Consistency and doing more of the little things right will be some of the things the Fort Campbell coaching staff will be focusing their team on following Friday night’s 34-12 loss on the road at Marshall County. The Falcons had some moments, just not enough of them when they needed them in dropping their season opener to the Marshals.
One of those little things moments caught the Falcons right out of the gate. After holding Marshall County to a three and out on the first possession of the game, a Falcon player, blocking on a punt return had the punt hit the back of his leg, with the Marshals recovering to keep their drive alive. The Marshals took advantage of the opportunity and scored on the very next play on a 42-yard run by Tyler Stevenson to take a 7-0 lead.
Stevenson found the end zone on the Marshals next possession, this time on a 57-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Stokes, to make it 14-0 with 6:32 left in the opening quarter. The Falcons found some life on the ensuing kickoff, as DeAndre Spence took the kickoff 82 yards, setting up a 9-yard Matt Middleton touchdown pass to Tyler Mackay to cut the lead to 14-6, with still 5:32 to go in the first quarter.
The Marshals took the lead back out to two scores early in the second quarter when Tyler Stokes took an option keeper 48 yards to make it 20-6. Late in the second quarter, following an interception by Tyler Mackay, Middleton connected again, this time on a 4th down pass for 24-yards to Nathan Lake to make it 20-12 at the break.
The Falcons opened the second half receiving the kickoff with a chance to possibly tie the game, However, the offense struggled to find its legs in the second half and just never could get over the hump. Meanwhile, the Marshals added two more scores, one late in the 3rd, and one early in the 4th to salt the game away.
Marshall County outgained the Falcons 373 yards to 196, with the Falcons only managing 23 yards on the ground.
Junior Matt Middleton was 20-32-1 for 173 yards in his first game as a Falcon. His top target was Nathan Lake, who caught 8 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. The Falcons top rusher was DeAndre Spence, who carried the ball nine times for 15 yards.
Fort Campbell (0-1) will return to action next Friday night in their home opener against Russellville.