Patriots outlast Blue Devils in hometown showdown
By CHUCK LIVINGSTON
Marion School District
As the scoreboard clock at Premier Bank Stadium ticked under 10 seconds, the Marion football team sprinted towards The Trench, Marion’s student section, positioned in the northwest corner of the stadium.
The eager students awaited their Patriots, greeting the gridiron warriors with heavy clouds of multi-colored baby powder.
For the second season in a row, the Marion Patriots celebrated a victory over their Crittenden County neighbors to the south, the West Memphis Blue Devils.
And for whatever last year’s dominating 33-3 decision at Hamilton-Shultz Field lacked for drama, this season’s 16-12 Marion conquest more than made up for it.
Marion got a pair of touchdown passes from junior quarterback Ashton Gray to senior receiver Donnie Cheers in the first half as the Patriots (5-2 overall, 5-1 6A East) took a 16-0 at halftime.
Cheers, who has caught four TD passes in his last two games against West Memphis, has caught eight TD passes in the last four weeks from three quarterbacks.
After the break, West Memphis (5-2, 4-2) got a TD run from QB Keland Mills and a TD pass from Mills to receiver Dylan Greer to make it 16-12 prior to the Blue Devils’ final drive of the night.
West Memphis gained a first down at the Marion 15-yard line before Cheers deflected a pass intended for Greer in the end zone on first down.
On second down, the West Memphis snap flew over the head of Mills, and the impressive West Memphis signal- caller had to fall on the loose ball at the Marion 41yard line, a loss of 26 yards.
Marion senior linebacker Brian Weatherspoon pressured Mills into an incompletion on third down before Mills completed a short pass to Greer on fourth down, and when the Marion defense escorted Greer out of bounds at the Marion 27, the celebration that many native Marionites have waited a lifetime for was on. Marion’s second straight victory over West Memphis doubled its first at home against the Blue Devils. West Memphis has not led Marion since winning the 2020 meeting 20-7.
“This was really a team win,” said Cheers. “I scored a couple of touchdowns, but it took all of our guys to win this one. We just really feel like our momentum is on another level right now.”
“I’m ecstatic for our community and our city,” said Marion coach Lance Clark. “The atmosphere tonight was incredible, and I thought our guys rose to the occasion and thrived in that environment.”
Also thriving in that environment, at least early on, was the Marion offense, which two weeks ago played without five starters in a 55-13 home loss to Class 6A power Benton.
Back at full strength, the Marion offense was downright scary at times against West Memphis. On the Pats’ second drive, Gray connected with promising sophomore receiver Mitrell Lewis, who made several Blue Devils miss on the way to the end zone for what appeared to be a 28-yard TD catch and run, but a flag negated the play.
On the following snap, Gray led Cheers to the post of the south end zone for the game’s first score, a breathtaking 33yard TD toss that gave the hosts a 6-0 lead with 5:26 remaining in the first quarter. The lead was 8-0 when Gray connected with Cheers again for the two-point conversion. That score doubled as the tally after one quarter of play.
Marion’s first drive of the second quarter was seeped in toughness. The Pats took over at the West Memphis 20-yard line. Thirteen plays and six minutes, three seconds later, Marion had cashed in when Gray found Cheers from 6 yards out for a 14-0 lead. Gray hit Lewis for the two-point conversion to push the advantage to 16-0 with 4:13 remaining in the first half.
As the offense produced a pair of touchdowns, the Marion defense stonewalled West Memphis in the first half, forcing two of the Pats’ three turnovers before the break. The first turnover came in Marion territory when sophomore defensive back Kendrick Cauley recovered a fumble on the Marion sideline to turn away the Blue Devils. Senior cornerback JaKobe Smith came up with the Pats’ second takeaway late in the second quarter when he intercepted a deep Mills pass to keep the Blue Devils off the scoreboard.
West Memphis scored its first touchdown against Marion with 5:57 left in the third quarter when Mills ran 8 yards for a score, but Cheers maintained a 16-6 lead for Marion when he intercepted Mills’ two-point pass, and the game moved into the fourth quarter with Marion leading 16-6.
Cheers played most of the defensive snaps at cornerback against West Memphis, helping the Patriot defense limit Mills to 11/23 passing for 146 yards and two interceptions.
The Marion offense struggled to relaunch after the break, largely due to five penalties for 40 yards stalling those drives out.
“We would have probably been better off without the 400 yards in penalties,” joked Clark after the game. “But our kids really fought back and persevered in a big way to beat a good team.”
West Memphis embarked on an 11-play, 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter, cashing in when Mills hit Greer for a 15-yard score, but the Marion defense again denied the Blue Devils on the two-point try to keep the score 16-12.
“The difference in the game was literally the two-point conversions,” said Clark. “We scored two touchdowns, they scored two touchdowns. We got both two-pointers, and they didn’t get one.”
Marion has primarily gone for two-point conversions following touchdowns the past two weeks in the absence of senior kicker Ben Cherry.
Marion penetrated West Memphis territory on its final drive, but a bad snap cost the Pats 11 yards on third down to force a Marion punt. West Memphis took over at its own 40-yard line with 3:25 left to try and maneuver into position to win the game.
The Blue Devils moved into Marion territory without ever having to complete a pass to set up first and 10 at the Marion 15-yard line with under a minute remaining to set up the final, frantic sequence.
“Our defense was outstanding,” said Clark. “We made some mistakes here and there, and maybe we wilted a little bit late because we were tired. But on the whole, the defense was excellent. We’ve come a long way on defense since Benton, and we need to continue to improve, but tonight was really good.”
Gray completed nine of 14 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns against West Memphis, while Cheers snagged four passes for 80 yards. Sophomore tailback Jalen Smith carried 20 times for 121 yards.
Weatherspoon racked up 15 tackles against West Memphis, including three behind the line of scrimmage. Jerrimiah Nichols finished with 11 stops, while Carter Waldo checked in with eight tackles. Martaveon Banks stacked seven stops and intercepted a West Memphis pass in the third period.
Home sweet home
Marion improved to 8-2 at home on the field under Clark, who’s in his second season. The Patriots finished 5-1 a season ago at Premier Bank Stadium, with their only loss coming to eventual Class 4A state champion Joe T. Robinson. Marion would later forfeit its season-opening 24-21 conquest of Class 5A power Wynne.
The Pats this season own home victories over defending Class 6A state champ El Dorado, Jacksonville, and now West Memphis. Benton dealt Marion a home loss on September 30. The Pats close their regular-season home schedule on October 28 when they host Sylvan Hills for Senior Night.
Down to the wire
Friday’s victory was the first for Marion against West Memphis in a one-score game after the Blue Devils won the first five contests decided by eight points or fewer.
We’re going streaking
Marion has now won 11 of its last 15 games under Clark. The Patriots started 2-3 last season before winning six of seven down the stretch to reach the semifinals for the third time ever, and the second year in a row.
To be the man …
Marion’s victory earned the Patriots the Fred Leonard State Farm Hometown Showdown championship belt, which Leonard presented to the winning team on the field following the game. It’s the first season that the belt has been awarded.
Pennant chase
As the leaves change, the 6A East conference title hunt begins to take shape, and it seems as though Marion will have a say in how this league winds up.
The Pats currently boast a 5-1 league mark following the West Memphis victory, and Marion owns head-to-head tiebreakers over likely playoff teams El Dorado and West Memphis. Benton and Marion are tied for second place in the league, but the Panthers own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Marion by virtue of a 55-13 victory two weeks ago. Marion closes with a road trip to Sheridan (2-5, 2-4) this week, followed by a home date with Sylvan Hills (2-5, 2-4) on October 28. The Pats conclude their regular season on November 4 with a trip to league-leading Little Rock Catholic (7-0, 6-0) at War Memorial Stadium.
Should the Pats win out, they would earn at least a share of the 6A East conference title, though their seeding would depend on other outcomes. Marion has shared two conference titles in school history (1984 and 2006).
WEEK 7 6A EAST RESULTS
Marion 16, West Memphis 12 Benton 68, Jacksonville 18 El Dorado 38, Sheridan 7 Searcy 58, Greene County Tech 19 LR Catholic 24, Sylvan Hills 14 6A EAST STANDINGS
LR Catholic…………………………………….. 6-0 (75) Benton…………………………………………… 5-1 (65) Marion…………………………………………… 5-1 (47) West Memphis……………………………….. 4-2 (40) El Dorado……………………………………….. 3-3 (39) Searcy……………………………………………. 2-4 (19) Sheridan………………………………………… 2-4 (17) Sylvan Hills………………………………………. 2-4 (6) Greene County Tech………………………… 1-5 (13) Jacksonville……………………………………… 0-6 (0) WEEK 8 6A EAST SCHEDULE
Marion at Sheridan Benton at Searcy LR Catholic at Jacksonville El Dorado at Sylvan Hills Greene County Tech at West Memphis
