The Marble City, Okla.,
boys basketball team recently won the Organization of Rural Elementary Schools
Division III basketball championship. Kneeling, from left, are Sam Bush, Julio
Tovar, Dakota Green, Wesley Busch, Emilio Ramirez and Winter Grimmett. Back
row, from left, are assistant coaches Wes Green and Bryce Morgan, Skylar
Locust, Dwight Catron, Jacob Spyres, Jae Christie, Hampton Gibson, Aaron Busch,
Jason Noel and head coach Amos Morgan. (Photo courtesy of ORES)


By Will Chavez
Staff Writer 

MARBLE CITY, Okla. – The seventh and eighth grade boys basketball team from this Sequoyah County community recently won the Organization of Rural Elementary Schools Division III championship for the second time in five years.

The team defeated Beardon of Okemah 47-31 on Feb. 27 at Seminole State College in Seminole. Beardon was the two-time-defending state champions in Division III, which covers the smallest Oklahoma elementary schools.

Marble City head coach Amos Morgan said it was the fourth straight year Beardon was in the championship game, but his Warriors were prepared. 

“We jumped on them in the first quarter and scored 20 points, and they scored six. And then we scored 15 in the second quarter, so it was 35 to 13 at the half,” he said. “We didn’t play that well the second half. I think the boys just kind of coasted in the second half.” 

Holding a 20-point lead in the second half, Morgan said he put in his substitutes, who only allowed Beardon to score four points before the game ended. 

The Warriors had somewhat of an adventure getting to the championship game. Their bus broke down on Interstate 40 in Okemah about 40 miles from Seminole. 

“We got on the cell phones pretty quick and happened to catch some families going that way and they all pulled in there, picked us up, and took us on to the game,” he said. 

Because Beardon is closer to Seminole than Marble City, Morgan said he thought Beardon fans would be the majority at the game. Marble City is about 110 miles from Seminole. 

“I don’t think their fans were any louder than ours. With them being that close you would have thought they would have a really loud crowd, but our fans were just as loud or louder,” Morgan said. “Of course, we didn’t give them a whole lot to cheer about either. We kind of took the crowd out of the game pretty quick.”

He said his team had good fan support throughout the year and playoffs. The Warriors finished the season with an 18-4 record.

“It means a lot to the kids. They like to be able to see family members and friends from our area. I’m sure it gives them added incentive to perform well,” he said. 

Marble City is located in northern Sequoyah County, and a majority of the student population is Cherokee. The school has a boys ORES hoops title from 2005 and has been to the state championship game three times in the past five years. The school also has won the past three ORES football championships.

Morgan, who has coached at Marble City for 25 years, said work and talent have brought success to the school of 135 students. 

“The kids work hard, and we work them hard, and we’ve got some talent. It’s not going to be that way every year, but it has been that way for the last four or five years,” he said.

Students begin playing basketball in the first and second grades at the school, and boys begin learning the fundamentals of football in the fourth grade. Also, the school offers opportunities to participate in sports throughout the school year, Morgan said. 

He said he is proud of the boys basketball team because it had its ups and downs during the season. He said he told his players it was more important what they did at the end of the season than during the season.

“We needed to be playing our best basketball at the very end, and I really felt that we did that through the regional and area on into the state. We were really shooting well as a team, and I think that carried us to the championship,” Morgan said. 

Reach Staff Writer Will Chavez at (918) 207-3961 or will-chavez@cherokee.org