Every year when East Marion and West Marion face off on the gridiron, it is commonplace to hear both head coaches say: “Throw out the records.” Because when it comes to Eagles vs. Trojans, it is always a war that comes complete with big hits, big plays, a lot of tension and is typically guaranteed to be a great game.
The 2018 installment proved to be no different as both squads took turns delivering body blows until West Marion supplied the final haymaker to pull out a gutsy 14-12 road victory Friday night. Points were held to a minimum as both teams struggled to hold onto the ball throughout the game, which featured eight turnovers — five fumbles, two on downs and one interception — and 11 punts.
“I’m so proud of our guys,” West Marion head coach Brad Duncan said following the game. “Doggone it was ugly, though. It was the ugliest game we’ve had with East-West in a long, long time. But there were people laying it on the line every play, and I’m just proud of our guys. It was an ugly win — ugly, ugly — but it’s a win.”
Despite losing the game to drop to 1-2, East Marion head coach Kevin Jackson said the Eagles had nothing to hang their heads over.
“It was a hard fought game between both teams, and hey, they got the long end of the stick this year. Last year it was the same way in our favor, and this year they happened to get it. Great game, great competition between both teams,” he said. “It got a little heated, which it should between rivals. The game played out the way we expected; we just wish we would’ve came out on the top end.”
Clinging to a 2-point lead late in the fourth quarter, West Marion quarterback Jayden Duncan marched the Trojans down to the Eagles’ 8 with a chance to put the game away. But he made an ill-advised throw into double coverage in the end zone with two rushers in his face that was picked off by Devin Daniels, breathing new life into East Marion.
“For some reason we were pressing,” coach Duncan said. “We got to slow that mind down a little bit and just make the plays. Early we had a chance to go up two or three scores, and we weren’t able to make the plays. Then in the second half, it just became a slugfest.”
That life seemed to be extinguished as quickly as it was given after Daniels was sacked by Blake Lowery. The Eagles faced a 4th-and-16 with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter and the game on the line. Daniels spotted Jacob Johnson on a seam route, but it appeared as if his pass was underthrown. However, Jacob Johnson leaped into the air, pulled the ball off the defender’s back and hauled in an insane, 1-handed catch that falls incomplete 99 times out of 100.
Daniels then put the Eagles on his back and picked up 24 yards on the ground and 15 through the air to position the Eagles at the Trojans’ 7 with 12.6 seconds left. Daniels’ first shot at the end zone fell incomplete as he tried to connect with a sliding Flenard McLin in double coverage. With time left just for one last play, Daniels tried to fire a pass into the end zone again, but West Marion’s Daqwan Jones reached his hand into the air and swatted the ball at the line to end the game.
Jackson had nothing but praise for his team, though, following the game.
“It was a dog fight. We missed some tackles early and had some miscues, but you can’t ask for more when your kids give 110 percent,” he said. “I believe our kids did that tonight.”
East Marion struck first to begin the game after neither offense could muster points on its opening drive. Facing a 3rd-and-8, Daniels was flushed out of the pocket and appeared to being making a run at the first down marker. But just before he reached the line of scrimmage he untucked the ball and dumped it off to Kevin Johnson at the sticks. Kevin Johnson then made a defender miss with a nice open-field juke, picked up a key block from Jacob Johnson and was off to the races for an 83-yard touchdown. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, but East Marion had an early 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Eight minutes of game action and four punts later, the Trojans came through with a counterpunch. After converting a 4th-and-inches earlier in the drive on a 9-yard pass to Noland Miller Jr., quarterback Jeremiah Holmes capped off the drive with a 2-yard plunge into the end zone on a quarterback power to knot the score at 6-6.
East Marion’s offense failed to pick up a first down following three quick plays, which brought JaQuarious Jones onto the field to punt. Jones, though, was unable to get the kick off and was wrestled to the ground deep inside Eagles territory at the 14. Holmes delivered once again on a quarterback power in the red zone, scoring from three yards out and converting the 2-point attempt on a pass to Miller to make it 14-6 with 5:02 remaining in the second quarter.
However, Daniels and the Eagles answered right back. On 3rd-and-10, Daniels was forced to attempt to break containment to get outside the pocket, and he beat Holmes in a foot race to the edge. He was soon met by Jayden Duncan, but he stiff armed Duncan to break the tackle and again pulled up at the last moment. While mere feet from going out of bounds or crossing the line of scrimmage, Daniels lofted a touch pass while sprinting on the money over the heads of the Trojans secondary and into the waiting arms of Flenard McLin. McLin caught the pass in stride and cruised to pay dirt for a 43-yard Eagles touchdown to cut the deficit to 14-12 with just over three minutes left in the first half.
“D-Man (Daniels) is such a competitor and a tough kid. He’ll find a way to make a play,” coach Duncan said.
However, the Eagles were stuffed on the 2-point try, which proved costly.
The Trojans put together a long drive before the half that was full with controversy due to several penalties that not only confused the coaches and players but the referees themselves. The drive ended just short of the end zone, though, with Octavious Harvey being dragged down at the 2 on a screen pass.
Three drives ended in punts to begin the second half, then East Marion’s Wanya Cook was stripped by Holmes to set the Trojans up at the Eagles’ 23. However, a 15-yard personal foul forced the Trojans to punt the ball right back.
A methodical, back-to-basics approach finally jarred the East Marion offense out of neutral. Led by the powerful running by Jones and two West Marion penalties, the Eagles marched more than 70 yards in 10 plays to reach the red zone.
“We finally got (Cook) and (Jones) to run downhill, run north and south. So hopefully that gave them some confidence to know we can run it and be effective running the ball inside,” Jackson said.
But it would be for naught as Daniels fumbled a shotgun snap that was recovered by the Trojans. The same thing happened to West Marion, though, as Duncan dropped a snap that was scooped up by East Marion. Two plays later the ball was on the grass again, with Jones fumbling and Larry Magee jumping on the loose ball for the Trojans. That led to the long drive that ended in a Duncan interception, preceding the Eagles’ final drive of the game.
The Trojans improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2015 when they reached South State, and coach Duncan said he was proud of his players fighting through adversity.
“This time last year we were 0-3 and wondering what the heck was going on. We didn’t play good (tonight), and we had talked about there would be a test come along where things wouldn’t go well because the first two (games) were mighty easy,” he said. “It didn’t go good tonight, but these guys fought through it and got them a W. Any time you play this game, it’s going to go this way.”
The Trojans will return home Friday night to take on Raleigh (1-2), which they beat twice last year on the road, including in the first round of the playoffs.
East Marion will travel to Richton (2-1), which is coming off back-to-back blowout wins over Sacred Heart and Enterprise after losing to Columbia in Week 1.
“We should be ready and ought to have a chip on our shoulder after tonight,” Jackson said.
Pictured Above: West Marion linebacker Daqwan Jones (1), who batted a pass down on the final play of the game to seal it for the Trojans, drags down East Marion running back Wanya Cook from behind. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
