It has been seven years since the Marshals opened a new season with a win, that ended Friday when they defeated Fort Campbell 34-12 at home while amassing over 350 yards in offense. The Marshals opened the last season against Fort Campbell and fell to the Falcons 18-12. Marshall County finished 2017 with a record of 4-6 with wins over Ballard Memorial, Calloway County, Murray and Spencer County.
Receiving the opening kick of the game, the Marshals went three downs and out and were forced to punt. The punt bounced off a Fort Campbell player and was recovered by Ty Buchmeier at the Fort Campbell 43 and they capitalized on their good fortune with a 43 yard touchdown run by Tyler Stevenson with the extra point tacked on by Austin Stockdale for the early 7-0 lead.
Stevenson scored again on the Marshals next possession, receiving a pass from quarterback Tyler Stokes and taking it 57 yards for a 14-0 lead following the extra point kick by Stockdale. Fort Campbell immediately put themselves in scoring position with a kick off return down to the 14 yard line, scoring on a nine yard pass from Matthew Middleton to Tyler MacCay to cut the Marshals lead to 14-6 after the point after attempt was no good.
Fort Campbell successfully completed an on side kick on the following kick-off, catching the Marshals off guard. The possession stalled out and the Marshals took over at their own 25 yard line. The 75 yard drive ended in a 48 yard touchdown by Stokes on a keeper to go up 20-12 after a blocked extra point attempt.
Fort Campbell turned the ball back over to the Marshals on downs then it went back to the Falcons on an interception of Stokes, scoring on fourth down and long on a 25 yard pass from Matthew Middleton to Nathan Lake. The two-point attempt was no good but they cut the Marshals lead to 20-12 which stood until halftime.
The Marshals put seven more points on the board in the third quarter, capping off an 80 yard drive with a 15 yard touchdown run by Austin Riley, extra point good by Stockdale for a 27-12 lead. The final touchdown of the game came in the fourth quarter on a 10 yard run by Riley with Stockdale adding the extra point.
Head Coach Evan Merrick said in post-game comments he thought his team controlled the game from beginning to end and the win set the tone early with a good home environment. The Marshals will travel to Madisonville-North Hopkins next Friday before four straight games at home. Madisonville lost to Owensboro 41-13 Friday.
Of their 358 total yards of offense, 291 came on the ground and 67 in the air. The Marshals were led in rushing by Tyler Stevenson with 7 carries for 92 yards and Luke Wyatt 12 carries for 81 yards. Tyler Stokes was 2 for 5 in pass completions for 67 yards, 58 of those to Stevenson on 1 reception for 58 yards. They were led in tackles by Austin Riley with 16 (8 solo, 8 assists) and Dawson Smothers 8 tackles (5 solo, 3 assist).
Total Offense: Marshall 358, Fort Campbell 199
Rushing: Marshall 291, Fort Campbell 19
Passing: Marshall 67, Fort Campbell 180
Marshall
Rushing: Stevenson 7/92 (1 TD), Wyatt 12/81, Stokes 9/58 (1 TD), Riley 5/25 (2 TD), Buchmeier 5/24, Sorrells 3/8, Wooten 1/3
Receiving: Stevenson 1/57 (1 TD), Buchmeier 1/10
PAT: Stockdale 4/5
Fumble Recovery: Buchmeier 1
Total Tackles: Riley 16, Smothers 8, T. Stevenson 6, Myhand 4, I. Stevenson 4, Young 4, Cline 3, Rayburn 3, Buchmeier 2, Cretsinger, Sorrells, Strader 1