Northpoint Christian, Miss. rolled into Marshall County on Friday coming off of two losses – a 56-46 loss to Jackson Christian, Tenn. and a 74-69 loss to Brighton, Tenn. The Marshals came into the game 2-0 with wins over Ballard Memorial 62-0 and Fulton County 46-6.
Friday belonged to Northpoint Christian, whose balanced offense put up 35 first half points, scoring their sixth touchdown early in the second half to lead 42-0 on their way to their first win of the season. The Marshals avoided the shutout with a touchdown by Landon Utley and PAT by Logan Parker.
A hungry Trojans team wasted no time getting on the board on their first possession, a 76 yard drive that ended in a two yard touchdown run by sophomore Andrew Temko, the extra point good to lead 7-0.
It was the start of five touchdowns in the half for Northpoint Christian while holding the Marshals to just one first down and under 10 net yards.
They went up 14-0 on a 55 yard drive that ended on a three yard touchdown run by senior Josh Fisher. With good field position again at midfield, the Trojans scored on a 42 yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jack Patterson to Christian Gilliland and the lead was 21-0.
A 31 yard pass from Patterson to senior James Smith to the one was finished off with a one yard touchdown run by Ethan Perepichay at 7:50 in the second quarter. Their final touchdown of the first half came after facing third and 20 from the seven yard line, Patterson found Jackson Thomason to get out of the hole and they went on to score on a 10 yard run by Fisher.
Most of Northpoint Christian’s yardage came in the first half with nearly 300 total yards split pretty evenly on the ground and in the air.
Their final touchdown of the night came early in the third quarter on a one yard run by Grayson Alford after the Trojans drive began at midfield.
The Marshals touchdown drive was highlighted by a couple of nice gains by Utley who finished it out with a run to the one yard line, then in for the touchdown.
In his post-game comments, Coach Steve Etheridge said, “We just got to get better. There were mistakes all over the place. We weren’t prepared and that’s on me.”
Unofficially, the Marshals finished with just under 100 yards of total offense, almost all coming in the second a half. Utley led in rushing with 56 yards on seven carries. The Trojans had over 200 yards on the ground of their nearly 370 total yards. They were led by Fisher with 91 and two touchdowns while Patterson was 12-of-17 in passing for 153 yards.
They will head to Calloway County next Friday to play the 1-3 Lakers who opened with a 31-13 loss to Henderson County followed by a 33-27 loss to Murray. Friday they picked up their first win of the season 42-6 over Fulton County.
Northpoint Christian 14 21 7 0 – 42
Marshall County 0 0 0 7 – 7
