A great four quarters of effort by the Marshals fell short on Friday in a 34-19 loss to a talented Murray High team, one of the top Class 2A teams in the state. The Marshals never quit in their pursuit of putting points on the board despite big plays by the Tigers and a couple of offensive drives that fell just short of finding the endzone.
Murray’s Jeremiah Jones, a Nebraska commit, was a force to contain. Jones picked up over 119 yards on three receptions including one that went 72 yards. Junior quarterback Wyatt Robbins, who came into Friday’s game with over 550 yards in passing, also had a big night for the Tigers. Robbins was 14 of 17 for 273 yards and three for touchdowns.
“We moved the ball well…did some things well”, Head Coach Nick Bloodworth said to WCBL’s Aaron Clayton. “Just didn’t come up in some big moments. If we keep putting ourselves in those positions to make big plays, I believe it will start going our way.”
After Murray went up 14-0 on seven yard and 72-yard touchdown pass completions, the Marshals defense forced a Tigers a punt in the second quarter then proceeded to grind out a clock-eating drive that resulted in a touchdown on a three-yard run by freshman Jake Thomasson. Tommy Robertson tacked on the PAT and the Marshals were on the board trailing 14-7 with 33 seconds left in the half.
Over the next 17 seconds, Murray ran the kickoff back to mid-field and following a facemask penalty on the Marshals, scored on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Robbins to Jones to take a 21-7 lead at halftime.
Marshall County put together another nice drive in the third quarter. Facing first and goal from the two-yard line, they were dropped for losses back to the five before Murray’s Jones intercepted Neyland Jezik and ran it back to midfield. The interception set up a seven-yard touchdown pass from Robbins to Simon Rickman that gave the Tigers a 28-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.
A 75-yard drive by the Marshals was highlighted by a 25-yard reception from Toren Redmond and a fourth down pick up of 16 yards on a reception by Dylan Robinson. Facing third down and inches, a keeper by Jezik found the endzone. The point after was blocked and the Marshals trailed 28-13.
With 1:42 remaining, Murray went up 34-13 on a 35-yard touchdown run by Isaiah Martin that was set up on a big gain on the ground this time by Jones.
On the kickoff, Cash Henson finished off the night with a thrilling 90-yard touchdown return for the Marshals. The two point conversion attempt failed and the Tigers celebrated their second win by a final score of 34-19.
Jezik was 18 of 28 in passing for 208 yards. Leading receivers were Robinson with four receptions for 79 yards and Henson with eight receptions for 75 yards. The Marshals had 150 rushing yards, led by Tomasson with 83 yards on 22 carries and Luke Webber with 49 yards on 12 carries. Leading in tackles was Kolt Lindsey with eight and Noah Short had six.
Marshall County will play at home next Friday against Calloway County. The Lakers are 0-3 with losses to Trigg County, Murray and Fulton County.
Murray 14 7 7 6 – 34
Marshall 0 7 6 6 – 19
