JASPER, Tenn. - The bright red zero lighting up the visitors' side of the scoreboard might as well have been Krispy Kreme's neon sign flashing "Hot now."
And every Marion County player knew it Friday night.
"Doughnuts!" the Warriors chanted at head coach Joey Mathis, who smiled sheepishly as he stood in front of them after Marion's convincing 19-0 Region 3-2A win over Boyd-Buchanan.
"We have a deal where if we have a shutout, I buy the team doughnuts on Monday," Mathis said. "It's amazing what kids will do for doughnuts."
In a battle of state-ranked Class 2A teams, with the top spot in Region 3 on the line, third-ranked Marion County's offense was sugary sweet all night and its defense left second-ranked Boyd-Buchanan feeling like it had just finished a three-hour root canal. The Warriors (5-1, 3-0) outgained the Buccaneers 373-182 in total yards, gaining 220 of that total in a dominating first half in handing the Bucs (4-1, 2-1) their first loss of the season.
"Our defensive staff had a good plan for them, and the kids executed it," Mathis added. "We're a ball-control offense and we were able to keep it out of their hands and get out of our own way a couple of times enough to finish drives.
"We've still got some things to clean up."
Marion made it look easy on its first drive, needing just four plays to cover 51 yards, with senior fullback Hunter McClain covering the final 5 yards for the score.
But it was a 19-play, 79-yard drive just before halftime, with the Warriors converting two fourth downs and a third down into firsts, that seemed to take the wind out of the Bucs' sails. McClain again capped that impressive drive with a 6-yard score around left end.
"We've talked a lot about how good teams can finish drives like that," said McClain, who led Marion with a season-high 126 yards on 16 carries. "We've wanted a shutout all year, and to get it against a region team, and one as good as they are, should give us a lot of confidence."
Eleven of McClain's carries resulted in either a first down or a touchdown, and he opened the second half with three consecutive runs for 34 yards on a drive that ended with sophomore quarterback Isaah Sampson scoring on a 1-yard dive. At that point, between the scoring drive to end the first half and the one to begin the third quarter, Marion had held the ball for 26 snaps while the Bucs had run just one play.
Jacob Saylors added 96 yards on 11 carries and Hunter Zeman had 71 on 13 carries as Marion rolled up 318 rushing yards.
"Those two drives, the one before the half and the one to start the third, were really big. Maybe we wore on them a little bit," Mathis said. "McClain is as good a fullback as there is around, and him and Saylors really give us a nice inside-outside combination."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis