MURRAY – Both teams looking for that elusive first win, Marshall County and Calloway County met at Jack Rose Stadium Friday with the Marshals coming out on top 25-14, holding the Lakers scoreless in the second half of play and to just 43 yards of rushing in the second half.
The Marshals racked up 402 yards of total offense, 257 on the ground led by Dalton Nelson with 34 carriers for 204 yards and a touchdown. Mason Green added 48 yards on 11 carries.
“That was a lot of fun”, Marshall Head Coach Evan Merrick said. “Our kids played with excitement all night long. We had some ups and downs but we knew going in this was going to be a tough ball game. It’s a rivalry game when you play Calloway.”
Calloway struck first after the Marshals failed to get a first down on their opening possession of the game, giving the Lakers great position at mid-field, moving the ball the 50 yards and scoring on a seven yard run by Chandler Cain.
On the Marshals next possession on the first play from scrimmage, Nelson took the ball 53 yards downfield to the Calloway 27 yard line. Unable to convert the first down, Daniel Garnder was sent in for a 32 yard field goal attempt that was no good.
Calloway took over on the 20, making it to mid-field then forced to punt. The punt was blocked by Collin Gunn and picked up by Jacob Mason who took it the distance for a Marshall touchdown. The extra point attempt missed but the Marshals were on the board trailing 7-6.
Just seconds remaining on the clock after the score, the Marshals kick off to the Lakers resulted in a kickoff return for a touchdown by Jacob Bellah to put Calloway up 14-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The Marshals pulled to within two points on a six yard touchdown pass from Skyler Smith to Tristen Prange that was set up by two nice catches from Prange and Lucas Forsythe and a nice run by Nelson. Calloway stopped the two-point conversion play to secure their 14-12 lead.
Calloway’s next possession was stopped in its tracks on 3rd and 15 on a long pass broken up by Nate Johnson putting the Marshals in good position following a nice punt return by Green. The Marshals moved the ball to the 10 but were stopped there, sending Gardner in for a 31 yard field goal attempt that was good for a 15-14 lead with 3:14 left until halftime.
Calloway’s Jeramaiah Malone returned the opening second half kick to the Marshall 26 yard line but the Marshall defense dropped them for loss and broke up a pass to force a punt.
Starting from their own six yard line, the Marshals traveled to the 14, again on two great passes for gains from Smith to Forsythe and Prange, settling for another 31 yard field goal attempt that was blocked.
Three minutes until the end of the third quarter, the Marshals scored on a five yard run by Nelson, picking up the extra point kick to lead 22-14.
The Marshals final score of the game came early in the fourth quarter when Garndner kicked a field goal right through the uprights for a 25-14 lead.
The defense held the Lakers the rest of the quarter, taking over on downs a couple of times and making a good run at another score before running the clock out on their first win of the 2015 season.
“In retrospect, the Ballard loss re-established our focus and the kids played with an urgency we hadn’t played with before”, Merrick said. “They are growing up and responding to adversity which is huge for us.”
“We have a tough road stretch coming up with Murray next week and the district opener against Christian County the next week so I think this gives up the confidence to carry us through the season.”
“They work hard, have a good work ethic so getting them to execute and have confidence in that is really big for us.”
Merrick said his staff made a decision early in the week they were going to work hard to put the kids in good positions and thanked his staff for working hard to prepare them.
Smith on the night was 8 of 20 in pass completions for 145 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Forsythe led in receptions with 5 catches for 105 yards while Prange pulled in 2 for 31 yards.
The Marshals held Calloway to 150 yards in the game, just 5 on the ground and the rest in the air. Dareious Stribling led the Lakers with 22 yards on 10 carries, Cole Stetson was 10 for 25 in passing for 132 yards hitting Malone 3 times for 57 yards.
The Marshals head back to Murray next Friday to face a tough Murray High team who won their first two games of the season over West Greene, TN and Calloway County, losing the last two to Graves County and Hopkinsville 21-13 Friday.
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