Marion County is the only Tennessee high school football team in the area that hasn’t yet packed its gear but isn’t playing tonight.
The Class 2A Warriors drew a bye in the 24-team bracket and will host the winner between Trousdale County and Jackson County next week.
“It’s hard to lose,” said Marion coach Mac McCurry when he began listing the good things about an open date/off week. “We’re certainly not looking at it as a negative. It’s valuable time. We’ve worked as many younger people as we could and we have given some kids a second look. We have just been working on the Warriors, trying to develop some depth and trying to make ourselves better.”
The tempo has been a little more relaxed, which he said has allowed the team and its coaches to catch their breath.
“The season was very stressful – a young defense that people have scored on and a little older offense where we knew any series we didn’t score might cost us – so this is a chance to have a little bit of a breather,” he said. “It’s a chance to heal some bumps and bruises. We were already starting to get healthy, but the time has allowed some guys we weren’t sure were 100 percent to get back to 100 percent.”