Taking on a Raleigh ball club that had a distinct size advantage, West Marion made just enough plays to win 14-8 and improve to 4-0.
With the game knotted at 8-all late in the fourth quarter, quarterback Jeremiah Holmes connected with DonTavious McGowan, who split two defenders on a skinny post, for a 26-yard touchdown strike with 1:23 left on the clock. Jartavious Martin set up the game-winning drive with a 20-yard punt return to give the Trojans good field position. A facemask penalty also played a big role in the two-plus minute drive, according to head coach Brad Duncan.
“That was big. They had a facemask penalty that put us in really good field position,” he said. “Then we completed a pass to Noland (Miller), who picked up 11 yards. Then Jeremiah pulled it down to run for a play, then he completed the big touchdown pass to DonTavious. He had a really big game receiving for us.”
Raleigh had one last crack to win or send the game to overtime, but freshman Octavious Henry sacked Raleigh’s Margro Perkins to seal the deal.
“At the end they got away from running the Wing-T and went to a little shotgun stuff. That kind of gave us a little breath where we could breathe a little bit,” Duncan said. “They had been just pounding us, and there wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it.”
The Lions had their way with the Trojans defense for much of the game on the ground, but the West Marion coaching staff decided to insert Cordarious “Teddy” Williams, who is 6-foot-2 and 340 pounds, at defensive tackle, and he repaid the coaches with seven tackles.
“Teddy has been really good for us up front offensively and was the only guy returning with playing time. We couldn’t stop them. They were so much bigger than us and just kept pounding us. We only had one possession in the first quarter. They just kept it from us and ran for more than 250 yards. Luckily, it was one of those bend-but-don’t-break games. But when we put Teddy in on defense — he hadn’t done that in a while — once he got the hang of it, he made some really big stops,” Duncan explained. “He was one of the difference makers for us.”
Raleigh’s size advantage also stymied the West Marion rushing attack, limiting the Trojans to just 34 yards on 19 attempts — 1.8-yard average — but the passing game bailed the Trojans out. Holmes completed 67 percent of his passes with two touchdowns, both to McGowan, who had 145 yards on just three catches.
“No. 1 we’re very young up front. No. 2 we’re very small up front, and they were huge, of course. We had a hard time blocking them. Our strength is going to be our skill guys on the outside, and that’s what has to make out living for us,” Duncan said. “We have to get the ball out to those guys. Jeremiah is getting better and better at letting those guys make big plays for us.”
While it wasn’t a pretty win, Duncan said being undefeated through four weeks is never a bad thing.
“Our guys believe that if we can stay close we can find a way to win. They believe that in their hearts. We were 1-3 at this point last year, and it’s good to be 4-0. We needed this,” he said. “Some of the struggles have been good, but we need to continue to work to get better. It looks like there’s a chance of rain every day this week, so we need to stay focused and get in what we need to get in.”
However, the Trojans have scored just 28 points the last two games compared to 82 the first two weeks of the season. Duncan said the Trojans need more out of their young offensive line.
“We’ve got to get better offensively. The first two games we were able to move the ball and do some things, but the last two we’ve struggled because we’ve been getting whipped up front. We have to get better,” he said. “We have to focus and make those plays when we get opportunities. We can’t have the dropped passes like we had against East. We just have to make the plays.”
Next up for the Trojans is a road trip to Brooklyn to take on the Aggies of Forrest County Agricultural (0-4). Forrest County AHS may be winless on the young season, but the Aggies have played four solid teams — Vancleave, Perry Central, Pearl River Central and Resurrection Catholic — and beat West Marion 21-6 a year ago.
“I think they’re young, and it’s going to be a good matchup,” Duncan said. “Every week is going to be a battle for us.”
Kickoff is at 7 Friday night.
Pictured Above: DonTavious McGowan flexes after scoring the game-winning touchdown against Raleigh at home Friday night. | Photo by Charlie Smith
