Eli Morrison remembers the long, hot days and the sweat dripping from his forehead during Marion County football preseason workouts with his fellow offensive linemen.
He has more favorable memories of a recent barbecue with teammates.
"We watched the UT-Alabama game and played some cornhole," Morrison said. "I'm an Alabama fan and most of them are Tennessee fans, so we like to poke at each other about that."
Alabama won the game. The team of brothers Hunter and Seth McClain, as best Morrison remembers, won the on-site activities.
Marion County head football coach Ricky Ross directs players during the Warriors' football practice Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, at Marion County High School in Jasper, Tenn. Marion County heads into their game against rival South Pittsburg on Friday, which last year was accompanied by Marion County football coaches vandalizing their own field house with South Pittsburg colors.The bond built within the Warriors - especially among the group up front - have paved the way for them to reach the Class 2A state quarterfinals. Marion County (11-1) will face Tyner (9-3) tonight at 8.
"During the summer we worked so hard that we developed that bond," said Morrison, the starting right guard. "There were some days that I wouldn't be going hard and somebody would come up and say, 'Let's finish this out.'"
Finishing out the season would involve returning to Jasper from Cookeville with a state championship trophy. The Warriors reached the title game last year but were defeated 34-7 by Peabody. Marion County has won its first two games of the playoffs by a combined score of 80-10. Its only loss this season came in September at Boyd-Buchanan, which Tyner bounced from the playoffs last Friday night.
"They have been very consistent and escalated their play since the playoffs have been going on," Marion County offensive line coach Randy Kirkpatrick said of his group. "Last week our O-line had a really good game and came through for us.
"We've been able to start games right, and they've been able to make sure we don't start three-and-out."
Logan Campbell, the starting center, attended the shindig with teammates a few weeks ago. He recalled watching the Tide-Vols game both as a fan and as an offensive lineman seeing how the college guys moved when run-blocking and in pass protection.
"We've come together closer as a team and we've hit our groove," Campbell said. "If you have a close relationship with the guys and get to be good friends, you'll be pretty good then."
Since losing to Boyd-Buchanan, the Warriors defeated Tyner in a sloppy 33-20 game and then started scoring even more and more behind the likes of Morrison, Campbell and Corey Tucker. They've outscored opponents 251-26 in their last six games.
"We've improved in just about every area since we played Tyner," Morrison said. "Our scoop-blocks weren't very good, and we came in one week and said that we have to get better at them. Coaches talked to us about them and we just drilled it and drilled it, and it's carried over."
They've done it together.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.