BUENA VISTA — Friday night’s match-up between the Marion County Eagles and the Charlton County Indians was supposed to be a tough test of two high powered offenses and two smothering defenses. Unfortunately for the Indians of Charlton, Marion County was the only team on the field that excelled in both aspects of the game, and when all was said and done the Eagles claimed the school’s first second round playoff victory and moved to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history.

Charlton received the ball to open the game and quickly began moving in the wrong direction. DeQueszman Kelly sacked Indian quarterback Trae Harrington on the first offensive play of the game, and the Indians followed with three straight incompletions to give the Eagles offense the ball.

On their first offensive play, James Taylor would fumble the ball at the Eagles own 32 yard line to give the Indians great field position. Charlton would capitalize on the turnover with a five play, 32 yard drive capped off by a pass from Harrington to Curtis Nixon for a touchdown. The Indians would miss the extra point, but still take an early 6-0 lead in Buena Vista.

The Eagles would be stopped once again on their second offensive possession, but a huge 63 yard punt from A.J. Wells would pin the Indians inside of their own five yard line. The Eagle defense would bend a little before forcing an Indian punt, which was fair caught by Lorenzo Smothers at midfield. After a six play drive, Wells would put the Eagles first points on the board with a 22 yard field goal to make the score 6-3.

Charlton would start a long drive on their next possession, but Smothers would intercept a pass from Harrington to give the Eagles offense the ball once again. After  forcing Marion to punt again, the Indians would begin another solid drive before Keon Dixon would pick off Harrington in the Eagles end zone and return the ball to the Marion 39 to end another Charlton scoring threat.

Marion would get their first touchdown on a third and long 30 yard touchdown pass from DeMarquez Mallard to Johnny Royal with only 1:19 remaining in the first half. Wells’ extra point would make the Eagle lead 10-6, where it would remain until the halftime break.

The second half would be all Eagles as they outscored Charlton 21-6 to take the dominating victory.

Marion started the half with a fumbled snap to give the Indians the ball back early in the third quarter. The two teams’ defenses would hold tight, however, as the offenses were forced to trade punts on their next offensive possessions.

The biggest play of the game would come early in the third quarter with Charlton driving on Marion County. On fourth down, Harrington attempted to scramble to escape the Eagles defensive pressure. Terence Riley tracked down the Indian quarterback and stripped the ball for a fumble. Brandon Green picked up the loose ball and sprinted 62 yards down the middle of the field for an Eagle touchdown to shift the momentum and stretch his team’s lead to 17-6.

The Eagles defense would take over again and stop Charlton on fourth down to on back-to-back possessions to crush the Indians comeback hopes. Mallard would cap off a five play drive with a three yard touchdown run with 6:35 left in the game to lengthen the Eagle lead to 24-6.

The Indians would get another touchdown with 3:28 left in the game on a pass from Harrington to Julian Roberts, but  Taylor would answer with a 27 yard touchdown run for Marion County to make the lead 31-12, where it would stay until the end of the game.

Taylor made up for his early fumble with a huge night for the Eagles. He rushed for 171 yards to set up several Eagle scores while finishing the night with one touchdown. Mallard led the way through the air for the Marion, finishing four-for-six with 75 yards and a touchdown.

On defense, the Eagles were led by Keon Dixon who finished with 12 tackles and the crucial interception. Dixon was followed by Riley with nine tackles and Green who added nine tackles to his fumble recovery for a touchdown. Smothers also had seven tackles along with his drive-stopping interception.

For Marion County head coach Mike Swaney, this win is a huge step for the Eagle football program. “They (Charlton) have got four state championships since 99’, and when I came here we said that we wanted to play those people. We wanted to play the Charltons and the Clinchs and the ECIs. We want to play with the big boys,” he said.

“Our guys realized the tradition of Charlton, but they were not afraid. That’s what makes me proud of them. I can take them anywhere and play and we are going to play hard for 48 minutes no matter who we are playing. We may not come out on top, but we are going to play you hard for 48 minutes.”

The Eagles will face another Region 2-A power next Friday night in the quarterfinals when they travel to Wilcox County to take on the Patriots in third round action. The Patriots will bring a 9-2 record into the contest, with one of their losses coming at the hands of Charlton County. Marion County also brings a 9-2 record into the battle following their huge win on Friday night over the Indians. The Patriots are on a seven game winning streak, but Marion County will be one of the toughest teams they have played this season. The quarterfinal match-up is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Wilcox.