The Marshall County Tigers fell to 0-2 on Friday night when they lost 49-14 on the road to a strong Independence Eagle squad, which currently has three players committed to play for SEC schools.

MCHS got off to a promising start, as senior quarterback Austin Stacey hit wide out Chris Walker for a 66-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

Independence would quickly counterpunch and tied the game at 7-7 in the opening period when quarterback Caleb Hollis hooked up with University of Tennessee commit RaShaan Gaulden for an 11-yard touchdown pass.

Future Vols star

Fellow UT commit Vic Wharton then took over the game for the Eagles in the second quarter. After breaking loose for a 78-yard touchdown run to stake Independence to a 14-7 lead, Wharton returned a Marshall County punt 60 yards for a score to make it 21-7 prior to hauling in a 15-yard TD pass from Hollis to give the Eagles a 28-7 advantage at halftime.

Independence continued to rapidly distance themselves from the Tigers in the third quarter, as Wharton scored a four-yard touchdown jaunt to stretch their lead to 35-7 before the Eagles opened up a 42-7 advantage on a 2-yard TD run by Daniel Wright.

The Tigers trimmed the deficit to 42-14 late in the third quarter when freshman tailback Bennielle Hill raced 76-yard yards for a touchdown. Wright then scored on a two-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to cap Independence's 49-14 victory.

Defensive woes

Marshall County struggled defensively for the second straight week, as the Eagles piled up 438 yards of total offense, which included 267 yards rushing. Wharton spearheaded Independence's ground attack by rushing for 103 yards on just four carries. Wright also tallied 80 yards rushing for the Eagles on 12 carries, while Hollis toted the ball seven times for 63 yards.

Hollis complemented Independence's running game by completing 12-of-22 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns to go along with one interception. Eagle backup quarterback Isaac Weston completed 2-of-4 passes for 21 yards and rushed for 21 yards on three carries as well.

Gaulden paced Independence's receiving corps by hauling in four passes for 72 yards, while Seth Hunter added three receptions for 29 yards. Wharton, Nathan Johnson, and Dion Simms also had two catches apiece for 25, 22, and 17 yards respectively.

Tiger stats

Aided by their two long scoring plays, the Tigers finished with 371 yards from scrimmage overall. Marshall County did most of their damage on the ground and churned out 265 yards on 42 carries. Hill was the biggest bright spot for MCHS and rushed for a career high 174 yards on 17 carries. Damian Richard and Austin Stacey each toted the ball 10 times for 46 and 31 yards respectively as well.

Stacey struggled throwing the ball against the Eagles talented secondary, which included Gaulden and Missouri commit Finis Stribling, as he completed just 3-of-13 passes for 103 yards and one touchdown to go along with one interception. Walker and Kacey Pleas each caught one pass for 66 and 41 yards respectively.

Marshall County returns to action on Friday night when they host District 12-AA rival Page at Preston Hopkins Field. Kickoff is at 7:00.