Lance Clark lights up at the mention of the Marion School District's 2023 football season. The usually reserved Alabama native shifts in his chair and leans towards the guests joining him in his office. “The bottom line is that our senior high varsity season is going on right now and we've won the most games we have in six years,” said Clark, Marion's head football coach. “The junior high team had its best year (7-1 overall record) it's had in recent memory and won the conference title. Our participation is up in the lower levels, we have more kids out than ever, and they're having fun, and being part of all this. It's been a really good year to be here.” Indeed, Marion's 8-2 final regular-season record equaled the school record for best season record in a given year, and the Pats' 7-2 6A East record garnered them a conference runner-up finish and a first-round playoff bye for the first time since Keith Houston's first team also went 8-2 and earned an opening-round bye. This year's Patriots are just one victory away from a third state semifinal appearance in four seasons. Digging deeper, the Marion junior varsity finished with a winning record this season, while the junior high team swept regional rivals from West Memphis Wonder and West, and Jonesboro outfits MacArthur and Annie Camp. Marion's decision to split its seventh-grade program into red and blue teams to give younger kids more of an opportunity to play and develop has paid off with increased participation and excitement for football. Clark's Patriots have won eight games for the second time, though his 2021 outfit only officially ended with six victories despite making that year's state semifinal due to a pair of forfeited victories. The 2022 Patriots started 7-2 and advanced to Week 10 with an opportunity to win a share of the conference title before losing at outright 6A East champion and eventual state semifinalist Little Rock Catholic at War Memorial Stadium. Marion's playoff fate was set in stone this year when Catholic came calling Week 10 as the Patriots knew they were going to be the No. 2 playoff seed no matter what happened against the Rockets. Marion football's Class of 2024 has had a hand in 23 victories so far, with an appearance in the state semifinals in 2021, and time will tell how this year's playoff run will wind up. “I am extremely proud of our seniors because they have left this program, our team, in an infinitely better place now than when they found it,” said Clark. “I'm thankful for them, and I'm really excited to get into the playoffs with them.” Marion's 2023 playoff run officially opens on Friday night with popular Arkansas high school football website Hootens.com's Game of the Week when defending Class 6A state champion Pulaski Academy invades Southern Bancorp Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network's YouTube channel. The Pulaski Academy Bruins have earned a reputation as an unorthodox football program over the past 20 seasons, first under legendary coach Kevin Kelley and now University of Arkansas great Anthony Lucas. For starters, the Bruins onside kick more than any team in the state, and have for two decades now. PA rarely punts, opting to always go for it regardless of down and distance, and field position. Pulaski Academy rotates many uniform combinations, much like the University of Oregon, which often wears a different uniform for every ballgame. Despite the oddities “it's still just a football game,” said Clark. “All those things are different and fun to talk about, but ultimately the game is block and tackle.” Still, for all the quirks associated with PA football, the biggest thing to realize is that it's one of the more decorated programs in the state. The Bruins have finished eight of the last nine seasons as state champions, mostly in Class 5A, though the Bruins bumped up to Class 6A last year due to the Arkansas Competitive Balance rule where schools can move up or down based on their success on the field and court. PA expected to return its leading passer, rusher, and receiver this season, but the Bruins' quarterback and tailback did not suit up this season, while receiver John Mark Charette was lost early in the year due to an injury and will not return. The winner of Friday night's game will advance to the state semifinals, playing at unbeaten and top-ranked Greenwood should the Bulldogs beat Mountain Home on Friday. Should Mountain Home upset Greenwood, then the winner of the Marion-Pulaski Academy game would host the Bombers on Friday, November, 24. HOW TO WATCH Marion-Pulaski Academy will kick off Friday night at 7 p.m. at Southern Bancorp Stadium, but if you can't make it to Southern Bancorp Stadium, then you can watch at home on MarionPatriots.com or on the Marion Patriots Activities Network YouTube channel. 7GA LEADS PLEDGE Marion's Seventh Grade Academy will lead the Pledge of Allegiance prior to the kickoff of Friday night's playoff game. GAMEDAY AND PASS INFORMATION Please be advised that you must purchase football playoff tickets online at GoFan.com, as tickets will not be sold at the gate. Each ticket to Friday night's football game is $8. Also please be aware that buying your ticket online or a AAA pass are the only ways you can attend Friday's game. This means that Patriot Passes, student-athlete passes, school ID athletic passes, and other passes will not be accepted at the gate. BANNER YEAR Marion's 8-2 final record equaled the marks of Marion football teams in 1956, 1970, 1989, 2005, and 2018 as the best in school history. The 2006, 2011, and 2021 teams also got to eight victories after winning at least one playoff game. The 1989 and 2005 Patriots finished with nine victories, which is a total this year's Patriots can match with a quarterfinal victory on Friday night. PLAYOFF PATS Marion has made the playoffs every year since 2004, a run of 19 consecutive seasons. The longest playoff streak in MHS school history is the third-longest playoff run in Class 6A football behind state juggernauts Greenwood and Pulaski Academy. MARION QUARTERFINAL HISTORY MHS had never won a playoff game until the 1989 Patriots hit the road and dropped 5AAA-North outright champion Stuttgart and clipped the Ricebirds 10-7 for the school's first state quarterfinal trip ever. Sixteen years would pass before MHS returned to the quarterfinals. The 2005 Patriots hosted a playoff game for the first time in school history, using Southern Bancorp Stadium as a springboard to a 44-7 victory over Crossett before succumbing to eventual state champion Greenwood 44-34 in that year's round of eight. Marion pummeled favored Lake Hamilton in the 2006 quarterfinals, advancing to the school's first semifinal ever. But the Pats wouldn't visit the quarterfinals again until 2011 when Marion bounced Benton in the playoffs' opening round before losing a heartbreaker 16-15 in the quarters at El Dorado. Marion would win just five games between 2012 and 2014, but Jed Davis's Patriots rebounded with five victories in 2015, the last of which was a 14-13 victory at Lake Hamilton that got Marion back into the second round. Keith Houston took the reins at Marion in 2018 and finished that season on a four-game winning streak, which clinched a first-round playoff bye and pushed the Pats immediately into the state quarterfinals. Clark's first season produced the most prosperous playoff run in school history as his Patriots overwhelmed Russellville in the opening round of the 2021 state playoffs before MHS recorded the first victory over a top-ranked team in school history in that year's quarterfinals in a rousing 59-37 victory at Benton. DOUBLE TROUBLE Quarterback Ashton Gray and tailback Jalen Smith dazzled this fall, becoming the first pair of Marion backs to top 1,000 yards rushing in the same season since Tre Franklin and Rashad Boyd did so in 2011. Gray finished his senior campaign with 1,744 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns, while Smith racked up 1,510 yards rushing and 17 scores. Gray also completed 55 percent of his passes for 1,244 yards and 11 scores, giving him a 2023 total of 2,988 yards and 39 touchdowns. FRIDAY'S CLASS 6A QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS Greenbrier at Benton Van Buren at LR Christian Mountain Home at Greenwood Pulaski Academy at Marion