging 40 points per contest while holding their opponents to only 15 points per game. Thornhill believes depth will be less of an issue against a roster with similar numbers, but that doesn't necessarily mean the win will be any easier to secure.
"They're a good football team, and they're gearing up for the playoffs, which means they're playing some of their best football right now," Thornhill said. "They throw the ball really well, they don't commit many turnovers and they don't beat themselves with silly mistakes, so we're going to have to put our best on the field. The season hasn't been pretty, but our guys have to decide how they want this thing to end. We can roll over, or we can roll up our sleeves and try to earn another win in front of our home crowd."
Kickoff for Friday's contest is scheduled for 7 p.m.
