The East Marion Eagles were in desperate need of a victory following back-to-back losses to rivals Columbia and West Marion, and they rose to the occasion with a come-from-behind 36-22 victory at Morton Friday night.
The Eagles (2-2) fell behind early 22-8 but scored 28 unanswered points to pull off the comeback victory.
Head coach Kevin Jackson said it was encouraging to see his squad fight through the adversity, and it showed the Eagles what they’re capable of.
“If we work as a team and play as a unit, anything is possible. We just have to keep grinding and keep pressing, and big things can happen for this team and this group,” he said.
Jackson said the biggest turnaround came on the defensive side, where the Eagles stiffened up in the second half.
“Defensively for us to give up 22 points in the first half then come out in the second half and shut them out was a big deal. We didn’t tackle very well in the first half and were able to come out in the second half and tackle better to keep them out of the end zone,” he said.
After scoring just 14 points against Columbia and none versus West Marion, Jackson said it was the play of four-year starting quarterback Devin Daniels, who ran for two touchdowns and threw for one, that changed the tide of the Eagles offense.
“He had a couple long runs there in the second half and put us in some good positions to score. He just really kind of took charge of the offense and made it work,” he said.
Daniels also returned both a punt and an interception back for touchdowns.
The Eagles have a bye week this week before heading on the road to face the Bogalusa (La.) Lumberjacks (1-1) Sept. 27. Jackson said the focus for the Eagles during the off week would be on themselves.
“We’re going to work a lot of fundamentals, try to get in better shape and work on ourselves. There’s some little fundamentals and just little things we need to work on, and we’ll try to improve on them and get ready for Bogalusa next week,” he said.
Jackson said that while Bogalusa is an out-of-state and non-district opponent that has no bearing on East Marion’s playoffs chances, getting a win is very important to build on the momentum the Eagles gained against Morton, especially since they begin Region 8-2A competition Oct. 4 at home against Perry Central.
“Of course we want to win it, but the following week we have Perry Central coming in to town. You always want to start off on a good foot in the district,” he said. “It’ll be super important for us to try to improve week by week for our district play.”
