The Marshall County Tigers played in a rare Thursday night contest at Tullahoma and the change did not bother them in the least as they destroyed the Wildcats 30-6 to exact some revenge from a pair of losses last season to Tullahoma, including a season-ending playoff loss.

“We had to do stuff quicker this week, we didn’t quite get as many reps as we are used to in practice, so hats off to the kids for absorbing the game plan when we had less time to put it in,” MCHS coach Thomas Osteen said. “By no means did we play perfect, but I feel we controlled all three phases of the game tonight.”

The Tigers struck quick and they struck often, taking a 20-0 first quarter lead off a pair of big plays and two Jon Estes’ field goals.

MCHS won the opening coin toss and elected to receive in the Region 4/4A contest, but went three-and-out.

The Tiger defense returned the favor, stopping the Wildcats on three plays to force a punt that was fielded by Devon Wilson at the Tullahoma 18-yard line.

Wilson juked up the middle and then broke to the outside where he beat the Tullahoma special teams to the sideline and raced untouched for a touchdown that fired up the entire Marshall County sideline and the bevy of travelling faithful in Wilkins Stadium.

“Devon is a special player, I’m happy he is back with us, he tore an ACL and had some family situations and didn’t play any football last year,” Osteen said. “When you throw him in the mix with our other skill guys, I think that makes us pretty dynamic.”

On Tullahoma’s next offensive possession, Logan McKnight busted through the line and put pressure in Tullahoma’s quarterback Ben Fulton’s face, forcing a bad pass that was intercepted by senior linebacker Andrew Gold at the 27-yard line.

The Tigers drove the length of the field, but had to settle for an Estes 24-yard field goal that made it 10-0 with 6:39 remaining in the first quarter.

Marshall County’s defense held firm again, forcing another Tullahoma three-and-out and took over at their own 32-yard after a Wildcats’ punt.

“We lost twice to them last year, so the defense came into this game saying we would not take no for an answer,” senior defensive end Kaylin Talley said. “Our game plan was to get revenge, we had a chip on our shoulder and we wanted to get it off.”

Kel Greer banged for two yards on first down before Tiger signal caller Bryson Hammons found running back Javarria Rucker wide open behind the Tullahoma defense for a 66-yard touchdown.

Things got even worse for Tullahoma as the Tigers snuffed them out in three plays and a wild snap on the fourth down punt gave MCHS the ball at the Wildcats’ 9-yard line.

The Tigers went backwards on a holding call and Estes drilled another 24-yard field goal to make it 20-0 with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.

“He is such a special kicker, in high school football not many teams have that good of a kicker,” Osteen said. “I hope I don’t jinx him, but I think he is 5-for-5 now, he loves what he is doing and I’m sure he is making coach (Tony) Johnson proud up there right now.”

The Wildcats offense was stymied the remainder of the first half by the Marshall County defense, turning it over on downs on their two second quarter possessions and Estes added a 28-yard field goal in to the wind with 39 seconds remaining in the first half to give Lewisburg a 23-0 halftime lead.

“The wind was pretty rough on that side, the flag was really blowing hard,” Estes said. “We got the ball down with the laces right, so it was a good hold, a good snap and I just kicked it through.”

Tullahoma received the second half kickoff and managed to get one first down before disaster struck again when they fumbled and McKnight recovered the loose ball at the Wildcats’ 42-yard line.

Nine plays later, Rucker found the end zone on a run from three yards out and Estes added the PAT boot to make it 30-0 with 6:55 left in the third quarter.

“We came out on fire tonight,” Rucker said. “We had a couple of drives that ended in field goals, we would have liked to score touchdowns, but three points are alright.”

“This is a good feeling, it’s a great feeling actually, they made us rack our pads last year in the second round of the playoffs and we got em back, we got em back. Now we have to keep it rolling.”

The Tigers went in to a prevent defense and Tullahoma managed to put some points on the board when Fulton found Quintin Howard on a 24-yard pass and run to the end zone.

The PAT snap was fumbled with 4:19 remaining in the third quarter with Marshall County comfortably in front 30-6.

The Tiger defense stopped Tullahoma’s final two drives of the game on a Christian Stacey interception and a fourth down stop with 4:34 left in the game.

“They scored six points on a lousy drive that we had,” Talley said. “We had a talk at halftime and we were not going to let up, we knew they were going to come out wanting to score, so I’m just glad our guys kept the momentum.”

Marshall County burned the rest of the time off the clock to move to 3-0 for the first time since 2016 when they started 5-0.

The number seven ranked Tigers host Shelbyville this week at Preston Hopkins Field in Lewisburg in a non-conference matchup with kickoff set for 7 p.m.

“I’m really happy with where we are at,” Osteen said. “It’s a good start, obviously our region games are is what most important the rest of the way.”

“Shelbyville is one of the most talented teams in the state, so it will be a huge challenge for us next week, so I’m excited.”

Shelbyville (2-1) lost 34-29 at Page Friday night and have dropped three straight games (2014, 2017, 2018) to MCHS after a three-game winning streak (2009, 2010, 2013).

“Last year we went through a lot of adversity with a lot of players hurt,” Talley said. “This year we came together as a team, as seniors and said if we want to accomplish our goals, we really have to work for it. I’m super excited, I just hope we go undefeated and I’m looking forward to the playoffs.”

Marshall County 20 3 7 0-30

Tullahoma 0 0 6 0-6

Scoring

First Quarter

Marshall County-Devon Wilson 72-yard punt return, Jon Estes PAT, 10:18.

Marshall County-Jon Estes 24-yard FG, 6:39.

Marshall County-Javarria Rucker 66-yard pass from Bryson Hammons, Jon Estes PAT, 4:46.

Marshall County-Jon Estes 24-yard FG, 0:46.

Second Quarter

Marshall County-Jon Estes 28-yard FG, 0:04.

Third Quarter

Marshall County-Javarria Rucker 2-yard run, Jon Estes PAT, 6:55.

Tullahoma-Quintin Howard 24-yard pass from Ben Fulton, PAT NG, 4:19.

Marshall County Offense

Total Yards (229): Rushing 91, Passing 138.

Rushing: Kel Greer 19-71, Javarria Rucker 10-17, Devon Wilson 1-3, Bryson Hammons 4-0.

Passing: Bryson Hammons 8-15-138-TD.

Receiving: Javarria Rucker 3-69, A’Ky Howard 1-47, Devon Wilson 4-22.

Kicking

PAT: Jon Estes 3-3.

FG: Jon Estes 3-3.

Kickoffs: Jon Estes 6-385-2TB.

Punting: Joseph Gold 4-109.

Returns

Kickoffs: Riqkyous Summers 1-1, Connor Hilton 1-0.

Punts: Devon Wilson 1-73-TD.

Turnovers: 0.

Defense

Tackles: Conner Hilton 10, Andrew Gold 8 (2 TFL, INT), Devonte Davis 8 (INT), Keylin Talley 7 (2 TFL), Chandler Davis 7 (TFL), Riqkyous Summers 6, Christian Stacey 6 (3 TFL, INT), Kaden Whitson 5, Tez Allen 4 (3 TFL, 2 SACKS), Logan McKnight 3 (TFL, FUM REC)), Hayden Sheppard 3, Kel Greer 2, Devon Wilson 1, Kortez Ingram 1, Kenneth Turner 1, Parker Little (TFL), Terry Gulley 1 (TFL).