Despite seven turnovers, the Mustangs grabbed their first win of the season last week against Graves County, 38-27. Down 27-24 early in the 4th quarter, junior quarterback Elijah Wheat found senior wide receiver Cannon LaFont over the middle for a 53 yard touchdown to give the Mustangs a 31-27 lead. Later in the 4th quarter, Wheat scampered 63 yards for a touchdown to ice the game in McCracken’s favor.
Mayfield got off to a bit of a slow start defensively last Friday against Paducah Tilghman, leading 28-27 after a wild opening quarter. The Cardinals tightened the defense, outscoring Tilghman 23-0 the rest of the way for the 51-27 win over their arch rival for the 13th time in a row; the longest winning streak in the 105-year rivalry.
Mayfield features an offense that can beat you in all facets, and they generally play mistake-free. Junior quarterback Jaden Stinson has been a steady threat for the Cardinals this season. Stinson has thrown for 674 yards in three games with 7 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Stinson’s top target, Diaz Perry, has 10 receptions for 260 yards and two touchdowns.
Senior tailback Kent Trey Matthews leads the ground game for the Cardinals, rushing for 574 yards in three games with 8 touchdowns. Matthews had a career game against Tilghman last week; rushing for 256 yards on 32 carries and four touchdowns.
The Cardinals and the Mustangs
square off Friday night at 7pm at Marquette Stadium.
Both
(1-2) Graves County and (2-1) Paducah Tilghman dropped tough contests
last week; both to teams discussed earlier; McCracken County and
Mayfield.
The Blue Tornado have jumped out to one of their better starts in a long while; winning their first two before the matchup with the Cardinals last Friday night. Even in the loss to Mayfield, Paducah Tilghman showed some fight in the first quarter, trailing 28-27 after one quarter.
Paducah Tilghman has relied heavily on the run the last several seasons and this year has been no different. Last week against Mayfield, the Blue Tornado rushed for 216 yards while passing for 68 yards. Tilghman was able to rush for over 300 yards against Liberty Tech and over 200 yards against McCracken County in the opening week.
Graves County has had mixed results in their first three weeks. In the opening week against Murray, the Eagles had over 300 yards of total offense in a 41-21 win. In the win, the Eagles did give up 297 passing yards. Against Caldwell County two weeks ago, the Eagles took a 15-12 lead into the halftime locker room, but a 16-2 2nd half in favor of the Tigers gave Caldwell the 28-17 win in Mayfield. Then last week, the Eagles committed four turnovers against McCracken County in a game in which Graves had the lead to start the 4th quarter.
Ryan Mathis has passed for 670 yards this season on five touchdown passes and five interceptions. Mathis’ top target, Drew Cooper, has three of Mathis’ five touchdown passes and 234 yards receiving on the season. The ground game this season has been carried by Tavis Brown, who has rushed for 240 yards on 38 carries and three touchdowns.
Graves County and Paducah Tilghman
kick off Friday night at 7pm at Tilghman’s McRight Field.
Friday Night's Games
Crittenden County at Caldwell County
Murray at Fort Campbell
Webster County at Fulton City
Todd County Central at Hopkins County Central
Christian County at Hopkinsville
Union County at Madisonville
Calloway County at Marshall County
Mayfield at McCracken County
Graves County at Paducah Tilghman
Fulton County at Stewart County, TN
Ballard Memorial at Trigg County
Anna-Jonesboro at Massac County
