Marshall County soccer celebrated Senior Night Thursday, recognizing 17 seniors and their parents between the girl’s and boy’s double-header against Calloway County. The Lady Marshals five seniors are Alli Chancellor, Kylee Crass, Taylor Droke, Lindy King and Kat Howard. Senior boy’s are Tyler Belcher, Drew Coleman, Jackson Dodd, Luke Edwards, Daniel Gardner, Seth Janiec, Bobby Jones, Jacob Kramer, Ben Samson, Austin Stockdale, Quaid Watwood and manager Patrick Lepore.
Both teams earned big wins over district rival Calloway County. The girl’s completed their district sweep of the Lady Lakers in a 2-1 win, securing their #2 seed in the district tournament. Kat Howard put the Lady Marshals on the board first, tied by Calloway County’s Zoe Stom just seconds into the second half. Tori Ford scored for the Lady Marshals at the 26 minute mark in the half for a 2-1 lead. A huge save by keeper Carlen Whirley on a shot by Calloway’s Kallie Garrison at the end saved the game from overtime.
The Lady Marshals had 12 shots, nine on goal and three corners while the Lady Lakers were held to three shots, two on goal and two corners.
A must-win for the Marshals to claim the #1 seed in the district tournament was a physical battle much like the girl’s game. Calloway’s Jacob Smith gave the Lakers the early lead around nine minutes in. Ben Samson tied it for the Marshals nearly 14 minutes later off a corner kick by Quaid Watwood and it remained 1-1 at halftime.
Bruno Luppe put the Laker up 2-1 three minutes into the second half, tied again by the Marshals by Bryson Penn who scored off a corner from Seth Janiec. Samson scored his second goal of the game and the game winner, 3-2, to give the Marshals their first regular season district title since 2014.
“Both of our matches with Calloway this year have been 3-2 and tonight was very similar to the first match in that they came out and scored early…we rebounded, then Calloway scored again…we rebounded, then we found a way to get it done”, Coach Donnie Heath said. “The team tonight won the match. The thing about Calloway is they are very well disciplined and very technical, they are very quick and they’ve got a lot of speed. We are very disciplined and very organized in our shape and I think that came to fruition tonight.”
Heath credited his back line with containing Smith for most of the game, a guy who is going to get chances but felt the team helped to dictate where his chances would come from. Heath said the middle of the field helped dictate play in the game, not allowing Calloway to get forward.
For the game, the Marshals had 19 shots, 11 on goal, two corner, eight fouls that resulted in two yellow cards. The Lakers had five shots, four on goal, two corners, 14 fouls and three yellow cards.
The Marshals, 16-3, will play their final regular season game Tuesday at home against Henderson County (8-6-2).
