Marionville shuts out North Platte to win Missouri Class 1 football title

Undefeated Comets win first state championship since 2003

Author:
Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
Publish date:
Dec 1, 2023 7:45 PM EST

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI – Hugh Eaton struggled to fight back his emotions.

The Marionville senior running back sat in the post-game press conference with three of his teammates, his coach and the Comets’ Missouri Class 1 championship trophy and was asked to put into words what it all meant.

“This is amazing,” Eaton said. “It feels like a dream. It’s something that we’ve talked about since we were super young and it’s been something that seemed really far away until this year with us coming up short these past couple years. But to get it done and to do it the way we just did it feels amazing.”

Eaton scored two touchdowns as Marionville defeated North Platte 29-0 in the Missouri Class 1 championship game on Friday – the Comets’ first state title since 2003 and just the second in school history.

“They are all my best friends,” said Eaton, who also had a team-high 11 tackles and recovered a fumble to lead the defense. “We’re really close and we’ve played together for a long time since we were mighty mites and we’ve never been losers. We like winning together and it’s fun. We do it for each other, we play hard. That’s how I knew we were going to do it.”

Marionville (14-0) scored once in each quarter and the Comets’ stingy defense kept North Platte (12-2) off the scoreboard.

Marionville racked up 272 rushing yards on 43 carries, an average of 6.3 per, and 300 total yards.

Sophomore running back Cash Pomeroy rushing for 117 and a touchdown, sophomore quarterback Bryer Guerin running for 87 yards and a score and Eaton gaining 62 yards and two TDs.

The Comets limited North Platte to 188 total yards.

“We knew coming in it was going to be a very physical football game,” Marionville coach Paden Grubbs said. “Defensively, we felt like the defensive line up front was very physical and good for them so we knew up front our kids were going to have to accept the challenge of being physical. I feel like we kind of wore on them throughout the game.

“Whenever you can get three, four, five yards a carry in this type of weather it’s huge. I think our first drive of the game was a 10-minute drive that ended in a score, so that was a great tone-setter for the way we wanted to play, especially with this weather. Defensively, our defense just played the way it’s been playing all year – just lights out, fast to the ball, getting there as a team and a unit and finishing plays.”