It's not often that you have unsung heroes on a 7-1 football team that averages 45 points per game and allows less than 21 points per week. Then again, this year's crop of Marion receivers aren't your average group. Consider the accolades that have gone to senior quarterback Ashton Gray, who won the Little Rock Touchdown Club's weekly Player of the Week award this week for his performance last week against Sheridan. Or junior tailback Jalen Smith last year was the first Marion tailback since 2014 to earn all-state honors as a sophomore. Three Marion offensive linemen own college offers, and two more (Jermaine Davis and Charlie Cantrell) visited Lyon College just last weekend. Despite the headlines mostly going elsewhere, Marion's receiving corps just continues to produce when their time comes, while blocking harder than maybe any group of wideouts in the state. "It's extraordinary what our guys have done this year despite not having their number called as much as you'd think," said Marion coach Lance Clark. "Those guys on the outside are the reason that some of those 15-yarders turn into 70 yards. People don't realize that, but it's an incredibly unselfish act to play a skill spot and relish blocking, but our guys have done it." Indeed, senior receiver Johnathan Guyton, juniors Cam Garrett, Mitrell Lewis and Christian Young, and sophomore Jeremy Dent have earned high marks this season, and not only because of the traditional receiver roles that we have all grown to know and love. That's why Marion's otherwise run-of-the-mill 55-21 victory over Sheridan was so intriguing to anyone associated with the program. Sure, Marion again rushed for its usual 404 yards, a huge number by any stretch of the imagination. But Marion rushes for 310 yards per game in 2023, covering three football fields every night they turn on the scoreboard. Another look at the stats shows what sets this group of Marion receivers apart. In addition to their usual stout blocking, the Pats racked up a season-high 208 passing yards, highlighted by Lewis collecting a 74-yard TD pass that put the game out of reach. Digging deeper, six Patriots caught passes against Sheridan, led by Lewis's two catches for 79 yards. Young and Garrett each snatched three passes for 57 and 45 yards, respectively. Smith caught a 24-yard pass, Dent's reception covered 4 yards, and Corey Yates caught a pass. "We know they can do that every week," said Clark. "Our receivers have done a great job staying ready, doing all the right things to help us win, and coming through when we call on them. I know it's not an easy thing to do for a player who has goals beyond high school, but that group has bought in to putting the team first and it's been encouraging to see." Marion's receivers have helped spring huge runs all year as the Pats have matched the best start to a season in school history at 7-1, and if they do it again this week then MHS will be 8-1 for the first time ever. The task at hand is the winless Sylvan Hills Bears, a team that scores less than 10 points per week, while allowing almost 37 points per Friday night. The Bears have absorbed the mercy rule five times this season under first-year coach Jason Houle. Still, Clark is quick to warn anyone who will listen what his team may be walking into on Friday night. "As far as pure talent, they're closer to a Searcy than a winless team," said Clark. "They play a lot of different guys. They do a lot of things offensively. They'll overload, then swinging gate, Flexbone, Power I. They run a lot stuff, so it's a fun challenge for us to see if we can respond to that on the fly. It'll be a fun mental exercise." The Marion-Sylvan Hills series has produced some memorable outcomes since the first meeting of the schools in 2006. The schools met twice in 2018 with Marion winning the regular season contest 26-7. The Bears returned to Marion two months later in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs and scored the game's last 17 points in a 17-14 victory. Marion came up with two red-zone stands in the fourth quarter in 2019 to earn a 24-20 victory, while the 2020 Patriots dealt the eventual conference champion and semifinalist Bears their only league loss in a 10-7 victory inside Southern Bancorp Stadium. In 2021, Sylvan Hills led Marion the entire way in a 24-10 victory, while the Pats barely escaped the Bears last year in a 27-23 victory. "To me and our coaches right now, this is a game where we really want to play well," said Clark. "It's for a lot of reasons. First of all, we need to be elevating our level of play as we get close to the playoffs. That's vitally important. Second, this is a team that we have just not played well against in my two years here. They beat us two years ago and we hold on for dear life last year. So we want to put together a true, four-quarter ballgame, and play well enough to win." HOW TO WATCH Marion and Sylvan Hills will kick off Friday night at 7 p.m., and the contest will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network mobile app. SYLVAN HILLS SERIES Marion leads the all-time series with Sylvan Hills 5-3, and the pats have won three of the past four meetings. RANKINGS RUNDOWN Marion checked in at No. 5 this week in hootens.com's weekly Class 6A rankings, as well as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's weekly Super Six ranking. Rex Nelson ranked the Pats No. 9 in his weekly Top 10 column. PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Marion QB Ashton Gray earned a pair of Player of the Week awards following the Sheridan contest. For the second time this season, he won the Crittenden County Farm Bureau Player of the Week award for rolling up 480 total yards with five touchdowns. The Little Rock Touchdown Club also selected Gray as its Player of the Week, most likely the first Marion Patriot to ever earn that award. Allen Miller earned the team's Offensive Lineman of the Week, while Emmanuel Key earned the DTMG Patriot of the Week award after leading Marion in tackles against Sheridan. PLAYOFF PATS There is still much to be settled in the conference standings, but Marion has clinched a playoff spot for the 19th consecutive season. The Pats last missed the playoffs in 2004 when MHS finished tied with Paragould for the last postseason spot from the 4A East, but the Rams earned the head-to-head tiebreaker with a victory at Marion on homecoming. HISTORY AT STAKE Marion has won eight games or more 10 times in the modern playoff era (since 1970), and the pats can make it 11 times with a victory on Friday night. The school record for victories in a season is nine wins, which happened in 1989 and 2005. The 1989 Patriots won the first playoff game in school history for their ninth win, a 10-7 victory at Stuttgart. The 2005 Pats hosted a playoff game for the first time in school history, overwhelming Crossett 44-7 before losing a 44-34 decision on the road at eventual state champion Greenwood in the quarterfinals. A victory Friday at Sylvan Hills would clinch Marion's best record to start a season ever, and if the Pats beat Sylvan Hills this week and Little Rock Catholic next week, Marion's 9-1 regular-season record would be the best in school history. 6A EAST STANDINGS Benton 7-0 Marion 6-1* W. Memphis 6-1* LR Catholic 5-2 Searcy 4-3 El Dorado 3-4 Sheridan 2-5 Jacksonville 2-5 Greene Co. Tech 0-7 Sylvan Hills 0-7 *Marion owns head-to-head tiebreaker over W. Memphis 6A EAST GAMES ON 10/27 Marion at Sylvan Hills Benton at W. Memphis Searcy at Jacksonville El Dorado at Little Rock Catholic Greene Co. Tech at Sheridan