Carroll County’s bid for a third consecutive come-from-behind victory fell a two-point conversion short Friday as Marion held on for a 15-13 Southwest District victory in Hillsville.

Trailing 15-7 with 5:35 left, the Cavaliers took over at their own 15 after a Zack Surratt interception. After a false start penalty, Carroll County (3-4, 1-2 SWD) proceeded to go 62 yards on 10 plays but faced a 4th down and 9 at the Marion 28. Facing a do-or-die situation, quarterback Blake Bowman rolled right and connected with fullback Dillon Caviness between a pair of Marion defenders for a 28-yard touchdown pass to trim the deficit to 15-13 with 1:09 left. Carroll’s leading rusher, Cody Mabe, was dropped for a loss on the 2-point conversion, however, as Marion got great penetration into the backfield.

Marion recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.

Two weeks ago, Carroll found itself trailing William Byrd 20-6 before putting up 29 unanswered points en route to a 35-26 win. The Cavaliers trailed Abingdon 12-7 last week before rallying for a 21-18 victory.

“Our kids, they don’t give up. We didn’t give up,” Carroll County head coach Tom Hale said. “We kept fighting until the end there and we came close to getting another big come-from-behind win, but it would be nice for us to be able to come out and take control and not have to win like that.”

It didn’t take long for Marion (4-3, 2-2 SWD) to take the upperhand. Despite facing 1st and 15 from their own 6 after a false start penalty, the Scarlet Hurricane took a 6-0 lead as tailback Brock Hanna ripped off three runs for 94 yards, including an 83-yard touchdown.

“I think that was really big and it kind of got our confidence down,” Hale said. “We had them 1st and 15 from their own 6 and let him come out of there for 80 yards. You just can’t do that.”

On the other side of the ball, Marion completely stuffed the Cavalier’s bread-and-butter rushing attack, limiting Carroll to just 114 yards on 34 carries.

“Give Marion credit. They had a good defensive gameplan and they shut our run game down,” Hale said. “That’s the best it has been shut down all year.”

After being stuffed on its first two possessions, the Cavaliers took to the air as Bowman found Mabe wide open in the flats for a 47-yard pass to the Marion 12. Two plays later, Bowman connected with a wide-open James Lanning in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown. Mason King’s extra point game Carroll a 7-6 advantage with 7:27 left in the second quarter.

Special teams helped the Cavaliers stay close as Surratt blew up a 37-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the first half. Surratt blocked an extra point and a field goal the previous week to help Carroll preserve a 21-18 win over Abingdon.

After both teams traded fumbles early in the second half, Marion regained a 9-7 lead as Hanna booted a 27-yard field goal with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.

A huge penalty on the ensuing possession kept Carroll from regaining the lead once again. On 2nd and 2 from the Cavs’ 28, Bowman found Lanning open again for what would have been about a 60-yard gain. The play was negated by an ineligible receiver penalty, however, and the Cavs were forced to punt.

“We just couldn’t get the running game on track,” Hale said. “We passed the ball, but just little things...I mean the penalty on the big pass play. We really weren’t ontrack at all tonight and I’ll take the blame for that. We didn’t got the job done. They put nine guys up in the box and dared us to pass. We had open receivers, but we would overthrow them or not hit them or drop them. We did what we had to do, we just weren’t very efficient at it. ”

Marion took advantage, driving 54 yards on nine plays on the next possession. Fullback Caleb Parsons capped the scoring drive with an 8-yard touchdown up the middle. Still, Carroll stayed within one possession as Surratt blocked the extra point attempt, keeping Marion’s lead at 15-7 with 7:04 remaining.

Marion’s Brett Johnson intercepted Bowman two plays later, but Carroll had one last chance after Surratt picked off Marion’s Matt Noe at the Carroll 15 with 5:35 left.

Bowman, who completed 5-of-10 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns, completed two passes on the following touchdown drive before Marion stopped the 2-point conversion to hold on for the victory.

Mabe led Carroll with 115 yards of total offense, rushing 13 times for 51 yards and catching two passes for 64 yards.

Hanna did most of the damage for Marion, running 20 times for 143 of the team’s 203 rushing yards.

Carroll now will have to make back-to-back road trips to Grundy and Richlands before wrapping up the season at home Oct. 31 against Graham.

“We can beat anybody on our schedule. We just have to play like it. At times we do, at times we don’t,” Hale said. “We’ll just come in there and regroup and get ready for Grundy next week.”

Marion 6 0 3 6 — 15

Carroll 0 7 0 6 — 13

First Quarter

M — Hanna 83 run (kick failed)

Second Quarter

CC — Lanning 19 pass from Bowman (King kick)

Third Quarter

M — Hanna 27 field goal

Fourth Quarter

M — Parsons 8 run (kick blocked)

CC — Caviness 28 pass from Bowman (run failed)

Team Statistics

M CC

First Downs 12 9

Rushes-Yards 42-203 34-114

Passing 6-14-1 5-10-1

Passing Yards 53 120

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1

Penalties-Yards 4-30 4-35

Possession 26:34 21:26

Individual Statistics

Marion

RUSHING — Hanna 20-143, Parsons 8-54, McGlure 3-17, B. Johnson 1-1, Noe 7-minus 1, G. Johnson 1-minus 9.

PASSING — Noe 6-14-1 53 yds.

RECEIVING — Dotson 3-29, Hanna 2-16, G. Johnson 1-8.

Carroll County

RUSHING — Mabe 13-51, Surratt 7-35, Bowman 6-18, Caviness 6-7, Huff 2-3.

PASSING — Bowman 5-10-1 120 yds.

RECEIVING — Mabe 2-64, Caviness 1-28, Lanning 1-19, Nester 1-9.