The Marshall County Tigers (12-1) turned in a superior defensive effort in Friday night's Class 4A quarterfinal at East Hamilton, limiting the Hurricanes to just 134 yards of total offense in a 17-7 win.

MCHS sacked East Hamilton quarterback Nick Woods six times in the contest, including two in the final two minutes that sealed the victory.

With the win, the Tigers became only the third team in school history to reach the state semifinals.

MCHS won the 2A state championship in 1984 with a perfect 14-0 record.

The Tigers travel to Knoxville Catholic (9-4) for their semifinal match-up versus the Fighting Irish, 35-21 winners at Greenville.

MCHS Mr. Football finalist Ashton Posey came out of the contest with a few bumps and bruises, but still passed for 125 yards and ran for 24 more as the Tigers played ball control offense, rushing the football 52 times for 238 yards.

Josh Franklin led the ground assault with 104 yards on just nine touches, while Kamron Liggett was the workhorse, toting the rock 28 times for 80 yards and scoring both of Marshall County's touchdowns in the game.

Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of the Tribune.

Marshall County 7 7 3 0 -- 17

East Hamilton 7 0 0 0 -- 7

First Quarter

MC -- Kamron Liggett 3 run (Caleb Estes kick), 8:16.

EH -- Jeffrey Coleman 87 pass from Nick Woods (Jake McClure kick), 7:18.

Second Quarter

MC -- Liggett 1 run (Estes kick), 11:02.

Third Quarter

MC -- FG Estes 39, 5:55.

MC EH

First Downs 19 5

Rushes-Yards 52-238 23-34

Passing Yards 125 89

Comp-Att-Int 13-21-2 7-17-0

Total Yards 73-363 40-123

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

Punts-Avg 0-0 2-16.5

Penalties-Yds 10-70 5-30

INDIVIDUALS

RUSHING -- Marshall County: Josh Franklin 9-104, Kamron Liggett 28-80, Ashton Posey 8-24, Jay Howard 4-14, Tre Crutcher 2-8, Miciah Greer 1-8; East Hamilton: David Whiteside 12-40, Andrew Sturdivant 3-13, Frankie Campo 1-0, Woods 7-minus 19.

PASSING -- Marshall County: Posey 13-20-2 125, Howard 0-1-0 0; East Hamilton: Nick Woods 7-17-0 89.

RECEIVING -- Marshall County: Crutcher 5-94, Howard 6-22, Liggett 1-14, Steven Clemmons 1-minus 5; East Hamilton: Jeffrey Coleman 2-87, Huichan Yun 1-9, Whiteside 4-minus 7.