Plywood_King

4th and 8, Marion punts, down by 28, from the Central 39 yd line, 35 seconds left in the half. Second verse, same as the first.

35-7 Central. 100 yard pick-6 on Marion's 3 int of the half. 3:02 left in the half.

Down by 21, Marion just punted from the Central 35 yd line for a touchback. You can't even make this up...

28-7 Central, 8:49 in 2nd. Marion with ints on back to back possessions.

14-7 Central over Marion after 1 qtr. Marion struggling with Central's offensive scheme.

7-7 Marion and Central, 5:59 in 1st qtr.

Marion's PA announcer introduced Central as the Wise Indians. That's Marion's football program in a nutshell.

Abingdon Carroll County Radford Central Virginia Lee Graham George Wythe Galax Narrows Honaker Hurley Montcalm, WV Chilhowie Northwood Holston Patrick Henry Rural Retreat No. 10 UNC No. 19 Penn St No. 1 Alabama No. 18 Iowa Navy West Virginia No. 21 Texas No. 3 Clemson Virginia No. 9 Notre Dame

I'm with Jags here. Marion has the ability to make this a game for the first half, assuming Central's offensive scheme doesn't completely befuddle Marion defense. Again, I don't think Marion wins or even sniffs a victory in the 4th, but I stand by what I said last week: before the season is over, Marion will put a scare into a team that they shouldn't on paper.

Are you trying to get Sara Carter involved as well? 🤣

I feel like a real heel now 🤣 Based on Carroll's body language and the fact that he interacted with an official before following the player the field house, it appeared in the crowd that he was being ejected with the player. I feel like that's the biggest problem with being a spectator; you only know what you can see from a distance, and often times you don't know half of what's really going on. I remember after that game I made a comment that I didn't believe the officials were treating either team with bias, but that they were flag happy, which after I saw how the rest of the season progressed, probably was an unfair assessment. 38 penalties leads you to assume that the officials weren't letting either team breathe, but either way, I'm always of the opinion that if you don't want to be flagged, you shouldn't commit the penalty.

Lest we forget that the second to last flag gave Chilhowie a new set of downs to kneel out the clock after Marion stopped them on third down, and the final flag of the game immediately followed it: a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct and ejection against Joey Carroll, which given what I would imagine he said, may have been the only justifiable penalty of the game. 🤣

Yes.

No exaggeration, that is an absolutely insane statistic.

Northside Abingdon Carroll County Radford Central Richlands Union Ridgeview Marion Virginia Bland County Glenvar Rural Retreat Giles Grayson County Grundy Lebanon Castlewood Thomas Walker Twin Springs Holston Princeton Nebraska UCLA GotW Graham 58

I think they hit 90 by the end of the first half 🤣

Anyone want to wager a guess on this one? On paper, Marion is returning nearly the entire roster who defeated the Warriors last year and should be favored, but you have to believe that Chilhowie will be viewing this as a revenge game, knowing that they were out-mudded and gave Marion their only win of the season last year. Given that it will be broadcast live on WCYB, both teams are expecting to take a step forward this year, and folks have football-cabin-fever, I expect there to be a lot of spectators and not a lot of points.

The finals of benefit games are very deceiving, but if you're a Lee fan, you've got to be somewhat optimistic about that.

Marion 12, Fort Chiswell 2 Both teams have a lot to work on. Marion looks improved, and I don't expect big things from them, but they may put a scare into some of the better teams on their schedule.

Marion 6, Fort Chiswell 2 Neither team moving the ball well.

Not looking good for the Rich Valley Steers, Atkins Bulldogs, or Sugar Grove Maple Leafs being able to field a team this year.

I think he's referring to the town/county itself rather than the football program. Smyth County saw it's manufacturing base slowly crumble from the closing of Olin in Saltville in the mid-70s, through the introduction of NAFTA in the 90s. The powers that be did little to nothing to stop it, and as a result, Washington and Wythe Counties picked up the pieces. While Marion is certainly a nicer place to be than when it hit rock bottom 20 years ago, having a more exciting night life hasn't given people a reason to stay when there's very little opportunity for unskilled laborers, and it's reflected in Marion and Northwood's enrollments that are less than half of what it once was. I know that most of SWVA can relate to that, but it's incredibly frustrating looking at how much better your neighbors handled things when their backs were to the wall.

Some of those schools will have good teams, some will not. Overall, a friendly showing of talent before the season gets a 4 (fluorite) on the Mohs Hardness Scale from me.

Marion's not in the Hogo anymore. They should be in the thick of things in the district, but the Hogo has been a crap shoot for the last couple of years and will continue to be this year. Lebanon has the fewest question marks of any Hogo team, so at least they have that going for them.

Remember when everybody said that Marion was dodging Richlands by joining the Hogo? That was such a simpler time.