Bears use long drives to turn back Patriots

SYLVAN HILLS 24, MARION 10

Sylvan Hills limited Marion to seven first downs and recorded four sacks Friday to post a 24-10 victory at Bill Blackwood Field in Sherwood.

Sylvan Hills senior Xavier Okafor rushed seven times for 82 yards and his 5-yard touchdown with 2:01 left clinched the victory for the Bears. Okafor ended an earlier Marion drive in the first half with a sack on third down.

“I thought our defense played really fast and hard tonight,” Sylvan Hills Coach Chris Hill said. “We focused all week long and tweaked our defense a little bit for this game. Our biggest issue is we haven’t been communicating and I think we did a much better job of that tonight.”

Marion (2-3, 1-1 6A-East) scored first on a 23-yard field goal by senior Dylan Pieri which preceded an 80-yard, 20-play Sylvan Hills drive which saw the Bears convert four third downs and a pair of fourth-down attempts. Sylvan Hills scored when fullback Dylan Harris bowled over from a yard out for a 7-3 lead with 10:10 left in the second quarter.

“Our best drive of the year so far,” added Hill.

Sylvan Hills (4-1, 2-0) did not allow a Marion first down the rest of the first half.

The Bears extended their lead to 13-3 when Jashaun Smith ran 44 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter.

Sylvan Hills forced a three and out on Marion’s ensuing drive and milked the clock again with a 60-yard, 14-play drive before Bryan Gonzalez boomed a 37-yard field goal for a 16-3 lead with 38 seconds left in the third quarter.

Marion trimmed the deficit to 16-10 when tailback Cameron Anderson scored from 6 yards out with 8:21 left.

Sylvan Hills’ ensuing drive started at its own 43-yard line following a 34-yard Marquez Goodwin kickoff return. The Bears converted three third downs and a fourth down to set up Okafor’s decisive TD sprint.

Blake Carter logged a sack before Pete Overton intercepted an errant pass to end Marion’s final drive.

“I think the longer we played the more confident we got,” Hill said. “I think tonight is a glimpse of what we can become because we played a pretty good game.”