Marshall County’s last win over Graves County came in 2005 and they have lost the last 15 since. The Eagles came into Friday’s game 7-2 – their two losses to Mayfield 35-21 and Owensboro 35-28. At 3-6, the Marshals were coming off a 27-26 win over Warren Central after six straight losses.
Scoreless through the first quarter, the Marshals took the opportunity to take the first lead early in the second quarter but missed a 43 yard field goal attempt. Graves County found the end zone with two minutes left until halftime on a 59 yard run by senior Mason Grant to lead 7-0.
The Eagles opened the second half on a 33 yard field goal by Conner Thomas to lead 10-0. They went on to score two more times in the third quarter on 20 and 28 yard runs by senior running back Clint McKee to lead 24-0 going into the fourth quarter. McKee averaged 137 yards per game coming into Friday with 1,231 rushing yards.
One more TD scored by McKee who finished with 167 yards on 24 carries, put the Eagles up 31-0 in the fourth quarter. The Marshals avoided the shutout, scoring on a three yard run by Landon Utley.
Utley finished with 33 yards on 19 carries and Quinn Smith 23 yards on seven carries for 56 of their 72 rushing yards. Smith was 4-of-11 in passing for 49 yards. Gavin Clark was the leading receiver with two receptions for 29 yards. Utley led the team in total tackles with 10, Keadon Ford with eight and five players finished with six tackles.
Graves County had 428 yards of total offense, 332 coming on the ground on 37 carries. McKee led with 167 of those yards followed by Grant with 103 on five carries. Quarterback Drake Defreitas was 9-of-19 in passing for a total of 96 yards. Grant was his leading receiver with six receptions for 50 yards.
The Marshals season will continue on Friday in the Class 6A State Football Playoffs when they take on Trinity (Louisville) (3-7) in Louisville in one of 16 first round games. Graves County will open play in the Class 5A Playoffs at home against Breckinridge County (4-6).
Graves 0 7 17 7 – 31
Marshall 0 0 0 7 – 7