Marion caps spring tonight with scrimmage

Marion caps spring tonight with scrimmage

Admission free to everyone starting at 5: 30 p. m.

Sports Editor Marion’s annual spring game will feature something for everyone tonight, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The event will feature a bouncy castle, barbecue plates for $5 and free admission to any and all football fans, and will be fun for all ages.

For Marion head coach Jed Davis, the hoopla around the game, as well as the contest itself, is all by design.

“Our goal from the time we got here is to make the game a little bit bigger each year,” said Davis, in his third year at Marion.

“The game itself isn’t really important. It’s more like a special event to say that the offseason is done.

We’re not using this game for a ton of evaluation purposes, we know what they can do, we just want to have fun, let the kids put on the jerseys, maybe get the community involved.

That sort of thing, and we’re excited about it.”

Marion was 5-7 overall last season, but posted its first postseason win since 2010 in the opening round of the playoffs on the road against Lake Hamilton.

The Pats saw their season end in the Class 6A quarterfinals against the eventual Class 6A runners-up Greenwood on the road.

The added events to the Marion spring game were added in hopes that the game itself would appeal to more people, preferably families.

“This is really the kickoff for football season for us,” Davis explains. “We want to get people involved in our Quarterback Club.

Spring sports are over at this point. We want to have little kids excited about football season and the peewee camp that we have. We want it to get bigger and better every year, and we feel like we’ve done that so far.”

While Marion’s spring scrimmage will be an intrasquad event this season, Davis went on to say that he wouldn’t mind seeing another team across from his one day in the future.

“What would be the harm in us scrimmaging Paragould or Greene County Tech?” asks Davis.

“You know, they’re done with spring practice, we’re done with spring practice. I think it would be great, and it would add some motivation in for our kids, as well.”

Marion graduated a lot of heroes from last season’s team, but they also return key players such as Tom Young, Michael McNeeley, K.B. Williams and Collin Chambers. For Davis, the spring is a time to see who’s ready to step up and make plays for his team on Friday nights, and who isn’t.

“I don’t need to see them with the ball very much,” Davis confirms. “I’m anxious to see some of the younger guys. What are they gonna be like?

Joyrion Chase, Taylor Brown, Malik Talbert, Charles Stokes. You have guys that we haven’t seen in game action and we want to see who’s ready to step up. Defensively, it’s the same deal in that we want to see what Quinton Wilson, Timone Aikens, Tanner King, how’s he gonna come back from an injury? And we’re excited about all of that.”

Perhaps Marion’s biggest loss from last season is quarterback Tyler Holmes, who graduated last night.

In his stead are a pair of rising juniors in Jacob Green and Peyton Walker, who the fans will see a steady diet of on Friday night.

“Right now, it’s basically 50/50,” Davis says of his signal callers. “Basically, one day one of the guys will get first team snaps and the next one the other guy will. This summer at 7-on-7, it’ll be the same deal. In one tournament, one guy will go with the ones and the other will go with the twos. This summer is when they’ll separate themselves, I think.”

Marion’s spring game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. with a 7-on-7 game with the 7th and 8th grades, followed by player introductions and then the senior high game.

Admission is free to everyone.

By Chuck Livingston