Tigers hold on after Patriots fumble

One Marion player outgained Little Rock Central by himself, but one early turnover helped it edge Marion 14-6 on Friday night.

Central recorded two takeaways, but it was the first turnover in the first half that gave Central a lead it wouldn’t give up. With Marion backed up in its own territory, Central’s Michael Leiterman returned an interception 18 yards to the Marion 4, two players later Josh Cole scored on a sneak to give Central a lead and it eventually held on despite gaining 206 total yards at Quigley-Cox Stadium.

“That was big. I thought our defense did a better job in the second half,” Central Coach Ellis “Scooter” Register said. “They have a lot of team speed over there, and we had to adjust, but it seemed like we caught up a bit in the second half.”

Darius Lathon rushed for 265 yards for the Patriots, who gained 388 total yards. But the Patriots (4-5, 1-5) were held scoreless on two of their three possessions inside the Tigers’ 20yard line. Marion had seven dropped passes, including one in the end zone in the third quarter.

“I’ve got to do a better job of letting them know the importance of dropped passes and fumbles,” Marion Coach Jed Davis said. “Games are won and lost on the turnover margin and inside the red zone. We can say that we dominated in yardage, but we didn’t get it done in the red zone.”

Central (3-6, 3-3) pushed ahead 14-0 after completing a six-play, 54-yard drive that was capped off by a Richard Hayes 13-yard touchdown run with 3:30 left in the game.

Marion would score on its final possession when Holmes found Collin Chambers from nine yards out, but the Patriots didn’t recover the ensuing onside kick and Central posted one first down to run the clock out.