West Marion’s youth and inexperience was the difference in the Trojans’ season opener as they fell last Thursday night to Presbyterian Christian 38-18 in Hattiesburg.
It was a competitive game throughout the first half and into the third quarter, but PCS broke off some long touchdowns runs in the second half to put the game out of reach.
“It was like last year,” head coach Brad Duncan said. “In the first half, we play hard and it’s a close football game, anybody’s game. Then in the second half, they wear us out. Part of it is they have depth that we don’t have and part of it is because we don’t work hard enough Monday through Thursday. I take full responsibility — the tiredness, the cramps — that’s on me. That means I didn’t push them hard enough. The other mistakes, they have to take some responsibility too, and they will.”
One of the bigger tell-tale signs for the Trojans was the lack of fire, passion and belief on the sidelines. With the exception being sophomore Jeremiah Holmes, the Trojans didn’t have another player going up and down the sidelines pumping up his teammates.
“We got five seniors and four juniors that have been to war, so we have a lot of young kids,” Duncan said. “They’re used to Josh Miller and Adrian Miller making the plays for them. They have to understand now it’s their turn to make the plays. We’ll get better. This was a tough opening game, but it’s only going to make us better.”
PCS opened the game with a 20-yard touchdown pass on a jump ball from Brandon Thornton to Eric Robinson to take a 7-0 lead. The Trojans countered with a strong ground attack on their opening drive, capped off by a 9-yard touchdown run by Holmes to cut the deficit to 7-6.
But the Bobcats took less than two minutes to answer as Sheldon James took off for one of his three rushing touchdowns, a 54-yard scamper to put PCS up 14-6 with just over two minutes to play in the first quarter.
Set up by a 50-yard pass from Jayden Duncan, who came in at quarterback for a play while Holmes was searching for a Band-Aid, to Qavonte Swanigan, the Trojans found pay dirt once again.
Holmes threw a screen pass to Cyrus Thompson, who broke three tackles on his way to a 31-yard touchdown to cut the lead down to 14-12. PCS threatened on its next drive, but Thompson picked off Thornton in the end zone just before halftime.
Following a West Marion shanked punt and a PCS field goal to open the second half, the Trojans gambled on a fourth-and-5 from their own 44-yard line. The shanked punt may have led to the gutsy call, but it didn’t pay off as Holmes’ pass was incomplete. Aiden Rhian made the Trojans pay with a 38-yard touchdown, and Thornton scored from three yards out on the Bobcats next possession to go up 31-12.
The Trojans had a little bit of life come back into their sails early in the fourth quarter as Holmes threaded the needle over two defenders to connect with Nolan Miller for an 80-yard touchdown, but the Bobcats’ ground game iced the game. PCS averaged more than 10 yards per carry for the game, running for 435 yards and four touchdowns.
While the Trojans offense had no problems moving the ball, they struggled finishing drives and had some sloppy mistakes that were costly. In his first start under center for West Marion, Jeremiah Holmes was 13-of-20 for 234 yards and two touchdowns and added 41 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Cyrus Thompson led the receiving corps with seven catches for 75 yards and a touchdown, while Qavonte Swanigan had four receptions for 88 yards.
Despite the season-opening loss, Duncan like what he saw out of his signal caller, who also appeared to be the heart and soul of the defense as well.
“Jeremiah is a special kid,” he said. “He’s a sophomore that started as a freshman at defensive end. You saw him at linebacker tonight, and he was the best linebacker we had. Then he threw the ball exceptionally well. He thinks he’s not supposed to say anything because he’s a sophomore. Leadership doesn’t have to come from seniors, leadership doesn’t have to come from juniors and leadership doesn’t have to come from talking. Show somebody what we’re supposed to be doing, how we’re supposed to be doing it. We had some players make a new commitment tonight about doing it that way, so we’ll see.”
West Marion will be on the road again next Friday as the Trojans take on Purvis, which dropped its season opener 45-7 to Oak Grove. While the Tornadoes opener may appear on paper to be good news for the Trojans, Purvis is historically a strong and physical football team that made it to the Class 4A quarterfinals last season.
“We have a tough one on the road (again),” Duncan said. “We have to go to Purvis with coach Perry Wheat, and they’re good. We have to bow up and grow up fast. They’re going to continue to work hard though and get better.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
Pictured Above: Cyrus Thompson returns a kickoff against PCS. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
