LITTLE ROCK --- It took only five plays Friday night for the Marion Patriot offense to display their big-play potential, while the defense disrupted the Little Rock Central Tigers the entire evening. Marion downed Central 40-14 at Quigley-Cox Stadium in Coach Lance Clark's preseason debut, which featured one quarter of varsity action, a second quarter featuring mostly backups. Starters returned for the third quarter, but with a running clock. Marion senior quarterback Ben Gerrard, who completed seven of 13 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns, connected with junior receiver Donnie Cheers, Jr. for an 82-yard TD pass on third and 18 to cap the Pats' initial drive with a 7-0 lead just five snaps into action. Gerrard and Cheers hooked up again in the third quarter to give Marion a 37-7 advantage. Cheers caught five passes for 204 yards and two scores. Clark praised the offense, but his defense produced nine plays for lost yardage and allowed just seven points until Central's final snap late in the fourth quarter, which featured junior varsity players. Central's first TD was set up by a lost fumble. "I loved how we were able to set the tone both ways up front," said Clark. "We played physically and aggressively. We were honestly a little too aggressive early on defense, which led to big plays later on, but we loved the enthusiasm and energy that we brought all night." The defense set the tone from the jump, when senior linebacker Donte Moore recorded a sack and forced a fumble to end Central's first drive. Marion converted the turnover into points two plays later when senior tailback Cam Anderson hit paydirt from three yards out for a 14-0 advantage. "I'll give us a B+ for how we played tonight," said Moore. "We played with a lot of intensity and made some plays, but we can always get better. I'm not satisfied yet." Marion extended its lead to 21-0 in the first quarter when Gerrard connected with Gabe Milen from nine yards out. The Patriots led 21-7 at halftime. A pair of Anderson (14 carries for 83 yards) totes netted 43 yards, including a dazzling 37-yard TD jaunt, to cap Marion's first drive of the third quarter. The Marion defense slammed the door in the third quarter when Moore and Kyjuan Rodgers hit Central's tailback in the end for a safety and a 30-7 lead. On Marion's first offensive play following the safety, Gerrard completed a 10-yard pass to Cheers, who made several Central defenders miss en route to the end zone for a 75-yard TD catch and a 37-7 advantage. Considered a question mark entering play, Marion's offensive line allowed just one sack and paved the way for more than 150 yards rushing. "The O-line played well and Coach (Zach) Tribble made some excellent adjustments," said Clark. "They played more up field than we expected, but we handled it well." Marion will look to clean up nine penalties committed at Central for 83 yards prior to its season opener against Wynne. "Those are all preventable things we need to cut back on," said Clark. "We had some personnel things we need to work on. We had to some waste some timeouts on those things, but I was largely pleased with most areas tonight." The Pats open their 2021 regular season Friday night at 7 p.m. at Premier Bank Stadium against Class 5A powerhouse Wynne.