As great as Marion County football has been the past few years, the landscape is going to look a lot different in 2021.
The most notable change will be on the sidelines with longtime West Marion head coach Brad Duncan retiring and Columbia Academy letting Randy Butler go after five seasons. Those coaching changes come just a year after East Marion made the switch to Brad Hughes following Kevin Jackson’s retirement.
On the field, though, there will be a lot of new faces with several big-time stars in the county set to graduate.
West Marion will be affected most in terms of star power leaving. The Trojans are graduating 10 starters, including quarterback/defensive end Jayden Duncan, running back/outside linebacker Jartavious “Tater Rabbit” Martin, wide receiver/free safety Qavonte Swanigan, H-back/defensive end Ka’Marius Husband, wide receiver/defensive back O’Marion Husband, tight end/defensive tackle Cooper Foxworth, linebacker Jatavius Brooks, offensive linemen/defensive tackles Teddy Williams and Jarvis Craft and offensive tackle Ethan Hibley. The past two seasons that group led the Trojans to a 21-5 record, two quarterfinal appearances and a county title this year.
Coach Duncan has been a fixture in Marion County for nearly two decades as the head coach for Columbia Academy for three years then West Marion for 16 years. After five lean years building up the program from 2005 to 2009 (10-39), Duncan led the Trojans to a 102-41 record the past 11 years with 10 playoff appearances, 15 playoff victories and three South State Championship appearances. West Marion will have a tough time filling his shoes.
Although Columbia Academy is only graduating four seniors in wide receiver/defensive backs Robert Johnson, Trevor Courtney and Trey Stringer and lineman Dylan Elkins, the Cougars have the most uncertainty going into 2021 in the county. With Butler gone, CA will be bringing in a new coach from the outside most likely — the most logical assistant to be promoted would be offensive coordinator Keith Stanley, but he is already the head baseball coach — and that coach will be inheriting a team that went 0-9 and struggled to field a team this season.
CA’s numbers were already limited with a couple players dropping before the season, and oftentimes the Cougars only had about 18-20 healthy players each week this season. A lot of young players got experience, but it wasn’t great experience with the Cougars getting blown out in nearly every game. Whoever the new coach is going to be will need to jumpstart the program with a bigger roster, and he’s going to need to find some linemen that will allow CA’s athletes to have success. The majority of CA’s line in 2020 were under 200 pounds.
While East Marion was very young this season, the Eagles will be losing some key pieces on their defense, which was the sole reason the Eagles were competitive in 2020. Gone will be linebacker Ladarrius “Chucky” Watts, linebacker Marteze Mikell, outside linebacker/receiver Carlos Stubbs, offensive tackle/defensive tackle Joevarian Travis-Nixon and outside linebacker Jaidon Johnson. Watts, Mikell and Stubbs were three of the best defensive players in the county and kept East Marion in games while its offense struggled to produce.
Although Columbia will lose some big players, the Wildcats are in great shape going into 2021. With the longest-tenured head coach in the county in Chip Bilderback, who is 33-7 in three years, and several juniors set to land at Division I schools when that times comes, the Wildcats will be among the favorites to win a state title despite moving up to Class 4A. Seniors Greg Fortenberry (athlete), Latonio Irvin (tight end/outside linebacker) and Dashod Ball (wide receiver/cornerback) started both ways for Columbia and all were very instrumental to its success, but the junior class is loaded.
Defensive tackle/tight end Jaheim Oatis and running back/safety Omar Johnson both already have offers from SEC schools, while athlete Josh Brown, running back/linebacker Jonathan Wiltz, safety Isaiah Bolton and right tackle Jason Townsend should command college interest as well. There are a few other juniors — Peyton Anderson, Kentrell Jackson and Will McLendon — who could get to that point, too.
Their district next year, Region 7-4A, will actually be easier than what they faced in 3A the past two years. Rather than tangling with the likes of West Marion, Jeff Davis and Magee, their primary competition will be Poplarville, Forrest County AHS, Lawrence County and Sumrall. Poplarville is actually playing for the 4A state title Friday, but it had an easy route in the playoffs with several 4A teams having to forfeit because of Covid. Poplarville actually lost to Jeff Davis this year despite the Jaguars having their worst season in school history.
Next season is going to bring a lot of new faces to the forefront in Marion County but count on the Wildcats playing past Thanksgiving once again.
