It was a long night in Louisville for East Marion as Nanih Waiya (13-0) cruised to a 51-12 win over the Eagles.
While there weren’t many highlights in the game for the Eagles, head coach Kevin Jackson saw some positive developments from a pair of underclassmen.
“I saw a young quarterback complete some passes that he probably wouldn’t have completed earlier in the year,” he said. “I saw some progress from him (Devin Daniels) and from our young running back, Lawrence Lambert, who had a decent little game.”
Jackson added that the experience Daniels and Lambert gained this season will help them as they take over as the focal point of the offense next season with Jarveon Howard graduating.
“I think the experience they gained is going to be a plus for them in the future,” Jackson said. “Both of them played important skill positions, and they got to see a lot from defenses. Those things they saw this year won’t be surprising next year, so they should be well adjusted to make plays when given the opportunity.”
Howard, who has been the heartbeat of the program for years and had more than 2,000 all-purpose yards and 27 touchdowns this season, is leaving some pretty big shoes to fill. Those shoes aren’t going to be filled by only two feet, according to Jackson.
“Hopefully, Lawrence can carry Jarveon’s load, along with a few other guys,” he said. “Keithshon ‘Smoke’ Johnson is going to be a senior next year, and he’s a good skill guy for us who we expect big things from. Flenard McLin has made plays for us. Wanya (Cook) will have to carry the ball for us, too. We have a good nucleus coming back, so hopefully we’ll be a little more productive next year.”
While the Eagles were ousted from the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year, a 5-7 record this season is a vast improvement from 1-10 in 2016. Jackson believes the Eagles’ arrow will continue to point up in the future.
“I feel good about (the direction of the program). We did play a lot of young guys this year, so there’s a lot of room for us to grow,” he said. “Out of the eight seniors we’re losing, five were starters for us and we’ll miss them. Three of those guys are linemen, so that’ll be some tough shoes to fill replacing three offensive linemen. Of course, Jarveon leaves some big shoes to fill. But we did start a ninth-grader at offensive tackle, and we have some young linemen coming up.”
Jarveon Howard, Jordan Howard, JaMikell Russell, Devonta Peters, Brandon Willis, Undra Goings, Cole Patton and Ja’Mario Marsalis are the eight seniors departing the program, and Jackson thanked them for all they have done to lead the program.
“I want to thank our seniors for all their hard work and dedication throughout this year,” he said. “We had a couple of seniors come out to play football that hadn’t played a whole lot prior to this year. They gave us a great effort and lot of dedication to the program. I want to thank them all and wish them the best of luck in the future.”
Of East Marion’s five wins this season, none was bigger than its Week 3 18-14 win over West Marion. It was the Eagles’ first win over the Trojans since 2014, and it truly was a nail biter that came down to the very end with East Marion pulling away because of determination and grit.
Pictured Above: Devin Daniels gets around the edge. | Photo Courtesty of Winston County Journal
