No. 1 North Marion bites kneecaps of No. 2 Roane County, 47-26.

It helped the Huskies pounce. Casey Minor finished with a staggering 235 passing yards through the air. The Huskies cruised to a 47-26 victory.

“I felt like three scores was the threshold to make them uncomfortable,” North Marion coach Daran Hays said. “They got into a series of spread. I know that’s not what they want to be in. I thought that we executed to absolute perfection in the red zone.”

Roane County, though, established their run-heavy offense early.

Lane Watson capped off a 14-play, 58 yard, drive with a 1-yard rushing touchdown to give Roane County an early lead.

The Raiders led 7-0, converting the PAT, with 5:22 to play in the first quarter.

Hays noted that the unique style played by the Raiders is not a bad thing.

“I talk to coach Jeff Casteel at WVU. He texts me every now and then,” Hays said. “I told him tonight, that’s the greatest thing about the area of football that we play in. You might see a really fast, really skilled, team one week before going back to see a single wing. They are unique in what they do. It makes them challenging in terms of personnel groupings.”

It’s what they wanted to do. The Raiders shuffled through runners and attempted to break into the open field.

With Roane County finding early success, gaining yards on every touch, Husky fans may have thought that they were in for a long night.

Not exactly.

Two plays led to the Huskies first touchdown.

Minor found Landon Frey for a 25-yard completion to set up the Huskies Defense near midfield.

Aaron Hoffman did the rest, jolting for 49-yards to the end zone.

“I thought we felt really confident early offensively,” Hays said. “We knew it was going to take us a minute to get our grounding defensively. It’s such a different scheme to what you’re accustomed to seeing on a week-to-week basis.”

The PAT was missed, making the score 7-6 with 4:43 remaining in the first quarter.

The drive took less than a minute.

Roane, and the first quarter, was far from over.

Brandon Richardson returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a Raiders touchdown.

Noah Hess blocked the ensuing PAT, making the game 13-6 in Roane’s favor just 12 seconds later.

Hays noted that special teams were a struggle considering missed field goals, missed opportunities for blocked punts, and kickoff coverage.

“If we covered the kick better, they wouldn’t have went for it on fourth down,” Hays said of the special teams issues. “Well, if ifs and buts were candies and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.”

North Marion slowed down, opting for five plays to score on their next drive.

Minor found a 20-yard break downfield to set up North Marion inside the Roane 10-yard line. He finished off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown to knot the game at 13.

North Marion created a turnover on a fourth-and-1 to regain possession late in the first quarter.

The Huskies took one play.

Minor found Frey for a 44-yard passing touchdown. Frey made a leaping grab, snagging the ball over his defender’s shoulders.

The PAT was blocked, giving North Marion a 19-13 lead to close the first quarter.

North Marion turned on a switch in the second quarter, holding Roane scoreless.

In the meantime, Minor kept striking.

First, he found Landon Cowger for a 40-yard bomb to get the ball inside the Roane 3-yard line.

His 2-yard rush to score, despite a failed conversion attempt, gave North Marion a 25-13 lead.

The final scoring play of the first half came as Minor flew a 3-yard touchdown pass to Brock Martin, who ran an out route to secure the score.

North Marion held a 31-13 lead as the second half ended.

Minor completed seven of his seven first half passes, gaining 160 yards and two touchdowns.

Once the second half renewed, Minor found Martin for another touchdown.

The 43-yard strike and two-point conversion extended the North Marion lead to 26 with 11 minutes to play in the third quarter.

Roane County began to push in the third as rain slowed the Huskies’ passing attack.

In the meantime, the Raiders passing crew heated up.

Jacob Greathouse found Watson on a short route. Watson broke a pair of tackles, opening the field and giving him a 61-yard trot to the endzone.

With the extra point, Roane cut the lead to 19 — 39-20.

While North Marion would drive inside the 10, a Minor fumble gave Roane possession.

Greathouse and Watson connected yet again, finding a 74 yard passing touchdown.

The game set 39-26 after the play, ending the third quarter with a Huskies lead.

“Geez, we made it interesting,” Hays said of the third quarter. “The message at halftime was that we haven’t been able to close one all year. That’s disappointing. I thought we did a great job. This isn’t typical of me, but it had to come from me tonight of just ‘Calm down, we’re good.’ Sometimes, you don’t need to be who you are. You need to be who they need you to be.”

Minor marched North Marion for 11 plays, covering 60 yards, before getting the final 2-yard rushing touchdown and 2-point conversion to finish off Roane 47-26.

To finish the night, Minor totaled 57 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, 235 passing yards and three passing touchdowns on the evening.

“I felt like Casey could throw it a lot better than he could at this point last year,” Hays said. “That was the thing I settled in on, watching last year’s game and comparing it to this year’s team. I felt like our skill positions offensively are better this year.”

Landon Frey found 96 yards on five catches, hauling in a touchdown. Brock Martin totaled 89 yards and two touchdowns in the air.

“We mentioned it a couple times that he under thre a lot last year,” Hays said with a laugh. “It was a chip on his shoulder. All you have to do is give him a nugget. He came in with that chip. He’s set out to be a quarterback. He’s a football player, but he’s really focused in on throwing the football better.”

Switching to a run-based approach in the second half, the Huskies totaled 308 rushing yards as a unit.

“We know that when it’s crunch time, we’ve got five dogs,” Hays said. “It’s nice to know that nobody knows who to focus on.”

North Marion improves to 8-1 on the year and will host Liberty to close the regular season next week.

“They’re going to play extremely inspired football,” Hays said of Liberty. “The situation with their school and consolidation rumors — there’s not a better man to lead them than AJ Harman. He’s a superstar. We’re going to have to play and execute. They’re going to take risks for the sake of their school.”