With the start of the 2013 football season only two weeks away, the Marshall County Tigers ironed out some wrinkles on Friday night when they played the Lincoln County Falcons to a 7-7 tie in a scrimmage at MCHS' practice field.

Playing four 12 minute quarters, each team began every drive at their own 20-yard line with the clock running continuously. Marshall County held a 7-0 lead through the first two quarters of play thanks to a two-yard touchdown run by quarterback Austin Stacey before the Falcons tallied a touchdown early in the fourth period against the Tiger reserves to salvage the tie.

Penalties

Lincoln County outgained MCHS 295-148 overall, but were penalized six times for 50 yards, while the Tigers were flagged just once for five yards. Each team committed two turnovers in the contest.

Although they accumulated 258 yards rushing, the Falcons did much of their damage against Marshall County's backups with 145 yards coming in the fourth quarter.

Tailback Ryan Golden spearheaded Lincoln County's ground attack with 109 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, while August Hill toted the ball 15 times for 86 yards.

Falcon quarterback Keller Monks completed just 3-of-7 passes for 37 yards and was picked off once. Wide out Brandon Gower paced Lincoln County's receiving corps with two catches for 34 yards.

Defensive leaders

Senior linebacker Cain Hendrix recorded nine tackles to lead Marshall County's defense, while defensive lineman Jay Murphy and safety Quantae Alderson notched six and five tackles respectively. Peyton Williams also recovered a fumble for the Tigers and Antonio Shelton tallied an interception.

Marshall County, conversely, finished with only 52 yards rushing on 16 carries. Dontay Baugh paced the Tigers with 36 yards on three carries, while backup quarterback Ashton Posey added 11 yards on two carries.

Hindered by several drops, MCHS quarterback Austin Stacey completed just 2-of-9 passes for 78 yards. Posey completed both of his pass attempts for 18 yards.

Quinnie White hauled in one pass for 62 yards to account for the Tigers longest play of the game, while Kacy Pleas had one catch for 16 yards.

More work ahead

"We did ok today. We're cutting down on our mistakes, but we still have some work to do," said MCHS coach Aaron Pitts. "Defensively we're starting to find our groove and offensively we're starting to show some improvement. I think we're going to be fine once the season starts."

The Tigers went three and out on their opening drive, before Williams recovered a Falcon fumble on Lincoln County's first possession after Hendrix jarred the ball loose from Monks.

Marshall County got their offense going on their second series and put together a six-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to grab a 7-0 lead. After Blake Darnell and Chris Walker gained five and four yards on consecutive runs, the Tigers picked up a first down when the Falcons were penalized for defensive encroachment. MCHS netted only two yards on their next two plays, but White caught a screen pass from Stacey on 3rd and 8 and scampered 62 yards to give Marshall County a first and goal at the Lincoln County two-yard line. Stacey then scored on a quarterback draw a few moments later to cap the drive.

Consistency

"We like big plays, but we don't want to rely on them," said Pitts. "We want to be consistently good. Big plays come from small things done right."

The Falcons advanced to the MCHS 33 on their ensuing possession on seven straight running plays, but Shelton picked off Monks to halt the drive after defensive end Bryson Alexander forced an off balance throw by the Lincoln County quarterback.

On their final possession of the first half, the Tigers advanced to the Falcon 31 with the help of a 31-yard run by Baugh and a 16-yard reception before time expired in the stanza.

After both teams came up empty on their first two drives of the second half, the Falcons tied the game at 7-7 early in the fourth quarter when Golden broke loose for a 35-yard touchdown jaunt.

Neither team was able to find the end zone again in the final five offensive series of the contest and the scrimmage ended in a draw.