The Marshall County Tigers (4-5, 2-2) kept their playoff hopes alive on senior night, downing Stratford 32-20 in the cold Friday night at Preston Hopkins Field in Lewisburg.

"It was a very ugly played game," said MCHS head coach Aaron Pitts. "But our kids kept fighting, kept executing, kept trying to do things the right way and in the end they kept battling and made some plays to get us the win."

Just two players ran the ball for Marshall County with Bennielle Hill and Austin Stacey combining for 279 yards on the ground as Hill ran for 140 yards and one touchdown, while Stacey ran for 139 yards and made two trips into the Spartans' end zone.

Cold's effect

"Offensively, we just couldn't get in the passing rhythm with it being so cold," said Pitts. "They were going man coverage and basically daring us to run the football, so we took advantage of that and the offensive line did a great job."

Chris Walker returned the opening kickoff to the 40-yard line where the Tigers went on the march, eating up five minutes off the clock on eleven plays that ended on the Stratford one-yard line when MCHS fumbled the ball and the Spartans recovered in the end zone.

The Tiger defense was up to the task as they stopped Stratford cold, coming up with a big third down sack as Antonio Shelton, Quante Alderson, Chris Walker, and Bryson Alexander met in the backfield to down Spartan quarterback Kenneth Jones.

On the ensuing Tiger drive, Aaron Medley nailed a 32-yard field goal to put MCHS in front 3-0 with eight ticks remaining in the first quarter.

Defensive stand

Marshall County stayed firm on the defensive side of the ball with Jay Murphy, Alderson, and Sven Jorgenson coming up with big plays during the next Stratford series that ended with a punt.

Once again, MCHS drove the ball deep into Spartans territory before fumbling away another scoring chance at the Stratford 10-yard line.

Two plays later, Bake Darnell jumped on a loose ball for the Tigers and Hill scored from 10 yards out moments later.

Medley added the extra point as MCHS took a 10-0 lead and that would be the score at the half.

Quick response

Both squads could not get anything going on their initial possessions of the second half before the Spartans finally got on the board at the 6:13 mark of the third quarter when Jones capped off a 59-yard scoring drive with a one-yard TD run.

Stratford tried for the two-point conversion, but Alderson picked off Jones in the end zone, making it a 10-6 contest.

Walker, who has come up several huge special teams returns this season did it again, racing 86 yards for a touchdown with the ensuing kickoff to make it a 17-6 ballgame.

A big play by Murphy on a third down stop killed the next Stratford drive, forcing a punt that was downed on the MCHS 31-yard line.

Critical score

The Tiger offense came up with a crucial scoring drive on the series that covered 69 yards, capped off by 27-yard TD scamper by Stacey.

Medley's extra point was true as MCHS took a 25-6 lead with just under 12 minutes to play in the game.

The Spartans would not fold the tent yet, driving 49 yards in less than two minutes to the Marshall County 9-yard line where Terrance Valentine ran the ball in for a score.

Jones threw to KeAnthony Hicks for the two-point conversion, making it 25-14.

Insurance points

MCHS answered the call on their next offensive series that went for 59 yards before Stacey scored from nine yards out with 6:09 remaining in the game.

This time, Alex Swain booted the extra point as the Tigers built a 32-14 lead.

Valentine returned the ensuing MCHS kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown and the Spartans recovered an onside kick with just less than six minutes to go in the game.

The Tiger defense would have none of it, stoning the Spartans on four consecutive downs to take over the ball and put the game on ice.

Playoff hopes

MCHS currently sits in the bottom four slots for the final first-round playoff spot and faces a monumental challenge when they travel to Sam Davis Park for Friday night's regular season finale versus No. 8 Giles County (7-2, 3-1).

"We can't worry about all the other stuff, we just have to try to win the next game on our schedule," said Pitts. "For us, that is Giles County and that means a big deal to this town, this community and to these kids, so hopefully we can come out and execute and win," said Pitts.

The Tigers have not beaten the Bobcats in Pulaski since 2004, when they posted a 49-14 win.