Advertisement

Rivalry Games Highlight First Week of HS Football

Rivalry Games Highlight First Week of HS Football
Advertisement
By Eric Chumbler
Aug. 17, 2017 | WESTERN KENTUCKY
By Eric Chumbler Aug. 17, 2017 | 10:44 AM | WESTERN KENTUCKY
For the fifth year in a row, McCracken County and Paducah Tilghman highlight the opening week of high school football in the area, and for the fifth year in a row, there are new head coaches getting their introductions into the rivalry.

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


ADVERTISEMENT
Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement
ADVERTISEMENT