By Johnnie Daniels
The 1-A Lake View Wild Gators fought hard and came up short 28-18 to the 2-A Marion Swamp Foxes in varsity football played in Marion on Thursday, August 17, in the first game of the regular season.
As my brother and I entered the stands, one Marion fan remarked “This team is the second-best team Marion has ever had.”
Marion kicked off to Lake View to begin the season. The football went out of bounds at the 42-yard line of Lake View. The Wild Gators were unable to get the offense going and had to punt. The Marion defense partially blocked the punt of Lake View’s #19.
Marion began on their own 39-yard line with good field position and drove to Lake View’s 10-yard line where the Lake View defense shut them down and took over on Lake View’s own 15-yard line. Lake View faced a fourth and 5 and punted that carried to Lake View’s own 40-yard line giving the Swamp Foxes great field position.
After Marion picked up a first down on a pass reception, the Swamp Foxes’ quarterback scampered 26 yards for the first touchdown of the season with 3:14 remaining in the first quarter. The 2-point conversion failed.
The Lake View Wild Gators were once again forced to punt. Lake View’s Chase Price’s punt carried to Marion’s 43-yard line.
Once again, Lake View’s defense was up for the occasion, and Marion found themselves with a fourth and 29 from their own 20-yard line. The punt by Marion’s #8 went only to Marion’s 34-yard line.
Lake View’s had the best field position of the evening to this point. Although Lake View’s offense was smaller than Marion’s, Lake View began to move the football. Lake View’s #2 carried 4 yards for Lake View’s first touchdown of the season with 7:17 remaining in the second quarter. The Wild Gators’ #24’s PAT came up short, and the score was knotted at 6.
Lake View’s #76’s kick off went out of bounds at Marion’s 38-yard line. With the 5-yard penalty, Marion began on their own 43-yard line with good field position.
Marion’s quarterback, #1, carried the football to Lake View’s 25-yard line. A penalty moved the football to the 35-yard line. Marion’s #2 picked up 5 yards on a carry, and Marion’s #9 caught a pass and scored but a penalty negated the play. The Wild Gator defense stepped up again, and the offense took over on Lake View’s own 40-yard line.
The Wild Gator offense went to work and moved downfield. The drive was capped off with a run by #5 as he scored with 23.2 seconds remaining in the first half to give Lake View a 12-6 lead. Lake View’s PAT failed. Marion took the kickoff in the second half and wasted little time in scoring 6 points at the 8:23 mark in the third quarter by a 1-yard run by the quarterback. Marion’s #6 carried the pigskin in for the 2-point conversion to give Marion a 14-12 lead.
Lake View was forced to punt and once again Marion’s quarterback carried to Lake View’s 1-yard line from Marion’s own 46-yard line. Marion’s quarterback scored from 1-yard out with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter. Marion’s #6 carried the ball into the end zone for the 2-point conversion to give Marion a 22-12 lead over Lake View.
Lake View’s #2 scored with 10:07 remaining in the final quarter. Lake View’s 2-point conversion failed but the Wild Gators had cut the lead to only 4 points, 22-18.
The final score of the game was once again by the Marion quarterback from the 14-yard line with 7:22 remaining in the game. The 2-point conversion failed.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo by Johnnie Daniels/The Dillon Herald
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