In a cross-county battle last Friday, East Marion prevailed in an 18-14 win over West Marion.
A 10-yard touchdown pass from Eagles’ quarterback Devin Daniels to Jordan Howard with 35 seconds left sealed the victory for East Marion in a game that was back-and-forth after a 0-0 first quarter.
“We had been talking all week about 11 guys on the football field making plays, and that’s what we talked about at halftime” East Marion head coach Kevin Jackson said. “We talked about who was going to finish, who was going to make the plays. Fortunately, we were the ones to make the last play.”
West Marion coach Brad Duncan credited the Eagles and quarterback Devin Daniels and running back Jarveon Howard, both of whom had key roles in the final drive.
“Their two guys that we talked about all week (Howard and Daniels) are really, really good football players,” Duncan said. “The quarterback and running back are warriors. Both teams played hard. Our loss is not for a lack of effort.”
East Marion took a 6-0 lead late in the second quarter when Daniels found Flenard McLin for a 26-yard touchdown pass with 35 seconds left in the half.
The Trojans took an 8-6 lead in the third quarter on a 9-yard touchdown run by Charles Lewis, who then scored the two-point conversion.
The Eagles moved back on top 12-8 midway through the fourth quarter on a 22-yard touchdown run by Howard, but the two-point conversion failed.
A 40-yard pass from Jeremiah Holmes to Cyrus Thompson set up a 13-yard run by Holmes for a West Marion touchdown with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion failed and the Trojans held a slim 14-12 lead.
On the ensuing kick, the Eagles recovered West Marion’s onside attempt and began an 11-play drive at their own 44. A combination of runs by Daniels and Howard set up the pass from Daniels to Jordan Howard that clinched the game for the Eagles.
“We had a good week of preparation and a good team effort this week,” Jackson said. “Once again, we talked about playing for 48 minutes and our 11 guys on the field played for 48 minutes.”
Duncan reflected on the loss as he sat in the locker room following the game.
“It was back and forth,” he said. “It just boils down to Jarveon, Devin and those guys. They stepped up and made plays. We moved the ball at times. Our defense played well. Our defense kept responding, but we put them in some predicaments that gave them the short field with turnovers and short kicks. You can’t do that against them.”
The 0-3 start is one that has Duncan concerned, yet he has hope for the 2017 squad.
“Our kids are going to keep working hard,” he said. “I believe that. I challenged them. We can go two ways right now. We’re at a major crossroads. The way they show up on Monday for practice, when we don’t have school will tell a lot about them. I think the majority of them want to get better. The majority of them are working hard. We just have to keep moving forward.”
This week, the Trojans travel to Raleigh to face the Lions at 7 p.m. Friday.
“We’ve had back-to-back close games with them,” Duncan said. “Our work is going to be cut out for us. Our guys are going to continue to work and get better for us … and make plays for us. I believe them. I believe in them. We’ll get better.”
Jackson and the Eagles are home for a 7 p.m. kickoff against Richton. It is homecoming week at East Marion and the pre-game festivities get started around 6 p.m. at Leslie Peters Field.
“This is a big win for us (East) and I know the guys are excited, but there’s still a lot of work to do” Jackson concluded. “We have got to have a great week of practice to prepare for Richton as they come to town this week.”
Pictured Above: Devin Daniels hands off to Jarveon Howard. | Photo by Mark Rogers
