He is a tangible reminder of a time when Marshall’s football program was considered among the Northern Region’s best. So when Jacksonville Jaguars safety Nick Sorensen spoke to the Statesmen before their Homecoming game against McLean on Oct. 13, it wasn’t hard to get them to listen to his message.
The 1996 Marshall graduate was the starting quarterback the last time the Statesmen had a winning season in 1994. He was a key reserve the last time they made the Northern Region playoffs in 1993.
The years since have been an endless series of rebuilding projects. But not anymore. Marshall is off to a 6-1 start, clinching that elusive winning season with last week’s 21-14 victory at Jefferson.
“It’s still at the point where we take things week-by-week,” said sophomore quarterback Harold Sweet, who engineered the last-minute game-winning drive against the Colonials. “We’re good. But we can’t get too full of ourselves because there aren’t any teams we can just stomp. And we can’t think like that if we want to make the playoffs.”
That’s the next task on the agenda as the Statesmen travel to Liberty District rival South Lakes tonight. Marshall (6-1, 3-1 district) is tied with Madison (4-3, 3-1) and W.T. Woodson (4-3, 3-1) for second place in the district behind Stone Bridge (7-0, 4-0). But the Statesmen likely need two more wins to qualify for the Division 5 Northern Region playoffs. They currently sit fifth in total power points with 20.7 behind Stone Bridge (24.6), Yorktown (22.4), South County (22.3) and Edison (21.1). And the Warhawks (19.7), who Marshall faces on Nov. 4, and Cavaliers (20), who they lost to on Sept. 21, 7-6, aren’t far behind.
“This is what we’ve been building towards,” said senior tight end Ryan Goss, who caught the game-winning 22-yard TD pass against Jefferson. “The first year [in 2003] we didn’t win a game so to go from that to this is good to see.”
A Statement game
» Marshall just missed a winning season in 2005. The Statesmen were 5-5, but lost 22-19 to W.T. Woodson and 13-12 to South Lakes.
» From 1984 to 1994, Marshall was 71-38-1 with five district championships and a Group AAA, Division 5 state runner-up finish in 1987. Three players from that era — Mike McCrary, Keith Lyle and Nick Sorensen — went on to play in the NFL.
» From 1995 to 2005, the Statesmen were 25-84 with winless seasons in 1996, 1997 and 2003.
