It was a big night for Christian County junior quarterback JLin Powell who ran for two touchdowns and threw for four touchdowns in the Colonels 47-10 win over Marshall County Friday in the first district games for both teams. The defending 5A District 1 champions went undefeated last season until their loss in the second round of the state playoffs to South Warren.
The Colonels scored on their opening possession of the game, capping off a 50 yard drive with a three yard touchdown run by Powell with a two-point conversion run by Jadonavin McNeil to lead 8-0. Their second touchdown of the first quarter came with a minute left on a 28 yard touchdown pass from Powell to LRay Coleman with the PAT good for a 15-0 lead.
The Marshals opened the second quarter with a nice 53 yard pass from Tyler Stokes to Austin Riley to the Christian County 27 yard line followed by a gain of 16 yards by Isaac Stevenson and got on the board with a 27 yard field goal by Austin Stockdale.
A 48 yard kick return for the Colonels set up their third touchdown, a 17 yard pass from Powell to Nathaniel McGregor and a 21-3 lead at 5:53 in the quarter. Christian County scored on an eight yard run by Fred Tandy with 59 seconds on the clock to lead 27-3 and a fumble by the Marshals led to a final first half touchdown for the Colonels with seven seconds remaining, scoring on a 48 yard run by McGregor to lead 34-3 halftime.
Christian County opened the second half with an 85 yard touchdown drive, scoring on a one yard run by Emarion Davie to go up 41-3 at 8:28 in the third quarter which began the running clock. The Colonels went up 47-3 on a 42 yard touchdown run by Isaiah Forest at the end of the third quarter.
The Marshals scored their only touchdown of the game on a 68 yard drive ending on a one yard touchdown run by Devon Evans and the point after good by Stockdale. This was Evans first game back from an injury and he wore #5 in honor of his friend Preston Cope. The Marshals were without leading rusher Ty Buchmeier due to an injury, expected to be back next week against Graves County.
“We’re making the same mistakes and until you correct it, that’s the issue we’re dealing with here…we’ve got to protect the football…establish drives”, Coach Evan Merrick said. “Early in the first half we had a chance to punch one in and momentum is such a huge thing and this game’s played by it, guys feed off of it. You play a very good team, you make mistakes and they’re going to turn around and beat you with it.”
Merrick added the team is still trying to find their stride and they will go on the road next Friday to play Graves County, a team the Marshals should get up for. A rival the Marshals haven’t beaten since the 2005 season. The Eagles are 2-4 with wins coming over Murray 41-21 in the first game of the season and a big win Friday 64-49 over Apollo.
Rushing yards: Marshall 90, Christian 292
Passing yards: Marshall 82, Christian 132
Marshall leading rushers: Stokes 7/35, Stevenson 3/17, Wooten 7/13, Riley 6/11
Christian leading rushers: McNeil 10/104, Forest 5/71, Tandy 2/46, Douglas 1/42
Marshall passing: Stokes 2/5 82 yards
Christian Passing: Powell 7/13 132 yards (4 TDs)
Christian leading receivers: McGregor 5/97 (2 TDs), Coleman 1/28 (TD)
Record: Marshall 3-3, Christian 3-2
