The Marshals met a much improved Paducah Tilghman team in Tuesday’s First Region semi-final, a team they beat in the very first game of the season 7-0, but the win this time around did not come easy. Tilghman scored first just a minute in by Jackson Mundy, answered by Marshall County’s Daniel Gardner 12 minutes into the half and it would remain a 1-1 game at halftime.
Just over 16 minutes into the second half, Bryson Penn missed just left of the goal and a nice look by Austin Stockdale was deflected up over the goal by the Tilghman keeper but at the 22:30 mark, Gardner found the net for his second goal and a 2-1 win for the Marshals.
Coach Donnie Heath felt his team came out flat and was not up for the battle that the Tornados gave them for 80 minutes Tuesday night.
“The first game of the year and the last game of the year for them, was Marshall County, and I think it’s fair to say they’ve improved greatly”, Heath said. Adding that things the team did all year, they didn’t do against Tilghman but was happy to come out with the win and a berth in the regional final against a Calloway County team they will play for the fourth time this season.
Calloway County came from behind to beat McCracken County 3-1 to advance to the Thursday’s title game, getting all three goals from senior Jacob Smith, a player they held to no goals in last week’s district championship game the Marshals won 2-0.
The Marshals had 23 shots, 10 on goal, seven corners and nine fouls. Tilghman had six shots in the game, six on goal, two corners and 11 fouls.
Thursday’s game will start at 6:00 at Marshall County.
