McCracken County hired Marc Clark to be their new head coach in February, while Paducah Tilghman introduced Steve Duncan to be their new football coach in March.
Clark comes to McCracken County from Hopkinsville, where he built the Tigers into a state contender in Class 5A. Clark inherited a Hopkinsville program in 2011 that had won a total of six games in the previous two seasons before Clark. In his time at Hopkinsville, the Tigers improved their win total each season before finishing a combined 20-4 overall in Clark's final two seasons.
Duncan became the fourth head coach in the past five years for Paducah Tilghman. Duncan is no stranger to this area as well, having coached at Murray High for six seasons from 2008-2013. He was also the defensive coordinator at Lone Oak in 2007.
Even though both coaches are new to the rivalry, they echo each other on their sentiments of excitement with their new school and opening the season against one another Saturday night.
"I have a lot of respect towards Coach Clark and McCracken. They have wonderful facilities, great support, they're well coached, and we are excited to play them Saturday night," said Paducah Tilghman head coach Steve Duncan.
Both Tilghman and McCracken County graduated a large amount of production from their 2016 season. McCracken County graduated 26 seniors from their 2016 team while Paducah Tilghman graduated just 11 seniors, but included Tilghman's starting quarterback Dalton Ferrell, leading rushers Alec Gold and Jordan Overstreet, and leading receivers Hunter Watkins and Howard Smith.
The Mustangs come into the 2017 season looking to find their replacement for quarterback Cash Jones. Jones threw for 2,433 yards his senior season, including 37 touchdowns to only 8 interceptions. Coach Clark admits that is a major void to feel but has two quality applicants fighting for the position.
"The good news for us is that we have two strong candidates for quarterback", McCracken head coach Marc Clark said on the "McCracken County Coaches Show" Wednesday night. "I have confidence in both guys and we'll make a decision on who is starting on Saturday."
Whichever quarterback takes the snaps for McCracken County, he will have a familiar face behind him this season. Senior rusher TaeShawn Allen returns as an invaluable weapon for the Mustangs backfield. Allen was the leading rusher for McCracken County last season, rushing for 676 yards and 9 touchdowns. On the season, Allen also averaged 11.3 yards per rush.
"We have a thunder and lightning running back combo in TaeShawn (Allen) and Zander (Hamby)," Clark said. "They both add valuable components to our offense and are tough to bring down for different reasons."
Another question mark for McCracken County this season will be their offensive and defensive line. The Mustangs graduated seven players that contributed on either the offensive or defensive line, but Clark feels summer camp has provided some solutions in that area.
"I feel like our lines sometimes get overlooked," Clark said. "They have a good mixture of speed and skill and we count on them."
Paducah Tilghman
is looking to fill players in at the skill positions. Replacing dual-threat quarterback Dalton Ferrell will not be an easy
task. Ferrell was the leading passer and 2nd-leading rusher for the
Blue Tornado last season. Ferrell threw for 2,565 yards and 27
touchdowns last season with only seven interceptions. On top of
that, Ferrell rushed for 275 yards last season which was good for
second on the team.
Coach Duncan brings the triple
option offense to Paducah Tilghman. It is an offense centered
around running the football and ball control. Duncan notes that the
success of his offense will be a result of how well his offensive
line is able to block for his tailbacks.
"Our line is
ultra important for us to be effective with our offense," Duncan
said. "We're excited about the progress we've seen throughout
our line."
Round 5 of Paducah Tilghman and McCracken
County has all the makings of a close contest. Every other year has
been a blow out in McCracken's favor, and every other year has been a
close contest in Paducah Tilghman's favor. If the pattern continues,
this is the year for the close game. Coincidentally, the teams are
about as evenly matched as two teams can be. I say it's a close one,
and for the first time in this rivalry, I say the home team
wins.
PREDICTION: McCracken County- 27, Paducah
Tilghman-21
Mayfield at Union City – Many fans circled their calendars when Mayfield and Union City announced
last winter that they would be meeting up on the opening week of the
season. Two of the powerhouse programs in this region square off in
Union City Friday night.
The Cardinals streak of five
consecutive state titles came to an end last season with a state
semifinal loss to Christian Academy of Louisville. On top of that,
the Cardinals lost two invaluable pieces to their offense;
quarterback Landon Arnett and running back Trajon Bright. Arnett
threw for 2,952 yards and 38 touchdowns last season, while Bright
rushed for 1,635 yards and 23 touchdowns last season.
The
Cardinals do return running back Sharntrez Tyler, as well as three of
their top four receivers; senior Jack Murrell, senior Jordan
Harrison, and junior Kent Trey Matthews.
Union City lost a
wealth of players on both sides of the football last season and will
struggle to contain the Cardinals wealth of speed. Union City will
work to keep a tempo in their favor with the veer offense
they run. Keeping ball control could keep Union City close, but I
think Mayfield will be too much in the end.
PREDICTION:
Mayfield- 27, Union City-17
Graves County at Murray
– Football excitement is in the air in the Graves County community,
and it's not only because of the Mayfield Cardinals. The Graves
County Eagles are poised for a big season, and it starts Friday
night as they travel to Murray to take on the Tigers.
The
Eagles have a lot coming back for the 2017 season, especially on the
offensive side of the football. Junior quarterback Ryan Mathis is
looking to add to his sophomore season where he combined for 2,361
all-purpose yards and 22 touchdowns, but he'll have to start his
junior season on the bench with a hamstring injury. Mathis had 1,858
yards passing with 14 touchdowns and 503 yards rushing with 8
touchdowns. Sophomore Cody Goatley will take the place of
Mathis Friday night.
Goatley will have many experienced
targets to throw to Friday night. Graves County returns their
top 4 receivers from last season; seniors Trevor Grant, Jake Mills
and Carson Elliott. Grant led all receivers in receiving yards last
year with 604 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Mills had 434
reception yards and seven touchdowns, and Elliott had 229 yards
receiving and a touchdown.
Fulton City transfer Gabe Harned
looks to receive a lot of the carries in the backfield this season
for Graves County. Senior Chas Whitis had 391 rushing yards on 95
carries and four touchdowns in 2016. Whitis looks to take over for
Brennan Culp, who had 666 rushing yards and nine touchdowns last
season.
The Tigers are on the opposite end of the spectrum in
terms of experience this season. Murray graduated their top two
rushers and top three wide receivers from a team that went 4-8 in
2016.
The Tigers are returning sophomore quarterback Hunter
Utley. Utley had a fine freshman campaign, passing for 1,604 yards
and 9 touchdowns on 118 pass completions.
The potential is
there for the Eagles to have a big 2017 season. Graves County will
have too much experience and fire power for Murray. I'm taking the
road team in this one.
PREDICTION: Graves County- 24,
Murray- 6
Other Games of Local Interest:
Trigg County at Monroe County
South Fulton, TN at Ballard Memorial
Christian County at Caldwell County
Marshall County at Ft. Campbell
Greenfield, TN at Fulton City
Gleason, TN at Fulton County
Webster County at Hopkins County Central
Owensboro at Madisonville
Hopkinsville at South Warren
Crittenden County at Stewart County, TN