EL DORADO --- El Dorado's Memorial Stadium has been nothing short of a house of horrors to the Marion Patriots through the years. Six trips down to Union County all resulted in losses, ranging from the blowout variety to two of the more devastating playoff losses in program history in 2008 and 2011. When faced with traveling down there again last Friday night for the conference opener, the 2023 Marion Patriots turned the page away from the heartbreak and penned their own chapter emphatically. Marion never trailed at El Dorado, and the Pats dominated the trenches, rushing for 400 yards and six touchdowns, leaving no doubt in a historic 50-13 conquest of the Wildcats that leaves the Patriots 2-0 in 2023 and 1-0 in 6A East action. El Dorado falls to 1-1 overall and 0-1. While the Marion offensive line paved the way for 205 yards and three scores from senior quarterback Ashton Gray and another 143 yards and three TDs from junior tailback Jalen Smith, the Marion defense did not allow a touchdown at El Dorado, limiting the hosts to a pair of field goals and giving everyone a memory when the Patriot backups kept the Wildcats out of the end zone on the game's final drive. The Marion defense tallied seven tackles for loss, including four sacks, while forcing four turnovers on downs. “Extremely proud of our guys and how we competed on pretty much every play,” said Marion coach Lance Clark, whose teams have now won two in a row against El Dorado. “There were times when the game did threaten to turn the other way and get away from us, but what this group did that some of the others were unable to do was respond whenever they made a play. Winning is great, and we're all excited, but responding in the face of adversity showed a lot of character about this team and our guys.” Marion didn't face much adversity in the first quarter at El Dorado, as the Pats took a quick 16-0 lead after a frame on Gray's first two TD runs of the night. His first score covered a yard, setting up a two-point conversion pass to Cam Garrett for an 8-0 lead. Gray then outran the El Dorado defense on Marion's next drive for a 20-yard score, and Smith's two-pointer pushed the Pats up 16-0 after a frame. But El Dorado pushed back on its first drive of the second stanza, booting a field goal before an El Dorado blitz separated Gray from the football, leading to Wildcat linebacker Lamarion Clemmons recovered the fumble and returned it 26 yards for an El Dorado score that electrified the home crowd as the hosts got within 16-10. As momentum shifted toward the Wildcats, Marion took possession with 4:27 left in the first half and gashed the Wildcats, moving 84 yards in eight plays for a drive that culminated when Smith bowled over from three yards out, and while the two-point conversion was not good, Marion's lead was 22-10 at halftime. “Huge part of the game where we stayed in it mentally,” said Clark. “We had a couple of bad things happen, but it didn't sink our ship. We battled and battled.” El Dorado embarked on another field-goal drive on the initial possession of the third period, but Marion covered 63 yards in nine plays on the following drive, and when Smith scored from 10 yards out and added the two-point conversion, Marion found itself ahead 30-13. Gray essentially salted the game away on the ensuing Patriot possession when he broke several tackles and outran the El Dorado defense for a breathtaking 58-yard TD run to give the visitors a 36-13 lead after three. “You can't say enough about how well Ashton played,” said Clark. “He's always been a weapon running it and you can see how special it is when he has the ball. But he took it to another level on Friday.” Smith added a 14-yard TD run in the fourth and Gray capped the scoring when he hit junior Mitrell Lewis for a 20-yard TD late in the fourth. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion stays on the road this week when the Patriots travel to play Jacksonville in another 5A East league contest. Kickoff at Jacksonville is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network YouTube channel. NO MERCY Marion's 50-13 victory at El Dorado was its sixth mercy-rule victory under Coach Lance Clark, who took over in 2021. The Patriots triggered the running clock in 2021 at Sheridan and in the first round of the playoffs against Russellville. Marion finished the game under the mercy rule in 2022 on homecoming against Jacksonville, and at Searcy, and at Sheridan. RANKINGS RUNDOWN Marion moved up to No. 6 in the hootens.com weekly Class 6A Rankings, behind Greenwood, Pulaski Academy, Little Rock Christian, Benton, and Little Rock Catholic. GOLD RUSH Marion's 400 rushing yards are the most it's had in a game in at least a decade. The last official time Marion topped that number on that ground was a 42-18 victory at Forrest City in 2012. CLARK MOVING ON UP Clark moved into the Top 5 of all-time coaching victories at Marion with Friday night's victory. His 17th victory at the school leaves him just behind Keith Houston's (2018-2020) total of 18. James Hendricks won 21 games at Marion, while Bill Cook tallied 56 wins. Mark Uhiren's 64 victories between 2002-2013 leave him on top. 6A EAST RESULTS FROM 9/8 Marion 50, El Dorado 13 LR Catholic 30, Greene County Tech 0 Searcy 49, Sheridan 40 Benton 48, Sylvan Hills 7 W. Memphis 48, Jacksonville 7 6A EAST STANDINGS ON 9/11 Marion 1-0 LR Catholic 1-0 Searcy 1-0 Benton 1-0 W. Memphis 1-0 El Dorado 0-1 Greene Co. Tech 0-1 Sheridan 0-1 Sylvan Hills 0-1 Jacksonville 0-1 6A EAST WEEK 3 SCHEDULE Marion at Jacksonville LR Catholic at Benton El Dorado at Greene Co. Tech Searcy at Sylvan Hills Sheridan at West Memphis