In a game that saw 82 points and 961 yards of offense, it was a defensive play that turned out to be the difference.
Caldwell County’s Max Ashley intercepted Murray’s two-point conversion attempt with just 50 seconds remaining, preserving Caldwell’s 42-40 triumph Friday in Class 2A 1st District action at Ty Holland Stadium in Murray.
Caldwell, now 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the district, took a big step toward earning a home playoff game with the victory. Murray would need to win next week at Mayfield to force a three-way tie atop the district standings.
The blue-and-gold Tigers produced the largest comeback victory in school history to rally past the black-and-gold Tigers.
Down 17-0 in the second quarter and struggling offensively, things were not looking good for Caldwell.
However, Caldwell got a 44-yard touchdown hookup from Russ Beshear to Tate VanHooser to gain some momentum and begin the comeback. A 5-yard touchdown run from DeEric Hollowell late in the first half got Caldwell as close as 20-14 at the break.
Hollowell would go on to rush for 106 yards and four touchdowns in the contest.
His 1-yard scoring run early in the second half — followed by Blake Vivrette’s extra point — gave Caldwell its first lead at 21-20.
Hollowell scored again less than 4 minutes later on a 1-yard run as Caldwell went up 28-20.
Caldwell never trailed again, but could never shake Murray either.
Murray (6-2, 2-1) twice got within a single point —at 28-27 and 35-34.
But each time Caldwell would come up with big plays to extend the margin.
Murray made it a 35-34 game with 10:48 to play on a Jorden Duffy 38-yard TD reception.
Caldwell countered with a drive that saw a 25-yard catch by Tripp Branch, who got a foot down just inbounds, to get the march started.
Later, on third-and-17, VanHooser outleaped two Murray defenders for a catch that turned into a 39-yard connection.
On fourth-and-3 at the Murray 19, Beshear hit Branch again, and Branch took it into the end zone to help give Caldwell a 42-34 advantage with just 2:16 to play.
Murray answered, though, with a quick drive of its own. Quarterback Hunter Utley scrambled for a 7-yard touchdown run to make it 42-40 with 50 seconds remaining.
But Utley’s two-point pass attempt was grabbed by Ashley, who snatched it away from a Murray receiver to keep Caldwell in the lead.
Caldwell then covered an onside kick attempt by Murray and ran out the clock to finish off the win.
Beshear finished 22 of 27 passing for Caldwell for 280 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
Branch caught eight passes for 116 yards and a TD while VanHooser had six grabs for 117 and a score.
Utley was 28 of 40 for Murray, throwing for 382 yards and three touchdowns.
Murray had three receivers top 100 yards. Jaiden Jackson had 10 receptions for 115 yards, Duffy caught eight passes for 114 yards and two TDs, and Tommy Waldrop had seven grabs for 119 yards and a touchdown.
Jackson also ran for 103 yards for Murray.
Murray totaled 527 yards while Caldwell had 434.
Ben Holt led the Caldwell tackle sheet with 14 stops. Baron Wells added 11 tackles.
The 17-point comeback topped a 16-point rally in 2008 that saw Caldwell win 38-28 at Union County.
The Caldwell County Tigers are off next week before finishing the regular season in two weeks at Trigg County.
