SALTVILLE, Va. – Only nine minutes of the game had elapsed, but Matthew Widener had a feeling that he had made a game-changing play.

“It pumped us up,” the Marion High School junior defensive lineman said. “It got our momentum back up.”

Widener led Marion’s goal-line stand in the opening quarter that set the tone for the rest of the night as the Scarlet Hurricanes posted a 21-0 win over Smyth County rival Northwood on Friday night.

After containing Marion’s offense to open the game, Northwood (0-2) began its first offensive possession by marching 65 yards and milking more than six minutes off the clock.

The Panthers got down to the 3-yard line on an 11-yard run by Dustin Clear to set up 1st and goal.

On 4th and goal from the 2, Widener and his teammates stepped up to stuff Clear in the hole and prevent the Panthers from scoring.

 “We’ve worked real hard in situations like that,” Widener said. “It was the front line. I wouldn’t take full credit, it was the whole front line.”

How big was the defensive stand?

Marion responded by marching 98 yards on 13 plays for its first score and zapping the energy out of Northwood.

“That was a big play,” said Marion coach Michael Briscoe. “Then we marched it 98 yards for a touchdown. That’s pretty good high school football right there.”

A week after suffering a 14-0 loss at the hands of Chilhowie in which little went right,

Marion (1-1) looked much-improved against the Panthers.

Quarterback Marshall Wagner was solid under center, running back Shaun Brown ran hard and Widener was everywhere on defense.

Widener, who also recovered a fumble, said that Marion’s team went back to work after last week’s setback to Chilhowie.

“We worked hard in practice,” Widener said. “We put a lot of hours on the field after school.”

Improvement was the word for Marion in Week 2.

“We did some things right we’ve been working on,” Briscoe said. “We did OK. We improved. Our practices were better this week and we got our minds in the right frame of mind. I thought our kids did a really good job tonight.”

Northwood also flashed an improved look after being lambasted by Galax, 45-0, in its opener. Along with the ill-fated stall on its first drive, the Panthers also got down to the 11 at one point, but were unable to put any points on the board.

“That’s a building point,” said Northwood coach Billy Wyatt. “Now, we’ve got to learn how to put it in the end zone.”

Northwood is breaking in the Power-I offense and a new quarterback this fall. The Panthers lost five fumbles on Friday.

“New offense, the kids haven’t grasped everything on it,” said Northwood coach Billy Wyatt. “From last week to this week, it’s a big improvement. I think we got kind of shallow there in the third quarter, when we should have picked it up. Everything we tried to run we fumbled.”