Changes pay off for Marion

Marion Coach Lance Clark and offensive coordinator Zach Tribble worked with a tight deadline on Oct. 21.

It was the day before the Patriots’ game against Pine Bluff, and Marion quarterback Ben Gerrard underwent an MRI on his knee, which he’d injured the week prior in a 36-7 loss to El Dorado. Clark and Tribble figured their starter would take the field against the Zebras, with the possibility of going to their backup, Ashton Gray, but an MRI revealed that Gerrard wouldn’t be able to play.

So, with their starter sidelined, the coaches had to adjust a day before kickoff.

“The philosophy didn’t change,” Clark said. “It’s just, we package things in a way that’s a little different and gives us a little more creativity and big-play ability. Certainly the big plays have come around a lot more since we made some adjustments.”

Marion went on to beat Pine Bluff 38-24, with Gray turning in a 113-yard night. Running back Cameron Anderson rushed for 134 yards, marking the third time he’d gone over the 100-yard mark to that point this year.

The big plays haven’t stopped since, as the Patriots are on a five-game winning streak. They hit a notable point Friday with a 59-37 playoff win on the road against No. 1 seed Benton, generating a season-high 611 yards in the process.

Marion, which has been a pass-happy program in the past, has seen a shift under its first-year head coach, generating 1,771 of its 3,033 regular-season yards on the ground. However, it generated just under half of its rush yards in its last three regular-season games.

“It was a little bit of a simplification,” Clark said. “A little bit of a change in tone, as much as anything, with more motions, and shifts, and moving pieces around, and trying to keep the game going side-to-side a little more, and keep the eye candy going for the offense.”

Clark gave a lot of credit to Tribble, too, who’s been at Marion for three seasons prior to his arrival.

“A lot of what we’re doing was not initially what he would have planned to do last spring,” Clark said. “But he’s taken it and run, and he’s really done a great job for us [of] adapting it and taking it places that I didn’t foresee it being able to go.”

The Patriots weren’t able to get Gerrard back until their regular-season finale against Jonesboro, but they made a point to keep him in the same offense against the Hurricane and it proved fruitful. Marion generated 578 yards in a 50-43 win, setting what was then a season-high. It also notched regular season-highs of 304 rush yards and 274 pass yards.

Gerrard and Anderson have kept pace with those numbers. In a 45-21 first-round win against Russellville, Gerrard passed for 234 yards and a touchdown, and Anderson rushed for 240 yards and four scores. The duo combined for 579 of Marion’s 611 yards Friday, with Gerrard totaling a season-high 426 yards and 5 touchdowns.

The Patriots will get a crack at El Dorado in the Class 6A semifinals this coming Friday.

Stout defense

Class 7A No. 1 seed Fayetteville pulled off perhaps the most impressive comeback of the season in its 34-27 win against No. 4 seed Cabot on Friday.

The offense was impressive — scoring 28 unanswered points and generating 229 of its 467 yards in the comeback from the time the Panthers scored their last points — but the defense was equally notable.

From the time Cabot scored its last points, the Panthers were held scoreless on nine drives and they generated just 34 yards. They ran 27 plays after their final points, with 14 of them going for no gain and another three going for negative yards.

It was a stark contrast from what Cabot had put together, as it had 347 yards to that point. It had also scored on four of its five drives to jump out to the 27-6 lead.

PA still passing

Pulaski Academy’s high-flying attack was somewhat held in check in its first playoff game against Harrison. The Bruins held on to win 36-21 but — in their most narrow victory of the year — they were held to a season-low 241 pass yards. Quarterback Charlie Fiser turned in that total on 26-of-34 passing with 2 touchdowns.

That wasn’t the case Friday, as the Bruins had another big passing night, finishing with 445 yards the air and 5 touchdowns in defeating Magnolia 56-25. Fiser had 357 of those yards and 4 touchdowns.

The yardage total was Pulaski Academy’s fifthhighest of the year.

Nearly flawless

Donovan Whitten has been Arkadelphia’s passing game all season, coming into his team’s matchup with Southside Batesville on Friday 11th in the state in passing yards. The Badgers came out on top, and they did so with a highly effective night from Whitten.

The junior finished 8-of9 passing for 223 yards and 5 touchdowns in the 51-20 win, averaging 27.9 yards per completion.

Whitten now has 2,883 passing yards this year and he’s thrown for 36 touchdowns.