HICO — You’d think that nobody would be happier to see Mount Hope’s Da’Von Marion graduate than Midland Trail coach Joe Dean.

In the latest — and final, barring a playoff matchup — chapter, Marion rushed for 239 yards and three touchdowns as Mount Hope outran its Fayette County rival 46-7 Friday night.

“He’s a rugged back,” Dean said. “He’s good for Fayette County. He’s legitimate, and if people think Mount Hope isn’t for real, well, they’re fooling themselves.”

Marion set the tone early with a pair of first-quarter scores, and the Mustangs (5-0) capitalized on three Trail turnovers to put the game out of question early.

Mount Hope led 24-0 at the half.

“We came into this game with a lot of anticipation,” Mount Hope coach Eddie Souk said. “We thought we could do some things against Trail. And everything we thought we could do, we did it.”

One of those was to go to Marion early and often.

After holding Trail to a three-and-out, Mount Hope drove 67 yards, with Marion going the final 14 yards to paydirt. Marion’s two-point conversion made it 8-0.

After Kyle James intercepted a Nathan Syner pass, Marion went 62 yards for a touchdown.

On the play, Marion darted through a hole, broke a couple tackles and outran the Trail secondary, including a pair of defenders who appeared to have the angle on the Mount Hope senior.

“It was a straight iso-dive,” Marion said. “I broke a couple of tackles and took it outside. I heard my teammates to the sideline screaming, ‘Turn it on, turn it on,’ so I did.”

Marion had 166 yards at the break.

James ran in the two-point conversion, making it 16-0.

After a Trail fumble, recovered by Mount Hope’s Chris Thompson, the Mustangs took advantage of the short field, with Ryan Lester taking it in from eight yards out. The Mustangs made it 3-for-3 on two-point conversions when James found Eric Canaday, making it 24-0.

“They’re a physical football team,” Marion said of his success against Trail, which includes a 299-yard game in a loss last year. “I was able to see my holes, and we executed really well, which is a credit to my teammates. They are a big part of my success.”

Mount Hope took the second-half kickoff and finished off a 6-play drive with a Marion 14-yard run.

A Mount Hope turnover led to Midland Trail’s lone score. After Cody O’Dell recovered a Marion fumble, Trail went 61 yards, Jake Crist scoring from five yards out.

Midland Trail repaid the miscue, turning the ball over early in the fourth quarter and James made the Patriots pay with a 5-yard touchdown run.

Adam Lowe scored Mount Hope’s final touchdown late in the game on a 37-yard run.

“My hat’s off to Trail because they are a physical team,” Souk said. “But I thought we executed well on defense tonight. We got an interception and we put the pads on them to cause some turnovers. They were big.”

“You can’t afford mistakes against a good team,” Dean said. “They’ll make you pay. And Mount Hope made us pay tonight.”

The Mustangs literally outran the Patriots, rushing for 390 yards. They attempted just two passes in the contest.

Big fullback Joe Thornquest had 55 yards on the ground and Lowe added 46, most of that on his touchdown run.

Crist led Midland Trail with 73 yards on 19 attempts. Syner completed just 3-of-10 passing for 25 yards, a week after throwing four touchdowns in the first half of a loss to Point Pleasant.

Mount Hope goes to Valley next Friday for another Fayette County rivalry game. Midland Trail is off next week before facing Sherman.



Mount Hope 46, Midland Trail 7

MH (5-0) 16 8 6 16 — 46

MT (3-3) 0 0 7 0 — 7

First Quarter

MH: Da’Von Marion 14 run (Marion run), 6:29

MH: Marion 62 run (Kyle James run), 2:46

Second Quarter

MH: Ryan Lester 6 run (Eric Canaday pass from James), 11:24

Third Quarter

MH: Marion 14 run (pass failed), 9:35

MT: Jake Crist 5 run (Will Deskins kick), 1:35

Fourth Quarter

MH: Kyle James 5 run (Marion run), 7:52

MH: Adam Lowe 37 run (Emmitt James run), 3:42

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — MH: Marion 22-239-3, Joe Thornquest 13-55, Josh Criss 6-13, Ryan Lester 5-19-1, James 2-9-1, Robert Puckett 2-4, Adam Lowe 3-46, Emmitt James 2-2, Cameron Gray 1-13. MT: Kelly Minter 4-14, Jake Crist 19-73, Jesse Smith 1-0, Aaron Shrewsbury 5-20, Jayme Gray 4-14, Marshall Wood 1-7, Casey Deskins 1-4.

PASSING — MH: James 0-1-0-0-0, Marion 0-1-0-0-0. MT: Nathan Syner 3-10-1-25-0.

RECEIVING — MH: none. MT: Dustyn Kessler 1-11, Coty Pierson 1-12, Will Deskins 1-2.

TURNOVERS — MH: James (int), Chris Thompson (FR), Chris Holley (FR). MT: O’Dell (FR).