SHERWOOD --- An aggressive Sylvan Hills defense and punishing running game proved to be enough to turn Marion away 24-10 on Friday night at Bill Blackwood Field. The Bears (4-1 overall, 2-0 6A East) surrendered just seven first downs to the Patriots (2-3, 1-1) while recording four sacks. Marion committed a pair of turnovers. Sylvan Hills rushed for 279 yards, including several timely runs, while not completing a pass. “I thought our defense played really fast and hard tonight,” Sylvan Hills coach Chris Hill said. “We focused all week long and tweaked our defense a little bit for this game. Our biggest issue is we haven't been communicating and I think we did a much better job of that tonight.” Marion looked poised to punctuate its first drive with a touchdown, but an errant snap got away from senior quarterback Ben Gerrard, resulting in an 18-yard loss. The Pats had to settle for senior kicker Dylan Pieri's 23-yard field goal, which culminated an 11-play, 39-yard drive. Sylvan Hills proved deliberate on its opening drive when the Bears took over at their own 20-yard line with 7:03 remaining in the first quarter. Eighty yards on 20 plays later, Sylvan Hills hit paydirt with 10:10 left in the second quarter on fullback Dylan Harris' 1-yard touchdown plunge. The Bears converted four third downs and a pair of fourth downs to extend the drive. “The cardinal sin of playing and coaching is getting beat by the same play over and over again. The toss got us on Friday night,” said Marion coach Lance Clark. “Against a team like Sylvan Hills, you expect to dominate on third and long, but we never did. When a team like that continues to convert third and longs it zaps you and pumps them up.” “It was our best drive of the year so far,” said Hill. While the Sylvan Hills offense got on track, Marion struggled to maintain drives. The Pats did not register a first down in the rest of the first half and the Bears led 7-3 at halftime. Sylvan Hills wasted little time extending its lead as the Bears covered 55 yards in three plays on the first drive of the third quarter, highlighted by Jahaun Smith's 44-yard scoring sprint. A bad snap cost Sylvan Hills the extra point but the hosts led 13-3 with 10:36 remaining in the third quarter. Sylvan Hills embarked on an eight-minute drive to cap the third frame, taking a 16-3 lead on Bryan Gonzalez' 37-yard field goal. Marion shifted to a five-wide set early in the fourth quarter in search of a spark. The adjustment yielded the Pats' most prosperous drive of the night, which paid off when senior Cam Anderson ran 6 yards for a TD to make the score 16-10 Sylvan Hills with 8:21 left in regulation. Sylvan Hills got a 34-yard kickoff return from Marquez Goodwin near midfield and the Bears marched 56 yards on 13 plays for the decisive TD, scored by senior Xavier Okafor with 2:01 left. “I didn't like our energy level at Sylvan Hills at all, from on-the-field stuff to on the sideline. We weren't nearly as energetic as we should have been,” said Clark. Marion hosts Searcy Friday night at 7 p.m. At Premier Bank Stadium. That game will be livestreamed on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Association mobile app.