HATTIESBURG — It didn’t take long for the West Marion Trojans’ new offensive philosophy to pay big dividends.
The Trojans traveled to Hattiesburg May 16 to play North Forrest in a spring game at The Rock, and they ran all over the Eagles to win 30-0. They played two 20-minute halves with a running clock, but the final two minutes of each half were treated as an actual game.
Although the focus was to establish the running game, which they did to the tune of 221 yards and three touchdowns, the Trojans’ opening drive was all about the passing game. Incumbent and rising senior quarterback Jeremiah Holmes methodically drove West Marion down the field and capped off the opening drive with an 18-yard dime to Jartavious Martin in the corner of the end zone. Martin had a great release off the line and left the defense scrambling before hauling in the score. Holmes ran in the two-point conversion to put West Marion up 8-0.
Just two plays into North Forrest’s first drive, Trojans cornerback Adryane James punched the ball loose and recovered it for the first turnover of the game. Then rising sophomore Octavious Harvey and the running game took center stage.
The compact and shifty running back reeled off runs of 19 and 15 yards before turning the corner on a toss and diving inside the pylon for a 4-yard touchdown. Holmes connected with Ott Mitchell on a tunnel screen to convert the 2-point attempt and make it 16-0.
“Up front we were actually blocking again,” head coach Brad Duncan said. “We haven’t done that in a long time. That’s what we worked on; we got a lot stronger this winter in the weight room. We had a good spring, and nobody got hurt.”
A few plays later, defensive end Ka’Marius Husband rocked North Forrest’s running back to jar the ball loose, and Jartavious Martin jumped on it to get the ball back. West Marion didn’t get anything going on the ensuing drive, though, and the clock ran out on the first half.
The Trojans forced a quick punt on the opening drive of the second half, prompting a long touchdown run. The Trojans opened up a huge hole on the right side that Harvey bursted through and scampered 65 yards untouched to pay dirt. Holmes lofted a fade on the conversion, and Daqwan Jones needed just one hand to haul in the grab to put the Trojans up 24-0.
“I told Daqwan if you drop that with one hand I’m going to cut you right here,” Duncan said jokingly. “He said, ‘Not with these claws.’ But (the receivers) are working hard at it. We throw the ball every day. Jeremiah is confident throwing the ball, and if those receivers can make the catches and us being able to run the football, too, it’s going to make us better overall.”
North Forrest fumbled the snap on its second play of the ensuing drive, and Blaten Norris jumped on it for the Trojans. Martin lined up as a quarterback in the Wildcat formation to begin West Marion’s next drive, and he accelerated through another huge hole and raced 29 yards to the end zone to make it 30-0.
The Trojans forced a turnover on downs on defense and allowed James to join the fun of benefitting from huge holes. The rising senior broke off runs of 38, 15 and 17 yards before West Marion turned it over on downs inside the 10 as time expired.
Duncan said it was awesome to see the running backs actually have some room to run for a change.
“That offensive line, with coach (Don) Clanton and coach (Brandon) Thornill, have busted their butts,” he said. “I said it jokingly the other day, but we actually have bruises again. We haven’t done that in a long time. They worked hard and got better each day.”
Defensively, Zavion Pittman and Harvey led the way with three tackles each. Norris had two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery, James had two tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery and Husband had two tackles and a forced fumble.
Charlie Wash picked up the Trojans’ lone sack of the night, though, North Forrest only threw a handful of times.
“We ran to the football and caused some turnovers. One of the things we pride ourselves on defensively is running to the football. We’re not going to be very big defensively, but we’re going to have guys that run and attack it,” Duncan said.
Duncan said he believes the Trojans will be better than they were last year, but they could still be left out of the playoffs because of the depth of Region 8-3A with Columbia, Seminary, Jeff Davis County, Tylertown and Magee.
“We’re going to try to hang on and see what we can get.”
Pictured Above: Trojans safety and receiver Ott Mitchell scores on a two-point conversion. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
