In their first action this fall, the West Marion Trojans had an up-and-down jamboree at Scott Central, falling to the host school 13-0 and topping Enterprise-Clarke 7-6 Friday night.
While West Marion played a pair of Class 2A schools, they are two of the best the smaller classification has to offer. The two schools actually met in the third round of the playoffs last season, with Enterprise-Clarke winning 21-14 before losing to eventual state champ Taylorsville in the South State championship.
West Marion only produced one touchdown in what amounted to about three quarters of football, but head coach Brandon Thornhill said he isn’t really worried about the results of scrimmages.
“I thought we did OK offensively, started off slow. There were some bright spots on the O-line. It was hit or miss in a lot of different places. We definitely have a lot to improve, but who doesn’t this time of year?” he said. “We’re not a finished product by any means.”
In the first half of the jamboree, Scott Central made quick work of its opening drive, scoring on a 58-yard catch-and-run off a simple slant that made it 7-0. The Trojans were then forced to punt after just three plays, leading to Scott Central’s second touchdown.
The West Marion secondary was completely shredded on Scott Central’s second drive, leading to another passing touchdown, but the Trojans did stuff every Rebels run play.
Down 13-0, Jakaden Mark gave the Trojans the spark they were searching for, breaking free for a 23-yard run. West Marion quarterback Larry Magee nearly had a long touchdown pass off a scramble, but the pass was slightly underthrown and dropped by Tyler Aikens. West Marion’s drive stalled after Magee was brought down for a sack. The scrimmage saw both teams get just two possessions.
Thornhill said he believes Scott Central will play for the 2A championship this season, which provided a good test for the Trojans.
To start off the matchup with Enterprise-Clarke, the Trojans looked much more explosive, and Magee looked a lot more comfortable as the signal caller. On West Marion’s opening drive, Magee had a 16-yard scramble then broke free on a quarterback power for a 41-yard touchdown to put the Trojans up 7-0.
Enterprise-Clarke opened its first drive with a long run, but West Marion’s defense stiffened up to force a turnover on downs. Octavious Harvey perfectly timed an A-gap blitz for a fourth-down sack to get the stop.
West Marion’s second offensive series didn’t go near as well. The Trojans lined up in the Wildcat with Mark taking a direct snap. While he caught the snap cleanly, he fumbled trying to tuck the ball away, and the Bulldogs recovered it.
Enterprise-Clarke should’ve scored on the ensuing play, but a Bulldogs receiver dropped a would-be touchdown as he was way behind West Marion’s coverage. After the miscue, West Marion was able to force another turnover on downs.
The Trojans picked up one first down on their third series before being forced to punt. On the final possession of the scrimmage, West Marion had yet another blown coverage on a scramble that led to a 23-yard touchdown pass. But the Trojans stuffed the 2-point conversion to preserve the 7-6 victory.
Thornhill said he felt like the strength of West Marion’s defense, its front six, played exceptionally well all night, but the secondary had some struggles. He believes the secondary will get better and better each week though.
One interesting development was how the Trojans used Harvey offensively. The 5-foot-6 athlete rushed for 736 yards and eight touchdowns while catching just three passes last season, but he primarily lined up at receiver in the jamboree. Thornhill said while Harvey isn’t making a full-time switch to receiver, the electric playmaker will see a lot of time at receiver while mixing into the backfield rotation to preserve him a little bit. Harvey is arguably the best defensive player in the county and won The Columbian-Progress Defensive Player of the Year award last season.
“He’ll go back and forth,” the first-year coach said. “The season is long, and the less pounding those guys take in events that don’t really matter (the better). (The jamboree) was really a conditioning test.”
Thornhill added the Trojans went into the jamboree focusing primarily on themselves rather than crafting specific opponent-based game plans.
“We were blind. We knew nothing about Scott Central. That game was scheduled Tuesday last week,” Thornhill said. “The first time I saw Scott Central was when we pulled up. Enterprise, we kind of knew what they were going to do and how they were going to line up (Wing T), and I wanted to face a team like that to prepare us.”
The Trojans up the season Friday night at home against rival East Marion. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
