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No Moral victory for Marion

No Moral victory for Marion

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No Moral victory for Marion

Pats see late lead leave in Pine Bluff

Sports Editor PINE BLUFF — As their Patriots took the field after scoring 14 unanswered points to claim a 42-36 lead against the two-time defending Class 6A state champions of Pine Bluff on their home field at Jordan Stadium, the contingent of fans who made their way to town from Marion roared to life.

The pep band played bigger than the sum of its parts, and the cheerleaders seemed to find an extra gear in an attempt to will their team to a key victory.

After four plays, and two sacks, which set the Zebras up with a 3rd-and-16 conversion to stay in the game, the Marion crew somehow got even more boisterous.

But it wasn't meant to be, as Pine Bluff passer Simeon Blair avoided another Marion pass rush, stepped up in the pocket and ripped a picture-perfect pass down the middle of the field to Jyrimee Thompson, who collected the ball and scored from 65 yards out to tie the game with 51 seconds left on the clock.

Pine Bluff's dynamic duo hooked up again for the two-point conversion that would eventually deliver the Zebras a wild 44-42 win that kept the hosts in the hunt for the 6A-East conference title, while Marion will head into the final two weeks with plenty to play for against Jacksonville and Jonesboro, but with the knowledge that they missed out on a huge opportunity.

'I'm past the point where there are moral victories,' said third-year Marion head coach Jed Davis. 'I'm sure there will be people around the state that will say 'Hey man, Marion's better, they're playing good football,' or whatever, but we worked our butts all week and we expect to win those games now, and that's what's really frustrating and what's really gonna eat at my soul.'

In a game full of big plays, and one that featured two ties and six lead changes, it was Pine Bluff's Blair that made the last big one with his escape and throw to Thompson. Blair finished his night 12 of 20 passing for 320 yards, while rushing 12 times for 48 yards, and accounting for 6 touchdowns.

'I'm glad that's over with,' said a relieved Pine Bluff head coach Bobby Bolding. 'Hats off to Marion, those guys played a heck of a ballgame.'

Blair's night overshadowed Marion's own aerial display featuring junior quarterback Peyton Walker and senior wide receiver Collin Chambers. Walker finished play 20 of 30 passing for 296 yards and 5 touchdowns, while Chambers reeled in 9 balls for 191 yards and 4 touchdowns against Pine Bluff.

It was Chambers' last two touchdown catches that helped the Pats erase a 3627 deficit after 3 quarters, and helped Marion (4-4 overall, 3-2 6A-East) take that late 42-36 lead in the fourth quarter.

'Coach Davis told us earlier this week that it may have to be a passing game for us to win, and I wanted to make every catch I could make because we really wanted this one,' Chambers explained.

Chambers caught a pair of touchdowns in the first half, including a wild jump ball around two Pine Bluff defenders, which gave Marion its first lead at 2014. The play garnered national attention on ESPN's 'Sportscenter'.

However, the Zebras would score the final 16 points of the half to take that 30-20 lead to the lockers, and with them went the momentum.

Instead, Marion forced punts on the first two Pine Bluff drives to keep themselves in it.

'We had an opportunity there to really take control of the game, if we do what we're supposed to do offensively, we could have made it a three-score game, but they stuffed us on a couple of different drives,' Bolding admitted.

The Pats got within 30-27 when Walker found Tom Young down the middle of the field on a quick route and the diminutive running back crossed from 45 yards out with 3:12 left in the third quarter.

But Blair was quick with the response as he engineered a 4-play, 72-yard drive that was capped off by a 27-yard score to Thompson and while the conversion attempt was no good, the Zebras led 36-27 after three.

However, that's when Marion got back into the game, nearly as Davis predicted at halftime.

'I saw some things that they were giving us defensively, and I told them that if we throw, and catch, and block then we can score some points,' explained the coach. 'We basically tried to turn this into a 7on-7 match.'

Marion threw the ball on 7 of their next 11 plays, which spanned two separate scoring drives of 47 and 66 yards, and ended with the Pats holding that 42-36 lead.

Those scoring possessions were highlighted by Chambers' third and fourth touchdowns, the third of which was another jump ball that he went up and won and got his team within 36-34.

'What can you say about a guy like Collin Chambers?' asked Davis.

'He had a huge night against someone who's definitely not a scrub team. One of the best teams in the state.'

Pine Bluff took over on its own 28-yard line with 2:35 on the clock and 72 yards from a tie game.

A pair of Blair completions gave the Zebras a fresh set of downs, but that's when Marion's defensive front dug in its heels as Quinton Wilson came up with a sack of Blair on first down and

Josh Green got into the backfield of the Z’s on second down.

More than that, Green knocked the ball loose from Blair, and when the first group of players appeared to fall on top of the ball, and it squirted loose, Pine Bluff was able to recover it, setting itself up for the key 3rd-and-16 conversion.

Pine Bluff was out of timeouts and was forced to call the play from the sidelines prior to Blair taking the shotgun snap and once again, the Marion rush nearly got home, but Blair saw Thompson streaking down the field.

'We were just trying to stretch them deep and he (Thompson) got behind them,' Bolding said simply. 'Then I was concerned when we went back on defense that they were gonna do the same with how they'd been moving the ball.'

'It's third down and they throw double-post routes over our heads,' said Davis when asked about the fateful play of the game. 'I've had it happen the other way where a team scored on us with 28 seconds left on the clock, but we ran a kickoff back to win in the playoffs. We went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. This was just the opposite.'

Marion's final drive ended on four downs and Pine Bluff kneeled the clock out.

The Patriots will celebrate senior night on Friday when they host Jacksonville. That event will start at 6:30 with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

By Chuck Livingston

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