It took no time at all on senior night for the West Marion Trojans to prove they were far and away the best team on the field Friday in a 40-0 beat down win over Seminary.
The Trojans (10-1, 4-1) wrapped up the No. 2 seed from Region 8-3A for the playoffs and will play host to Wilkinson County (3-7) Friday in the first round of the Class 3A postseason.
With a spread offense that often deploys five receivers at a time, the Wildcats throw as much as any team in 3A and pose a threat to score from anywhere on the field. Senior quarterback Freddie Byrd has thrown for 2,124 yards and 20 touchdowns this year but has also been picked off 13 times. West Marion head coach Brad Duncan said the Wildcats are very athletic and that the Trojans will have their work cut out for them.
“They have a quarterback who is second in the state in yardage in 3A. He’s really an exciting player to watch,” he said. “They’re going to spread you out. They have a little running back (Nolan Thompson) who they throw it to a lot coming out of the backfield. They have a receiver (Jermon Hampton) who is really good. It’s going to be kind of like Magee with strictly spread.”
West Marion’s defense has been especially stingy this year, though, and finished the regular season allowing just 7.8 points per game. On the flip side the Wildcats have given up 38.3 points per game this year, but Duncan said when you look at their defense position by position they seem really good.
With a win over Wilkinson County, the Trojans would play either Velma Jackson (6-4) or Morton (4-7) in the second round.
The Trojans began Friday night against Seminary by forcing the first of five three-and-outs for the Bulldogs offense and starting their opening drive at the Seminary 43. Jartavious “Tater Rabbit” Martin capped off the six-play drive with a 19-yard touchdown run as he tip-toed down the sideline the final five yards. Martin had taken a toss around the right side and picked up a lead block from none other than quarterback Jeremiah Holmes to find the end zone and give West Marion a 7-0 lead.
Martin then forced a Seminary punt with a tackle for loss on third down before the Trojans passing game took over. On 3rd-and-7 Holmes fired a quick screen to Qavonte Swanigan, who picked up a block from left tackle Ka’Marius Husband, and gained 48 yards. Three plays later Holmes connected with a wide open Jordyn Mahaffey up the seam for a 30-yard touchdown to put West Marion up 13-0 going into the second quarter.
Following another three-and-out and a 30-yard punt return by Larry Magee, the Trojans needed just two plays to find pay dirt once more. Octavious Harvey ran it in from 3 yards out a minute into the second quarter. Seminary’s third three-and-out then resulted in another short West Marion touchdown drive. Coming out of the I-formation, Holmes rolled out to his right on a playaction waggle and hit O’Marion Husband in stride on a deep crossing route for a 25-yard score that made it 27-0.
The Bulldogs were forced to punt again on the ensuing drive, but the snap went over the punter’s head to set up the Trojans at the Seminary 31. On 4th-and-6, Holmes tossed a bubble screen to Ott Mitchell, who got a great block from O’Marion Husband, and raced 27 yards into the end zone to put the Trojans up 33-0 going into halftime.
West Marion added to its lead on its second drive of the second half on a 4-yard quarterback sneak by Holmes. The game was on a running clock in the second half as the Trojans cruised the rest of the way.
“If you get to 10 wins, especially in the division we’re in, it’s really special,” Duncan said. “For the seniors to have a real emotional night in their last regular season home game, it was really good. You could tell with Seminary not being in the position they’re normally in — they played for a state championship last year — but they were out of (the playoffs) mathematically so there wasn’t a lot of effort there. That’s understandable, but I’m proud, proud, proud to get that W.”
The Trojans morphed between their typical spread look offensively and their recent I-formation and nasty trips additions and had their most complete offensive performance of the year. Duncan said it was really encouraging to see the offense consistently execute, especially going into the postseason.
“You want to get hot right now. I think we’re about as healthy as we’ve been in about a month so maybe we’ve eliminated some of those silly mistakes and maybe we’re back well,” Duncan said. “’Rabbit’ still isn’t 100 percent, but he was better than he’s been the last few weeks. Maybe we get on a little roll here going into the playoffs.”
Duncan added it’s been remarkable what the Trojans defense has accomplished this year but that it’s time to start completely over now.
“The defense has been really, really good for us. We thought going in we could be really good defensively if we remained relatively healthy. They’ve been really solid, really sound and really coachable,” he said. “But the sad part about that is all that doesn’t mean anything anymore. Everybody is 0-0, and if you lose you go home now.”
Pictured Above: West Marion's Jartavious "Tater Rabitt" Martin breaks into the open field against Seminary Friday. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
