Patriots set to face familiar foe in Sylvan Hills tonight

Marion no strangers to longtime 6A conference rivals

Marion School District A lack of quality depth at key positions has sunk many schools’ ships in high school football.

So imagine Marion head football coach Lance Clark’s consternation entering play last Friday night at Sheridan.

Clark knew that his troops would be without standout linebacker Dewayne Williams in County due to a finger injury.

The situation worsened late in the second quarter when inside ‘backer and leading tackler Brian Weatherspoon left the game with an ongoing thigh injury.

How could the Patriots possibly survive a pair of key injuries to key players again?

No sweat.

Marion got good play from juniors Javen Griffin and Victor Turner and sophomores Jaron Davis and Carter Moore as the Patriot defense allowed just one touchdown in a 43-7 road victory.

“We’re really deep at linebacker, and it’s a good thing,” said Clark. “We knew we had some dudes there, we just hadn’t seen it for a lot of reasons, but we’ve seen it now, and it’s really encouraging.”

Marion coaches know what they have in Weatherspoon and classmate Carter Waldo, who have been stalwarts for the Marion defense for the past three seasons. Waldo is the school’s first four-year starter that anyone associated with the program can remember, and though he missed three games earlier this fall, he’s one of the unit’s top playmakers.

Weatherspoon has started 27 straight games at linebacker, and he paces the Pats this fall with 68 tackles, 10 behind the line, including three sacks.

Griffin shifted during the off-season from defensive end to linebacker, but he exited fall camp as a projected starter before an injury cost him the first three games of the season and he’s tried to keep his spot in the rotation since doctors cleared him. Turner has started five this year at linebacker, and he currently sits second on the Marion tackle chart with 61 stops.

Williams locked a starting linebacker slot prior to Marion’s August scrimmage game at Maumelle, and despite switching from outside ‘backer to Star, he’s currently third on the team with 50 tackles and an interception.

“‘Spoon has had a great career here at Marion, and he played his best game by far against West Memphis (13 tackles),” said the coach. “D. Will has probably been our best overall linebacker this year. He’s done a nice job of about everything. He’s just extremely smart and gets us lined up, and his ball skills are really good.

Waldo is an explosive athlete who brings knowledge to us.”

Moore has seen plenty of action this year late in blowouts, racking up nine tackles in addition to becoming the team’s deep snapper late in September.

Davis missed most of the off-season with various maladies but was finally able to go at Sheridan and he logged 11 tackles, including one behind the line of scrimmage.

“Those guys all bring something to the table,” said Clark. “They can all improve on some things, but they can all do things that we can accent and build off of moving forward.”

Marion’s linebacker depth comes to the forefront this week when the Patriots host Sylvan Hills on Friday night for a 7 p.m. Kickoff at Premier Bank Stadium.

That contest will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com/broadcasts and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network mobile app.

Marion leads the all-time series against Sylvan Hills 4-3, but the Bears bested the Pats 24-10 last fall, and Sylvan Hills eliminated Marion from the 2018 playoffs with a 17-14 conquest in Marion.

The Flexbone-based Bears present difficulties with veteran coach Chris Hill, and motivation will be even higher this week.

“Sylvan Hills is playing for its playoff lives,” said Clark. “I don’t see how they can lose this game and still find their way into the playoffs. It’s a dangerous

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Photo by Chuck Livingston PATRIOTS (cont.)

situation to face a team that is desperate to win, that needs a win, and that’s playing better as it gets healthier. We need to take this game very seriously.”

A quick glance at the playoff picture confirms Clark’s claim. Sylvan Hills is currently tied with Searcy and Sheridan with identical 2-5 league marks, but the Bears are on the short end based on tiebreaker points. The top six teams from the 6A East qualify for the playoffs.

It’s been an interesting three-year run for Sylvan Hills under Hill, who took over prior to the 2020 season. Hill’s first group finished 9-4 and won the school’s first conference title since 2004 and lost a one-point decision in the semifinals to Lake Hamilton. The 2021 Bears finished 7-4 but lost their first-round playoff game at home by seven points to Mountain Home.

Sylvan Hills started 0-4 this season, but the Bears competed well three weeks ago in a 24-14 loss at league-leading Little Rock Catholic and last week against defending state champion El Dorado in a 37-19 defeat. Dylan Harris rushed last week for 144 yards in the El Dorado defeat.

“They’ve gotten much healthier on defense and are just playing better all the way around,” said the coach. “We weren’t proud of how we played at their place last year, and we feel like we have something to prove. So this is a big PATRIOTS (cont.)

opportunity for us.”

Marion’s 43-7 victory a week ago at Sheridan established the school record for conference victories in a season with six.

The Pats have four times finished 5-2 in league play, but with the expanded league slate this season, Marion looks to shatter that mark.

It’s very likely that Marion will know the stakes of its big Week 10 game at Little Rock Catholic by the end of the evening this week.

LR Catholic currently leads the 6A East with a flawless 7-0 record, but the Rockets travel this week to El Dorado before finishing with Marion next week.

Benton boasts a 6-1 mark with its only loss to LR Catholic in September, and the Panthers have the headto- head tiebreaker on Marion by virtue of a 5513 victory in Week 5.

Should El Dorado beat LR Catholic this week, Marion

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would play the Rockets on November 4 at War Memorial Stadium for a share of the 6A East title and a first-round playoff bye and subsequent home quarterfinal game.

Marion has likely clinched at least one home playoff game with its hot start in league play. Marion has hosted at least one playoff game every year since 2016.

Prior to 2016, Marion had not hosted a playoff game since beating Benton 42-33 in 2011.

The Patriots are 8-2 at Premier Bank Stadium under Coach Lance Clark.

Marion 43, Sheridan 7 El Dorado 37, Sylvan Hills 19 Benton 62, Searcy 28 LR Catholic 42, Jacksonville 6 West Memphis 42, Greene County Tech 29

LR Catholic 7-0 88 Marion 6-1 60 Benton 6-1 78 West Memphis 5-2 53 El Dorado 4-3 52 Searcy 2-5 19 Sheridan 2-5 17 Sylvan Hills 2-5 6 Greene County Tech 1-6 13 Jacksonville 0-7 0

Sylvan Hills at Marion West Memphis at Benton LR Catholic at El Dorado Sheridan at Greene County Tech Jacksonville at Searcy