Seth Strader found the net just one and a half minutes into the game on a penalty kick taken directly in front of the goal following a foul on Graves County for an early 1-0 Marshall County lead. That one goal lead held until the final seconds of the game, when Ricardo Morales scored in stoppage time to send the district game into overtime.
Scoreless through two five-minute overtime periods, the game went into penalty kicks. Daniel Gardner set up first for the Marshals and found the net, tied moments later by Morales for Graves County. Nate Moore converted his PK but it was called off, according to the referee taken before the ready signal by the keeper, then missed on his second try.
Graves County keeper Luis Macias would save the next three Marshall County PK attempts by Seth Strader, Ben Samson and Austin Stockdale while Evan Darnell and Juan Carrillo both sent theirs past Marshall keeper Tyler Belcher to win 3-1 in PK’s.
Marshall County Coach Donnie Heath gave credit to the Eagles for fighting to the very end, adding that they knew Morales is the type of player that just needs one or two opportunities to put the ball in the back on the net.
“In overtime we really felt like we were on the front foot and had some chances and when it gets to penalties, you never know”, Heath said. “We didn’t help ourselves out much tonight. We played hard…I don’t want to take anything away from the boys, we played hard, but we didn’t play as smart as we have in the last few games.”
Heath added, “In a district rivalry game, it can come down to one little play here and there and that was the case tonight.”
Following this weekend’s annual camping trip, the Marshals (7-4-1) will have two important district games Tuesday at home against Mayfield (3-8-1) and Thursday at Calloway County (9-2-1).
