Playing Ballard Memorial for the seventh straight year, the Marshals have won the last six and lead the overall series 9-2 since their first game in 1975. Friday at home, Marshall County handily won the seventh straight over the Bombers 62-0 in their home season-opener. It was the most points in a game for the Marshals since the August 31, 2018 record-setting game against the Bombers they won 70-52.
Coach Steve Etheridge enters his second season as the Marshals head coach. They finished 3-6 in last year’s unusual season.
Friday’s season-opener started off with Ballard turning the ball over after receiving the opening kick and the Marshals turned it into points, scoring on a 19 yard run by junior Landon Utley after Aiden Dunigan, a sophomore, had big gains of 20 yards on the first play from scrimmage and another gain of 18. Sophomore kicker Logan Parker tacked on the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The Bombers fumbled on the first play of their next possession at the three yard line. Dunigan took it the three yards into the end zone and with Parker’s extra point kick it was 14-0 at 8:18 in the first quarter.
Taking over on downs at the Bombers 25 yard line, senior quarterback Quinn Smith connected with fellow senior Riley Smith on a 25 yard touchdown pass for 20-0 lead with 4:27 left in the first quarter.
A Ballard fumble recovered by the Marshals gave them great field position once again which set up a 30 yard run by Utley to the four followed by a keeper by Smith for the TD – Parker added the extra point and the lead was 27-0 to end the first quarter.
The second quarter began on a four yard touchdown run by Dunigan, the extra point good by Parker for a 34-0 lead and it stretched to 41-0 on a 12 yard touchdown run by junior Kameron Bowerman with another extra point tacked on by Parker.
The lead was 48-0 at halftime after Dunigan went 23 yards for his third touchdown of the game and extra point attempt good by Parker. The Marshals scored on all seven of their first half possessions and the defense held the Bombers to just 14 total yards in the half.
The second half opened on an 80 yard kick off return for a touchdown by senior Logan Reese and with the Parker extra point attempt good, it was a 55-0 lead in a half that went quickly with a running clock. The final touchdown of the night came on a five yard run by sophomore Jackson Mahmet and kick through the uprights by Parker to finish out the 62-0 win.
For the game, the Marshals had over 308 yards in total offense, most coming on the ground with 267 yards on 23 carries. Mahmet led the Marshals in rushing with 85 yards on eight carries. Dunigan had 83 yards on six carries, Utley 53 yards on four carries and 37 yards on two carries. Smith was 2/3 in passing for 41 yards. The Bombers ended the night with 25 total yards of offense.
Next Friday, the Marshals will play at Fulton County.
Marshall 27 21 7 7 – 62
Ballard 0 0 0 0 – 0
