Marion County’s Mason Mays knew he had nothing to hold his head down about after Saturday’s season-closing 20-7 defeat to Huntingdon in the BlueCross Bowl Class 2A state title game at Finley Stadium.
The senior two-way starter, though, was understandably disappointed as the Warriors failed in their attempt to win back-to-back state titles.
“Last season, I hardly played any on defense. I wanted to help lead this team in any way I could this year,” Mays said. “This was a lifelong dream, getting to play in two state championship games in as many years. We just couldn’t get it done tonight. We came out flat in the first half and tried everything we could to fight back in the second half.”
Mays flew around the field as the 5-foot-10, 200-pound linebacker had a game-high 11 total tackles, which included a pair of tackles for loss. He also totaled 74 yards of offense, which included a 14-yard touchdown reception from Zaiden Humphrey for the Warriors’ lone score with 8:12 left in the fourth quarter.
The impact Mays had on the 2025 Marion County football team was immense, as he finished the year with 1,122 total yards and 20 touchdowns (17 rushing) to go along with a team-high 133 tackles (29 for loss).
Huntingdon (14-1) was led by junior Kenton Smith, as the state championship game MVP rushed for a game-high 124 yards on 21 carries while also throwing a 41-yard touchdown pass to Zayden Connelley to provide a 13-0 lead with 5:41 left before halftime.
Marion County (13-2) fumbled away its first possession of the game to set up a six-play, 36-yard scoring drive for Huntingdon, which was capped off by a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Braylin Dearmon, who rushed for 76 yards and also had a game-sealing interception late in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors looked poised to score on their second drive of the game, but a holding penalty on first down from the Mustangs’ 18 would prove costly, along with an 11-yard sack, which was one of five surrendered in the title-game defeat.
“We preached all week that we couldn’t fumble the ball, we couldn’t get bad penalties, and we couldn’t play defense all night,” Marion County head coach Tim Starkey said. “We did all three things. We struck out tonight. You do that against a good football team like Huntingdon and this is what happens.
“The ball just didn’t bounce our way at all, and they played a dang near perfect game. Kudos to those guys. They are the champions.”
Huntingdon was a combined 7-of-11 on third and fourth down conversions, while Marion County was held to 1-of-9 on third down conversions, with six of those attempts being 10 yards or longer.
The Warriors stood strong at the end of the first half as senior Ashton Martin had a blindside hit on the quarterback for his state-leading 19 1/2th sack of the season. A play later, Humphrey punched the ball out of a Mustangs’ receiver’s hands to keep the score 13-0 at the half.
Huntingdon opened the third quarter with an 11-play, 71-yard scoring drive, capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by Smith to build a 20-0 lead with 7:03 remaining in the period.
The Warriors’ lone touchdown drive covered 74 yards on 14 plays, which ended with Humphrey hitting Mays on fourth down for a 14-yard score as he juked past a defender into the end zone.
Playing from behind proved too costly for Marion County, which entered the game averaging just 54 yards passing per game with four touchdown passes opposed to eight interceptions thrown.
Martin led the Warriors with 41 rushing yards and added nine tackles. Meanwhile, Caden McCrary had two tackles for loss to tie Mays for the team lead on the season with 29.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.