The Fort Campbell Falcons continue to look for their first win of the season. The Falcons hit the road to Murray and fell to the Tigers 49-17 in a district matchup at Ty Holland Stadium.
For the second week in a row, the Falcons got an early opportunity, but could not take advantage of it. After Murray took the opening kickoff, the Tigers fumbled on their second play from scrimmage with the Falcons recovering the ball at the Murray 49. Fort Campbell drove the ball down to the Murray 13 yard line, but took a big sack and had to punt the ball away.
The first play after Murray got the ball back, Hunter Utley hit Jaiden Jackson for a 77 yard gain. Charvell McCallister would score shortly after on a five yard run to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead with 6:11 to go in the opening quarter. The Falcons went quietly on their next possession, and it did not take long for the Tigers to strike again. The first play after the Falcons punted Utley connected with Jordan Duffy for a 70 yard strike to extend Murray’s lead to 14-0 with 2:51 to go in the quarter.
On the very next play from scrimmage, Tommy Waldrop picked off Matt Middleton and returned it 32 yards for a pick six that pushed the lead to 21-0 with still 2:33 to go in the first quarter. The quarter would end with the Tigers holding the 21 point lead.
Murray found the end zone again early in the second quarter. Hunter Utley scored on a one yard keeper to make it 28-0 with 9:34 left in the half. The drive was set up by a seven yard punt from the Falcons. Murray hit the end zone again less than three minutes later when Charvelle McCallister took it in from ten yards out to push the lead to 35-0 with 6:59 left in the half. The Tigers finished their first half onslaught when Utley connected with Duffy for the second time, this one from 8 yards away, with 3 seconds left in the half to make it 42-0 at the half, and setting up the running clock during the 2nd half.
Things did not get better for the Falcons at the beginning of the second half. Fort Campbell fumbled the ball on the opening kickoff of the half, with the Tigers recovering at the Falcons 5 yard line. On the first play after fumble, McCallister scored from five yards out to push the lead on out to 49-0.
The Falcons finally got on the board when Matt Middleton took it in from 2 yards out to cut the lead to 49-7 with 5:00 left in the 3rd quarter. After sacking the backup Tiger quarterback for a safety, the Falcons found the end zone again when Connor Brinkmeyer took it in from 2 yards out with :33 left in the 3rd. The two point conversion made it 49-17 as the quarter came to an end.
The 4th quarter played out uneventfully as Murray closed out the win.
With the loss, the Falcons fall to 0-7 overall and 0-2 in district play. Murray improves to 5-1, and 1-0 in district action.
Fort Campbell will travel to Caldwell County next week while Murray will take on Ballard Memorial.
