Marion County survives first-round scare from Twiggs County

BUENA VISTA, Ga. -- Marion County entered the GHSA Class 1A-public school state playoffs with a 9-1 record and the No. 1 seed. The successful season allowed the Eagles to play a home game against the No. 16 seed, Twiggs County, which had a 4-6 record.

Twiggs County didn't act like a 16 seed taking Marion County to the brink of an upset before Marion was able to hang on 22-20.

"We just looked sluggish out there with two weeks off," Marion County coach Mike Swaney said. "We did not look sharp. I've got to give (Twiggs County) a lot of credit."

The game was tied 14-14 at half.

The Eagles took its first lead of the contest with 6:26 remaining in the third quarter. Marion County took two plays to go 62 yards. Mykelle Kelley went 31 yards on the first play.

On the second play, Quentez Battle faked the handoff to Kelley and kept it on the read around the left side for a 31-yard run of his own. Maurice Carter ran in the 2-point conversion for a 22-14 lead.

Lorenzo Smothers intercepted a Twiggs County pass with 9:02 in the game.

The Eagles drove into the red zone and appeared ready to put the game out of reach before Devonte Glover intercepted a Battle pass and returned it 96 yards before being tackled at the Eagle 1-yard line.

C.J. Morse Jr. dove in from 1 yard out on the first play, pulling Twiggs County to within 2 points. Morse was stopped on the two-point conversion keeping the score 22-20.

Twiggs County didn't try an onside kick, and Marion County used a steady diet of Kelley up the middle of the Cobra defense to gain to first downs and run the final 4:14 off the clock.

Kelley led all rushers with 152 yards rushing on 20 carries.

"I had just said Mykelle is winning the ball game for us," Swaney said. " I thought Mykelle came through and probably had his best game of the year."

Both teams opened the game with three-and-outs.

Twiggs County got on the board first when it went to the wildcat.

Ja'mon Height ran for 31 yards to the Eagle 27. One play later Height found Robert Cornelius in the end zone for a 6-0 score with 6:29 remaining in the first period. The PAT run failed.

The ball fell off the tee on the Twiggs kick and was ruled a live ball allowing Marion County to take over on the Cobra 40.

Six plays later Maurice Carter dove into the middle of the line attempting to convert a foutth-and-1. He was not touched as he went 14 yards for the score. Austin Brannon's kick was blocked tying the score at 6-6.

Cornelius took the ensuing knockoff and went 81 yards through the middle of the Eagle kick coverage putting the Cobras back ahead 12 seconds later. Height's run on the point after attempt gave Twiggs County a 14-6 lead.

Marion County drove 65 yards in 12 plays and scored with 8:07 remaining in the half on a 2-yard run from Carter.

Carter also ran in the point after to tie the score at 14-14.

The Eagles had the ball for most of the final 5:45 of the half punting back to Twiggs County with :25 remaining.

Joel Barley punted the Cobras down at its own 4-yard line.Friday at Eagle StadiumTwiggs 14 0 0 62-

Marion 6 8 8 0--22First Quarter

TC--Robert Cornelius 27 pass from Ja]mon Height (pass failed), 6:29

MC--Maurice Carter 14 run (kick failed), 3:09

TC--Cornelius 81 kickoff return (Height run), 2:57Second QuarterMC--Carter 2 (Carter run), 8:07Third QuarterMC--Quentez Battle 31 run (Carter run), 6:26Fourth QuarterTC--CJ Morse 1 run (run fails), 4:14

Team records: Twiggs County 4-7. Marion County 10-1. Next: Marion County, home to Commerce, Nov. 27, 7:30 p.m.

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Marion County survives first-round scare from Twiggs County ."