Loris loses to Marion, waits to find out playoff fate

Like Waccamaw and Mullins, all Loris can do is wait.

With an improbable three-way finish in the Nos. 3 through 5 spots in Region VIII-AA that wasn’t settled by head-to-head results, it was unclear as to what exact formula would decide which two of those three teams would earn playoff berths via a second tiebreaker.

Following his team’s 42-20 loss to Marion on Friday night, Lions coach Jamie Snider – like many others around the state – was searching for answers as to who was in and who was out. He said most of what he could comprehend had Loris in as the third seed, but he quickly cautioned that he did not know it for a fact.

“Now we’re just playing the waiting game to find out who, what and how, and see what happens next week,” he said.

Loris could have bypassed all the guesswork with a win over Marion on Friday night. However, senior running back Janarick Reed continued his stellar play heading into the postseason, scoring four touchdowns to lead the Swamp Foxes to a victory.

The win assured Marion (7-3) of a home playoff game at Fox Field next week.

Swamp Foxes coach Leonard Johnson said his players responded to the task.

“ It feels good to be able to play another week,” he said. “We’re just happy to be invited to the show. It doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time to build programs. It takes time to build maturity and confidence.”

The Lions, meanwhile, did themselves few favors.

“It was one of those things where I told my kids that in my understanding of what I’ve been told we’re in the playoffs. We just made the road a little bit harder for us,” Snider said. “The second place team in our region was pretty much guaranteed a home playoff game; that’s always something you shoot for there. But in the end we had some opportunities and didn’t take advantage of it.”

Loris caught Marion off guard, recovering the opening kickoff and quickly marching to the end zone, getting an 8-yard run from Hakeem Jackson.

Reed answered with a 32-yard touchdown run to give Marion an early 8-7 lead.

Reed scored his second touchdown off a 15-yard pass from Ronnie King to increase the advantage 14-7 midway though the second quarter.

Marion continued to rally on both sides of the ball, getting an interception from safety D’Ante Allen on the ensuing drive followed by two big runs to reach the red zone. Reed’s 6-yard touchdown put Marion ahead 22-7 before Mac McLeod’s 20-yard touchdown reception for the Lions to cut Marion’s lead to 22-13 at halftime.

“Obviously Marion did a great job tonight and they deserved to win because of the way they played,” Snider said. “It’s one of those things where we got off to a fast start, which is not something we’d done on the road and they came back and scored and we went into a lull for a few series.”

Marion’s defense helped put more points on the board. Artavis Evans had a 100-yard interception return called back, but the turnover still resulted in a 53-yard touchdown run from Reed. Loris returned fire with a 36-yard touchdown grab from McLeod to end the third quarter.

Marion’s defense responded once again with a pick-6 from cornerback Jamael Ham and followed up by 17-yard touchdown run from Harold Mearite for the final score.

“We had some opportunities and didn’t capitalize in the red zone,” Snider said. “On offense they kind of play keep-away and they did a good job of that.”

Loris’ Hakeem Jackson ran for 102 yards.

The Florence Morning News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 7, 2015 at 1:05 AM with the headline "Loris loses to Marion, waits to find out playoff fate."