Lumberton jumped on West Marion early in a 7-on-7 scrimmage with two quick touchdowns Tuesday morning, but the Trojans bounced back to score three of their own while shutting down the Panthers to win 21-14.
The Panthers connected for a deep ball that was batted up into the air by Ott Mitchell and caught by Lumberton’s receiver in the end zone on the opening drive to take an early 7-0 lead. West Marion rising senior Jeremiah Holmes was then picked on his third pass, setting up another Panthers score.
Lumberton stacked two receivers to the right side on 4th-and-goal with the Trojans in man coverage. The outside receiver ran a slant, the inside receiver ran a quick out and Jartavious Martin, who was covering in the slot, got picked on the route and allowed the easy pitch and catch. But then the Trojans came roaring back.
Holmes got hot on the ensuing drive, completing five straight passes and 6-of-7 on the drive, and capped it off by hitting Mitchell in the end zone on a curl route from the slot to trim the deficit to 14-7.
West Marion’s defense forced three straight incompletions to get the ball back, and Holmes found Martin on a seam route for a 40-yard touchdown on the first play. Martin had set up the slot corner with a head fake to the outside to gain separation, and Holmes hit him in stride with a perfect pass to tie it up.
Martin then jumped an out route on the ensuing possession for an interception, but it would be for naught. Jayden Duncan, leading his first drive at quarterback, got picked on his first attempt, leaving the ball too far inside on a quick out route.
Both defenses took it up a notch with three straight stops until Holmes got hot again. He completed five straight passes and tossed a screen pass to Octavious Harvey on 1st-and-goal that Harvey easily scored on to give the Trojans the lead. West Marion then got the final stop of the scrimmage to win 21-14.
Holmes completed 12-of-20 pass attempts for three touchdowns and a pick in five drives, and Duncan connected on just 1-of-4 passes with an interception.
“Jeremiah threw the ball well today,” head coach Brad Duncan said. “He was a little bit late on some things, but he’s going to be OK. He was out last week, and Jay (Duncan) had to do the whole thing and did really good against CA.”
Mitchell was one of the biggest stars of the morning with four catches and a touchdown and three passes defended. Duncan said Mitchell’s work ethic has increased dramatically since last season, and it’s beginning to show up on the field.
“Ott has been great. It started at Christmas, and he had a great winter in the weight room, had a good spring and his summer has been just awesome,” he said. “He’s starting to grow and is really having a good time right now.”
Harvey caught five passes with a touchdown, and Martin had four receptions and a touchdown. Duncan said they are both playmakers who West Marion can get the ball to in space and good things will happen.
Qavonte Swanigan, who broke onto the scene as one of the best players in the county as a freshman in 2017 but missed all of 2018 with a torn ACL, has been fully cleared and is looking like his old self, according to Duncan. Swanigan missed the Lumberton scrimmage Tuesday because he’s on vacation, but Duncan said the electric playmaker is extremely excited about getting to play again.
Duncan said the summer exhibitions have highlighted the playmakers West Marion has on the outside and could be a good complement to what the Trojans showed running the ball in their blowout victory over Sumrall in the spring game.
“We have to get after it up front like we did in the spring, be physical again and run the football,” he said. “Even though we don’t have that big bruising type back, we have some backs that can make it happen.”
The Trojans have played Sumrall twice, Columbia Academy and now Lumberton this summer in 7-on-7 action, and Duncan said he likes how his team is adjusting and remaining competitive before the fall.
“It allows us to work some stuff that we can do in our two-minute offense and some stuff that we can do in our real offense.”
West Marion is also scheduled to host Columbia Academy Thursday morning at 10.
Pictured Above: West Marion's Ott Mitchell jams a Lumberton receiver at the line of scrimmage Tuesday morning. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
