Marion County ends long droughts in 48-6 rout

SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. - A blackout took place at South Pittsburg's football field Friday night. And judging by the result of the District 6-A high school game played there, the host Pirates would just as soon black it from their memory.

Marion County put on a dominant first-half performance that left the second half nothing more than a formality to finish the Warriors' 48-6 victory over their county rival - their first since 2005.

But first-year coach Ricky Ross emphasized the big thing was winning a district championship, which hadn't happened since 10 years before that last win over South Pittsburg. Presumably Marion County (8-2, 4-0) will have a No. 1 seeding in its Class 2A state-playoff quadrant and could be playing at home for a while, as long as it wins.

"It's big," Ross said of the win. "I don't care who you are. When you work hard, you want to see the fruits of your labor. We've worked hard. Make no bones about it."

From the opening possession, which the Warriors took 70 yards and scored in 11 plays, Marion County was in charge.

South Pittsburg trailed by seven at the end of one quarter OVERSET FOLLOWS:and was down 19-6 but driving in the second period when it lost a fumble at Marion County's 23. On the third play afterward, Blake Zeman broke free for a 50-yard touchdown run that also seemed to break the Pirates' will.

"They've got a good team," South Pittsburg coach Tim Moore said. "We knew that. If we had gotten that score, that would've helped our momentum. That was a negative effect."

The Warriors' next TD also came after a South Pittsburg fumble at its own 20. Marion County played turnover free.

"We played hard and we didn't lay the ball on the ground," Ross said. "We did the things you've got to do in rivalry games and in big games. Ball security is really big."

A power outage caused by a transformer fire a couple of blocks away happened at the stadium as soon as the teams went to halftime. An public-address announcement was made that the game would have to be postponed.

A meeting took place during the break involving officials from South Pittsburg, an official from the electric company and the lead official of the crew working the game. Afterward South Pittsburg assistant principal and athletic director Vic Grider said he was aware that power was going to be killed at the stadium, but it was able to be restored quicker than expected.

"Originally I understood the power would be off for a significant amount of time," Grider said. "Once they got the fire put out, in about 20 minutes they had it fixed."

Zeman had done all of his damage in the first half, gaining 201 yards on 21 carries and scoring three touchdowns. Blake Brooks also ran for three TDs in the first half and Josh Henderson had four catches for 57 yards, then added a 61-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Triston Adams had 129 yards on 15 carries for South Pittsburg (5-5, 3-1), with 77 coming on one run.

Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.

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