Marion leads Mustangs past Bobcats 26-21

By Randall Jett

MOUNT HOPE — In his first start at tailback, Mount Hope’s Davon Marion put on a show. The junior runner pounded through the Summers County defense for 229 yards and two scores and returned a kickoff 90 yards to lead the Mustangs to a 26-21 victory Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

“We moved the football, but we couldn’t tackle 21,” Bobcats coach Stan Duncan said. “That’s all you have to put in there — we could not tackle 21.”

That “No. 21” was Marion, who shredded through the Bobcats’ defense for scoring runs of 42 and 39 yards.

“They didn’t have but 11 bodies to play and they only had one football player,” Duncan said. “But he’s a helluva football player.

“I scouted him last week and I said, ‘He will be the best football player on the field every time he steps on the field this year,’ and he will. I know who they play. I told our team, ‘We don’t kick to him and we key on him because he is the only guy they’ve got who can beat you.’ We hit him in the backfield with two and three people and he breaks the daggone tackle and squirts out. He’s big and strong and I knew that was going to be the test — if we could tackle him or not. We couldn’t tackle him.”

Most of Marion’s yardage was racked up after first contact with the defense.

“His YAC (yards after contact) tonight was great,” Mustangs coach Eddie Souk said. “He did a good job gaining yards after contact. He did a tremendous job for us. We knew he was going to step up and be a man tonight and he did that. Our other kids stepped up and played big too on the defensive side at the end of the ball game.”

The Mustangs took the opening kickoff and marched down the field. Marion shouldered most of the load, carrying the ball on six of the seven plays in the 77-yard drive. Marion would sweep around right end and race to the end zone for a 6-0 advantage.

Summers County answered with a nine-play, 71 yard scoring drive. Quarterback Timmy Wynes punched the ball in from the one-yard line to tie the contest 6-6.

Marion then put the first nail in Summers County’s coffin, returning the ensuing kick 90 yards.

Mount Hope would engineer one last scoring drive before the half to go up 20-6. Quarterback Kyle James would finish the drive with an 8-yard TD plunge off a roll-out to the right corner.

The heat and humidity began to affect both squads early in the second half.

“It was tough on both sides,” Souk said. “They were a little bit deeper than we were. They were able to take it to us a little bit in the second half and our kids just stepped up and refused to lose there at the end of it.”

Summers County got back into the contest with 37-yard TD run by Zeb Mills at the 4:55 mark of the third quarter. Mills would finish with 117 yards on 18 carries.

Marion would answer with his second touchdown run at the 4:52 mark of the fourth to seemingly put the game away, but the Bobcats still had some fight in them.

Mark Stiltner would snake his way across the width of the field from the right sideline to the left after catching a 5-yard dump pass from Wynes and go 63 yards for the score.

“We had a lot of kids play hard, but yeah, (Stiltner) made two big plays,” Duncan said. “He made a heck of a play on that little out pass. He caught it, reversed field and made a heck of a run. I guess I should have found some way to get the ball to him more.”

Mount Hope appeared to have the game in hand, but a James fumble would give Summers County one last shot at the win.

The Mustangs’ first-team all state defensive lineman, Joe Thornquest, put an end to the Bobcats’ hopes, though, with a sack of Wynes to close the game.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Summers County, but we’re so daggone green,” Souk said. “We made so many mistakes. We had so many penalties of delay of game because of personnel changes and this and that. A win is a win. As young as these kids are, it’s a great win.”

— E-mail:

rjett@register-herald.com

Mount Hope 26, Summers County 21

SC (0-1) 6 0 8 8 — 21

MH (1-0) 12 8 0 6 — 26

First Quarter

MH — Davon Marion 42 run (pass failed) 8:12

SC — Timmy Wynes 1 run (kick blocked) 4:33

MH — Marion 90 kick return (run fail) 4:18

Second Quarter

MH — Kyle James 8 run (Marion run) 0:08

Third Quarter

SC — Zeb Mills 37 run (Wynes run) 4:55

Fourth Quarter

MH — Marion 39 run (pass fail) 4:52

SC — Mark Stiltner 63 pass from Wynes (Wynes kick) 4:23

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — SC: Mills 18-117-1, Wynes 13-13-1, Stiltner 1-2, Jimmy Adkins 1-27. MH: Marion 32-229-2, Ryan Lester 8-30, Josh Criss 3-14, Joe Thornquest 2-9, James 3-4-1.

PASSING — SC: Wynes 4-15-0-121-1. MH: James 1-3-0-3-0.

RECEIVING — SC: Stiltner 1-63-1, Brandon Plumley 2-28, Adkins 1-30. MH: Thornquest 1-3.

TURNOVERS — SC: Stiltner (fr). MH: Kris Holley (fr).