Marion Co. Comeback Stops Silverdale In 52-12 Romp

The Marion County Warriors are playing pretty good football these days.

The Warriors played at Silverdale on Friday night and they were quite impressive as they surrendered an early touchdown before scoring 31 unanswered points en route to a 52-12 victory over the scrappy Seahawks in a key Region 3-AA contest.

The Warriors are now 7-1 overall and alone in first place in region play with five wins and no losses.  Silverdale is now 5-2 overall and 2-2 in region play.

The Marion County offense was clicking on all cylinders as they finished the evening with 458 yards, including 285 on the ground and another 173 through the air.

The Warrior defense was pretty stout as well as they limited the Seahawks to 212 total yards, including just 94 in the second half.  Marion’s run defense was especially impressive as Silverdale had a negative 17 yards on 15 rushing attempts with nine plays where the runner was tackled for a loss.

“I’m so happy that we control our own destiny, but we were able to match their effort and intensity.  That touchdown right before the half and that long kickoff return in the third were also big,” said Marion County coach Joey Mathis after the game ended.

“We preach playing situational football with the goal of winning every play and we try to not look at the scoreboard because we’ll miss something important if we get sidetracked.  But Silverdale is a much improved football team and we’re just thankful to be headed home with another region win,” he added.

The Seahawks took the opening kickoff and promptly marched 80 yards in nine plays for the first touchdown of the game with just over three minutes elapsed.

It was a well-executed drive that included a 16-yard gain on a double reverse by Garet Gibson and another 24-yard run on the next play by Josiah Cannon, but it was a perfectly-thrown pass from quarterback Alex Gonzalez to Christian Rogers on a rollout to the left that covered the final 18 yards for the game’s first score.

Nothing came that easy the rest of the night for the host Seahawks.

The Warriors answered with three touchdowns and a field goal for a 24-6 lead at the half before adding four more TDs in the third stanza to win going away.

Senior Hunter McClain was the biggest thorn in Silverdale’s side as he scored three touchdowns in the game, the first on an eight-yard run near the end of the first quarter and the second two on long passes, the first covering 33 yards early in the quarter and a second on an 81-yard screen pass where he caught the ball along the Silverdale sideline and then just outraced the Seahawk defender to the goal, using a perfectly-timed stiff arm at the end to prevent a last-second tackle.

“I felt like I’d be open on that play if coach Mathis could call it and I was.  I was pretty sure the defender would catch me and that’s when I used the stiff arm,” said McClain afterward.

“I wasn’t sure I could score on that play, but I was certain I could get the first down.  This may be one of my best games this year,” he concluded with a smile.

That final TD came on a critical third-and-15 and ended up being the final score of the game with 28.8 seconds left in the third quarter.

“All I can say is how proud I am of those guys as we played our hearts out tonight,” said Silverdale coach Al Rogers following the game.

“I know we made some key mistakes and shot ourselves in the foot at times, but that final score doesn’t indicate the effort we put forth tonight.  Marion County is the best team in the state in my opinion and they made some key adjustments as several big plays went their way.

“We have a bunch of guys who go both ways and we got worn down in the second half, but we deserve some respect too.  We still have work to do, but I feel like we can win out and I hope we get to see Meigs and Marion again on down the road,” Rogers added.

The Warriors dominated the line of scrimmage in the first half when they averaged over seven yards per carry with 218 yards on 30 attempts.  They didn’t run as much in the second half, but they didn’t have to after getting a long 92-yard kickoff return from Hunter Zeman and those two long touchdown passes from Isaah Sampson to McClain.

Jacob Saylors, who scored Marion’s second touchdown on a 50-yard run, led the ground attack with 89 yards on eight carries, all in the first half.  McClain had 83 yards on 14 attempts while Zeman was also significant with 82 yards on nine trips.

Sampson completed six of 13 passes for 173 yards with the only two catches in the second by McClain covering 114 yards.

Marion kicker Houston McElroy had a productive night as he made all seven conversion kicks as well as a 27-yard field goal in the second quarter.

Silverdale finished with 212 yards, including 170 through the air and 42 on the ground.

Gonzalez did an impressive job throwing the football as he was under constant pressure in the second half, but he was able to complete five of nine passes for 62 yards and 121 for the game.

The biggest pass play came in the Seahawks first possession of the second half when Rogers rifled a 49-yard pass to Alex Burks to make the score 31-12 with 8:46 left in the third quarter.

Burks had five grabs for 81 yards while Rogers had two for 31 yards and Hayden Spencer three grabs for 26 yards.

The Seahawks had two turnovers, including an interception by Marion’s Zeman in the first half and a fumble midway through the third stanza.

The Warriors took advantage of that last one immediately as Zeman raced 25 yards on the next play for a 45-12 Marion advantage.

Marion County also won the first down battle by a 17-11 margin.

The Warriors will be at home next Friday to host Bledsoe County while Silverdale will also be at home next week to entertain the Brainerd Panthers.

MARION COUNTY  7  17  28  0  --  52

SILVERDALE  6  0  6  0  --  12

SBA – Christian Rogers 18 pass from Alex Gonzalez (kick failed), 8:53 left in first;

MAR – Hunter McClain 8 run (Houston McElroy kick), 0:27.6 left in first;

MAR – McElroy 27 field goal, 7:29 left in second;

MAR – Jacob Saylors 50 run (McElroy kick), 5:05 left in second;

MAR – Isaah Sampson 1 run (McElroy kick), 0:14.6 left in second;

MAR – McClain 33 pass from Sampson (McElroy kick), 8:46 left in third;

SBA – Alex Burks 49 pass from Rogers (pass failed), 8:46 left in third;

MAR – Hunter Zeman 92 kickoff return (McElroy kick), 8:31 left in third;

MAR – Zeman 25 run (McElroy kick), 8:15 left in third;

MAR – McClain 81 pass from Sampson (McElroy kick), 0:28.8 left in third.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)