MAYFIELD – Watching and listening to the players on and off the field, you could tell that these guys really wanted to win, but enjoyed every moment of the opportunity to once again suit up and hit the grid iron. After four quarters of intense, full contact football, the Marshall County Alumni prevailed with a 10-8 win over Graves County Friday at Eagle Stadium.
The Marshals took a 3-0 lead in the third quarter on a Kevin Byars (1983) 22 yard field goal. Preceding the field goal, Marshall’s Kendale Winsett (2001) recovered a blocked Graves County punt at the 12 yard line. Unable to get the ball into the end zone, the Marshals settled for the field goal.
Byars, who earned Special Teams Player of the Game honors, followed his successful field goal attempt with a kickoff into the end zone, forcing the Eagles to set up their offense from the 20 yard line.
Highlights of the second quarter included a 4th and 5 situation for the Marshals who, under the direction of quarterback Steven Barga (2008), 
pulled off a Graves County player with the count for the five yard penalty and a first down.
Two plays later, Barga’s pass was tipped a couple of times before falling into the hands of Graves County.
Graves was forced to punt the ball back over to the Marshals but on their next possession, made their way to the two yard line following a nice completed pass by Graves County’s quarterback who just entered the game following an injury to the starting quarterback.
The Marshals defense held Graves County, taking the ball over just inches from the goal line.
Forcing the Marshals to punt with 1:02 left until halftime, the Eagles set up on their own 40 yard line airing a pass that was picked off by Marshall’s Chase Buchanan (2012) who took the ball 75 yards back down the field in what looked to be a touchdown, but due to a penalty, the ball was brought back to the 34 yard line.
With 10 seconds until halftime, the Marshals had to turn the ball back over to the Eagles, ending the first half with a 3-0 lead.
After a storm blew through that added a little more time to the halftime break, the teams took the field for the second half.
The third quarter was highlighted by a pass downfield from Barga to Josh Moreland (2006) and a couple nice carries by Andy Kuhens (2006) before sending Byars in for a 38 yard field goal attempt that had the distance but was wide right.
The fourth quarter didn’t disappoint, as the Marshals completed a pass to Buchanan to the 15 yard line with a run by Nolan Nichols (2014) to the goal line. Nichols, named Offensive Player of the Game, took the ball in for a touchdown and the extra point attempt by Byars was good for a 10-0 Marshall lead.
Once again, the Marshals goal line defense kept the Eagles out of the end zone, but after taking over on downs, the Eagles brought down the Marshals in the end zone for a safety, avoiding the shut out.
Not done yet, the Eagle’s Evan Jefferson (2011) returned a punt 73 yards for a touchdown with 1:38 left in the game. Going for the tie, the two-point conversion attempt was no good.
Graves County attempted an on-side kick in an effort at one last chance to score, but were unsuccessful, as the clock ticked down on a very competitive and entertaining Alumni Game.
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