Marion Athletics -

Olivia Newton-John topped the charts in 1981 with her hit song “Physical,” and first-year Marion coach Claude Johnson wants to do the same for the rest of the 2026 football season.
Marion took its bye week last Friday night, and shifted its attention and focus to opening 6A East play on Friday night when the Patriots host the Sylvan Hills Bears.
“We just want to be more physical in our preparation, physical with collisions; we want that sort of mentality to be what we are known for,” said Johnson. “We want to gear our mindset around getting better every week, being good late in the year, and bringing that mentality from practice to Friday nights. If you’re physical in practice and prep, then you’re looking forward to being physical in the game.”
Marion ran the ball effectively in its last outing, a home loss to Class 7A power Conway, rushing for more than 100 yards and averaging 4.4 yards per carry, with five ball-carriers topping 12 yards in the contest.
The bye week also afforded Marion an opportunity to get some injured players back close to full strength before the seven straight conference games to cap the 2026 season.
“That was a huge deal; the bye came at the right time for us, honestly,” said Johnson. “We had a good number of guys with bumps and bruises. Nothing too wild or crazy, but definitely limited, and now they should be better than they’ve been since before the year.”
Marion has already lost all-conference tailback Jeremiah Dent and University of Arkansas commit Jeremiah Dent for the season.
The 6A East may have overtaken the vaunted 6A West as Class 6A’s top league this fall with six of the eight teams ranked in the Hootens.com Top 10, including Sylvan Hills at No. 2 this week.
“I’m not surprised how the league has unfolded so far,” said Johnson, who was the offensive coordinator at Little Rock Parkview when the Patriots won Class 5A state titles in 2022, 2023 and 2024. “We have a lot of great coaches, athletes, and programs in this league. You have physical teams, you have teams that can really throw the football, you have some excellent defensive teams. From one week to the next, anything can happen.”
Sylvan Hills arrives on Friday with a 2-1 record in 2026 after convincing wins over Little Rock Central and Maumelle, and a tight loss two weeks ago at Class 7A Fayetteville. The Bears made big plays at Fayetteville before losing 52-42.
“This is an explosive team that we will see on Friday night,” said Johnson. “They’re athletic, but they have big kids in the lines. It’s a new quarterback, but he’s fit right in, and he can get the ball to their playmakers. They’re aggressive on defense and play a lot of guys.”
Marion leads the all-time series with Sylvan Hills 8-4 after the teams split the series a season ago. The Patriots dealt the Bears their only regular-season loss last fall, a 46-43 pinball game, in September, but Sylvan Hills flipped the script and knocked Marion out of the playoff quarterfinals with a 34-32 victory last November in Sherwood.

HOW TO WATCH
Kickoff of the Marion-Sylvan Hills game Friday night from Southern Bancorp Stadium is scheduled for 7 p.m., with pregame festivities ramping up at 6:30, including the entrance of the Marion Patriot Pride Band, the pregame Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Anthem. If you can not attend the game on Friday in person, you can watch the live broadcast for free on the MPAN YouTube channel.

CLASS 6A GAMES ON 9/25
6A EAST
Sylvan Hills at Marion
El Dorado at Searcy
Jonesboro at Benton
W. Memphis at Sheridan

6A WEST
Lake Hamilton at Fort Smith Southside
Mountain Home at Little Rock Catholic
Little Rock Southwest at Russellville
Van Buren at Siloam Springs