Second-half surge lifts Blue Devils

WEST MEMPHIS — West Memphis broke open a tight game with touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half on the way to a 34-21 victory over Marion on Friday at Hamilton-Shultz Field.

The victory was the Blue Devils’ 12th consecutive over the Patriots.

Leading 14-6 at halftime, West Memphis (3-1, 1-0 7A/6A-East) stopped Marion (3-1, 0-1) on its first possession of the third quarter and then pieced together scoring drives of 87 and 37 yards to provide a cushion.

“We were dominating early in the game,” said West Memphis Coach Billy Elmore, “But I was concerned at halftime that we’d lost whatever momentum we’d built up.

“We were more focused at halftime on putting together a three-and-out on defense because we knew what we wanted to do on offense in the second half.”

West Memphis’ 87-yard touchdown drive was highlighted by a 57-yard pass from quarterback Kylin Whiting to Jonathan Craig on the Marion 17. Four plays later Craig scored a 9-yard touchdown for a 21-6 West Memphis lead.

“We were able to get wide in the second half,” Elmore said. “We didn’t really try that in the first half. We just stayed between the tackles.”

Marion quarterback Tyler Holmes, who was 10 of 29 for 124 yards, threw his second interception of the game when Kyren Todd stepped in front of a Marion receiver at the Marion 37.

Whiting, who was 4 of 7 passing for 76 yards, later scored a 1-yard touchdown run to widen the Blue Devil lead to 28-6.

Marion cut that deficit to two touchdowns twice in the second half, but the Blue Devils answered one of those with a 33-yard touchdown by junior running back Martavous Thomas, who rushed for 117 of his 151 yards in the second half.