MAYFIELD – It was not the night they were hoping to have as the Marshals fell to Graves County 31-7 in their second District 1 loss but Head Coach Evan Merrick said there are things they can take away from the game going into next week’s district game at home against Owensboro. Owensboro beat Christian County Friday 27-24 in a game that was decided in double overtime.
“It hurts to lose and we didn’t play our best game tonight but hats off to Graves County”, Coach Merrick said.
Graves County’s first score came on a 27 yard field goal by Rodrigo Garcia and the Eagles would go up 10-0 on a 3-yard touchdown run by Brennen Culp and extra point good by Garcia. They would score again with two minutes to go in the half on a 16 yard touchdown pass from Graves County quarterback Ryan Mathis to Trevor Grant to lead 17-0.
The Eagles put more points on the board with just 43 second left in the first half on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Mathis to Bryce Suiter for a 24-0 lead at halftime. In the 3rd quarter, the Eagles went up 31-0 on a 10 yard pass from Mathis to Jacob Savage with Garcia adding the extra point.
The Marshals avoided the shut out by scoring on a 30 yard pass from Skyler Smith to Tristen Prange with just over four minutes remaining with the extra point kick added by Daniel Gardner.
Brent Weitlauf recovered a Graves County fumble on their next series and a pass interference call moved the Marshals to the eight yard line with a chance to score again. Green went down at the five yard line but they were kept out of the end zone when the Eagles intercepted Smith at the one yard line to secure the 31-7 win.
Mason Green picked up another 90 yards to add to his 675 going into this week as the 4th ranked rushing leader in Class 5A. Skyler Smith was 11th in 5A rankings going into Friday’s game in passing with 637 yards to receivers Lucas Forsythe and Tristen Prange who are ranked 19th and 20th with 239 and 236 yards in receptions.
Mathis utilized nine different receivers in his 19 completions on his way to a 260 yard night in the air as the Eagles move to 2-0 in district play. Graves County has now won the last 11 straight games in their series with the Marshals in the 27th consecutive year the two teams have played.
GAME STATS
First downs: Marshall 10, Graves 16
Penalties: Marshall 4/50, Graves 8/68
Turnovers: Marshall 3, Graves 1
Total Offensive Yards: Marshall 245, Graves 445
Rushing: Marshall 107, Graves 189
Marshall: Green 20/91, Riley 5/29
Graves: Culp 21/89, Mathis 4/47, Whitis 6/40
Passing:
Marshall – Smith 9/18 144 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Graves: Mathis 19/29 260 yards, 3 TDs
Receptions:
Marshall: Forsythe 4/48, Prange 2/40, Utley 2/45
Graves: Grant 5/92, Mills 3/56, Goatley 1/40, Elliott 3/26, Grant 2/24, Culp 3/24
Record: Marshall 3-3, Graves 5-2
