Marion County football falls to Mount Zion in second round

Despite a late push to tie Friday’s second round matchup against Mount Zion, the Marion County Eagles saw their season come to a close.

Marion County fell 20-12 in the showdown in Carrollton. The Eagles drew as close as two points in the fourth quarter when running back Travon Matthews scored on a 6-yard run with 2:40 left in the game. The ensuing two-point conversion failed, leaving Marion County (9-3) trailing 14-12.

Mount Zion tacked on six more points on a 56-yard touchdown pass with 58 seconds remaining. Down by eight points, Marion County had time to score a touchdown and force overtime but were unable to do so.

Marion County trailed for the entirety of the Class A Public playoff game. With Mount Zion ahead 7-0, Trice McCannon came up big defensively when he picked up a fumble and returned it eight yards for a touchdown. The Eagles’ extra point was no good, leaving Marion County behind 7-6 with 4:05 left in the second quarter.

Mount Zion padded its lead in the third quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run to go up 14-6. It was the last score before Matthews made it to the end zone and kept Marion County’s hopes alive.

Mount Zion moves on to play Manchester on Friday.

This story was originally published November 18, 2017 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Marion County football falls to Mount Zion in second round."