LEBANON (Sept. 10, 2026) – It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest football game ever played—but it was a win. On Thursday at Harry Stuart Field, the Pioneers held off a second-half challenge from Marion to put their first check in the win column this season.
Lebanon made three first-half touchdowns stand up in an 18-12 Southwest District victory over the Scarlet Hurricane.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s ugly or a good one; wins are always good,” Lebanon coach Hunter Norris said.
“Winning’s always good, but we’re very young. Maybe not in age, but we’re young in experience. And sometimes that shows.”
The Scarlet Hurricane took the opening kickoff. After a sizeable gain, Cole Fedorchuk fumbled, and Lebanon’s Caiden Glass recovered.
On the Pioneers’ first offensive play, Will Jessee connected with Liam Spencer down the middle for a 37-yard touchdown pass. Twenty seconds into the contest, Lebanon had a 6-0 advantage.
“Liam Spencer is obviously a great freshman receiver who’s gonna be coming up with me,” Will Jessee said. “It was amazing. We executed early, built confidence, and it felt good.
“That early touchdown was very important. We struggled to score in the second half, but that’s something we gotta build on — finish games. But it’s big for confidence coming out and just getting everybody like, “Hey, we can do this.”
Both teams struggled to move the ball in the first half.
Early in the second quarter, Ethan Hylton was carrying the ball for the Hurricanes when Layne Jessee stripped the ball free for the Pioneers. Braelin Hess scooped the ball and raced 35 yards for Lebanon’s second score.
“If you can win the turnover battle, you’ve got a really good chance at winning the football game,” remarked Norris. “We did a good job not just forcing turnovers but also gaining yards on them, which put us in great field position. That matters. In Week 1, we had terrible field position all night. It seemed like we started on the twenty every time we got the ball, and it’s hard to drive the ball eighty yards.”
Two miscues and Marion (0-3), which has lost 24 games in a row, were down 12-0.
“One thing we have preached this week is that we just want to do everything and play as hard as we can on every single play,” said Marion coach Billy Testerman. “I felt like we did that tonight. Even when we had those turnovers, there have been times when we would not execute, but our guys battled back, so I’m really, really pleased with their effort.”
After a Scarlet Hurricane punt, Lebanon (1-2) mounted its best sustained drive of the game. Will Jessee hit Spencer, Blair Clark, and Hess with passes to move the football. Will Jessee lofted a screen pass to Clark for a 29-yard gain to the Marion two. Layne Jessee burst through up the middle with a two-yard TD plunge to put the Pioneers up 18-0.
“I thought the first half, offensively, we were clicking really well,” declared Norris. “We were taking advantage of a defense we didn’t expect to see. We didn’t even practice what they ran at us tonight, so we had to make adjustments on the fly. That’s credit to those offensive linemen and to Coach Boothe, our offensive line coach. Those guys did a heck of a job making adjustments and giving us the ability to run the football, which we struggled with last week. So it’s good to see us get that back on track. And I thought Will threw the ball really well tonight.”
That’s where the score remained until the break.
Marion moved the football in the second half. On their first possession, they covered 50 yards in nine plays. Quarterback Colten Jessee tossed a four-yard TD pass to Brayden Bowman, cutting the Pioneers’ lead to 18-6.
In the fourth quarter, the Scarlet Hurricane closed the gap. On 4th-and-4 at their own 42, the Pioneers went for it but were stymied, turning the ball over on downs.
Marion moved the ball upfield quickly with two big pass plays. Colten Jessee then bolted up the middle for a two-yard TD, cutting the deficit to 18-12 with 6:34 remaining. The momentum had shifted.
“We were right in it,” Testerman stated. “We battled to the end. I’m real proud of my guys’ efforts. It was tremendous, and I knew they had this ability and this game in them because we showed it early in the preseason. We took a huge step tonight. I’m real proud of my guys.”
Lebanon took the ensuing kickoff and found their run game. Using mostly Layne Jessee’s running, they ran out the clock.
“We finally got our huddle sideline fixed, so we could make adjustments on the sideline with those linemen who are not in the game on defense,” Norris stated. “We talked about the looks we were getting, what we wanted to do, and who we were missing. We were one block away from a big gain, and you saw it on that last drive when we were able to run the clock out and get into victory formation.”
It was a much-needed win for the Pioneers. Marion’s last victory came on November 3, 2023, 22-20 at Virginia High.
“Testerman’s doing a really good job at Marion with those guys,” Norris noted. “He’s got them bought in. They’ve got fifty-seven kids over there. He’s got them going in the right direction.”
Lebanon travels to Rural Retreat on Friday.
“This feels good,” Will Jessee said. “We started out 0-2, obviously, but we’re bouncing back, and I think we can get on a roll, building off this win. Just next week now — enjoy this tonight and then get ready to go win next week.”
Lebanon 18, Marion 12
Marion 0 0 6 6—12
Lebanon 6 12 0 0—18
First Quarter
LEB—Spencer 37 pass from W. Jessee (kick failed), 11:40
Second Quarter
LEB—Hess 35 fumble recovery (run failed), 10:34.
LEB—L. Jessee 2 run (run failed), 3:56.
Third Quarter
MARION—Bowman 4 pass from C. Jessee (kick blocked), 6:05.
Fourth Quarter
MARION—C. Jessee 2 run (run failed), 6:34.
MARLEB
First downs1116
Total Net Yards174352
Rushes-yards30-13626-135
Passing 38217
Comp-Att-Int5-15-215-34-1
Fumbles-Lost2-11-1
Penalties-Yards4-258-93
Punts4-39.23-27
