Marion first-year head coach Claude Johnson could not wait for the kickoff of last Friday night's AAA benefit scrimmage against 6A West power Mountain Home inside Southern Bancorp Stadium.
The result was certainly worth the wait, as was the process to arrive there.
Marion topped Mountain Home 14-10 in a scrimmage that featured projected starters and key backups playing the first half (Marion led 7-3 at halftime). The third quarter featured the rest of the players from the two-deep, and the fourth quarter was for younger players to get action.
“Super proud of our guys for competing and doing most of the things we asked them to do,” said Johnson, who was a record-setting prep quarterback at Pine Bluff High School before going on to direct productive offenses at Little Rock Parkview. “We wanted to operate cleanly. Do our base stuff really well. Just don't make a lot of mistakes. We wanted to win a game, but more than that, we wanted to get lined up, get off the ball, and control what we could control, and we did that almost all night.”
In fact, Marion committed only three penalties against Mountain Home, and only one in the first half, featuring many of the projected starters.
After three three-and-outs to start the game, Marion marched for the game's first touchdown with six seconds left in the first half, hitting paydirt when junior quarterback Dell Pickett hit senior receiver Chase Davis for a touchdown, and the Pats led 7-3 at halftime.
“We drill the heck out of those two-minute situations; we have to,” said Johnson. “We lead practice with it every day, and it's a big difference between winning and losing, and it definitely paid off tonight.”
Marion pushed ahead 14-3 early in the third period when Dadrien Love scored from about eight yards out.
“We think we have four or five guys who can really run the football and help us win,” said Johnson. “Dadrien had a couple of good runs tonight, and on the touchdown, he just kept moving. Offensive line played well tonight, and of course that helps the 'backs.”
Then, it was the Marion defense making the game's final, big play when Neil Rossell intercepted Mountain Home on the game's final snap to clinch the four-point victory.
“We competed on basically every snap tonight; they really flew around,” said Johnson. “But we have to keep building on this. It's a good start, but we are in no way where we want to be yet.”
Marion officially opens its 2026 season at 7 p.m. on Friday at Wynne in a game that you can watch for free on the MPAN YouTube channel