BENTON – Marshall County’s Dawson Jolley and Murray’s Cole Riley each with the hat-trick in the Marshals and Tigers early season District 2 contest Thursday at Colburn Stadium, for six of the nine total goals in the game. Jolley’s three goals gives him five in the first two games of the season.
Riley scored the Tigers first goal of the game 18 minutes in on a penalty kick then Marshall’s Daniel Gardner tied the game 1-1 just two minutes later.
Three minutes later, Jolley would score to give the Marshals a 3-1 lead and the first half scoring didn’t end there as Riley added his second goal of the game just under six minutes until the half to tie the game at 2-2.
Jolley made it 3-2 early in the second half followed by another Gardner goal to put the Marshals up 4-2.
Murray made it a 4-3 game on a goal by Gustoavo Leon then tied the game once again on Riley’s second PK of the game after a foul on Marshall in the box.
Jolley completed his hat-trick with his third goal going one on one with Murray keeper Bryce Robinson, to give the Marshals a 5-4 lead with just under six minutes remaining. The Marshals successfully ran out the clock to hold on for the win.
Just off of a lengthy injury himself, Jolley is stepping up for the Marshals filling the void left by Caleb McNeely, last season’s second leading scorer, who is out for the season with an ACL injury.
“When someone goes down, we step up”, Jolley said. “If my team needs me, I just try to do my best for them. We played hard, they played hard, and we’re just happy to come out with the victory.”
Head Coach Andy Pagel said he knew it would be this kind of game but thought the score would be lower.
“I don’t like a score like this”, Pagel said. “It’s way too many too many goals to allow them.”
The Marshals led in shots 25-9 and shots on goal 13-7, giving up two goals to Murray on penalty kicks. Marshall keeper Keagen Watkins had seven saves and Robinson three for Murray.
“Our defense is getting so much of our offense started”, Pagel said. “We feel like we can move people around to get the right match-ups. The kids have been so responsive in following the game plan. They are trying so hard to do a good job.”
The Marshals aren’t wasting any time getting into the heart of their district schedule with three district games scheduled next week starting with Mayfield at home Monday, at Graves County on Tuesday and back home Thursday against Calloway County.
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