CADIZ — Who is the most responsible for Trigg County’s gutty, gutty 35-34 Thursday night win at a packed Perdue Field against the vaunted Class 2A Murray Tigers?
Is it Olivia Noffsinger — who scored a goal in the Class 2A soccer sectional earlier in the evening, then boogied back home to bury five point-after attempts in a one-point stunner?
Is it Jhaden Vaughn — who, on the second play of the game (for Trigg), Randy Moss’d himself down the left sideline for a 94-yard touchdown, and later would do the same early in the third quarter for a 50-yarder?
Is it Kelsey Parham — who basically went untouched up the middle at the start of the second quarter for a 24-yard touchdown, and later would slalom and scamper down the sideline for an 85-yard kick return score?
Is it Jerimyah Shearer — whose 30-yard catch on third-and-10 at the end of the third quarter brought Trigg County to the 1-yard-line, and whose 28-yard gash on the Wildcats’ final drive forced timeouts?
Is it Jacob Wease — who dimed Murray’s defense for 281 yards passing with just one lone turnover (a second-quarter interception at the right pylon) and no sacks surrendered?
Is it TayShaun Linton and Anthony Rodriguez — who blitzed Murray’s Collin Wilson and forced an incompletion, on what could’ve been a game-winning two-point conversion with under four minutes to go?
Or is it Ivey Redd — who then recovered an ensuing onside kick, essentially ending Trigg County’s 14-year-drought against its rivals in the west?
They’re all responsible. Them, and many others, and the Wildcats are now 3-0 for the first time since 2019.
Second-year Wildcats coach Chris Ezell felt like the “biggest moment” in the game, of course, was the thwarting of Murray’s late two-point conversion. With 3:12 left in regulation, the Tigers had just scored on a gashing 31-yard rush from Gage Sokolowski, and with kicker Ben Davis reportedly injured and already 0-for-2 on PATs, the visiting Black & Gold were lining up for their third two-point conversion of the game.
They’d already gone 2-for-2.
“I mean, I know it’s obvious,” Ezell said. “Don’t get me wrong. But that was the difference, because I felt like our guys — once that happened — we felt like we had the advantage, as far as [Murray] was a little winded. We felt like we could go pick up first downs, and finish the game.”
And Trigg County did.
There were other small factors in the Wildcats’ one-point win.
Murray finished with more than 400 yards rushing, and took more than seven minutes off the clock on the game’s opening drive.
That drive, however, stalled at the Trigg 8-yard-line, with Vaughn stuffing Xavier Biggers on an outside scamper.
Two plays later, Vaughn — who received an offer from Eastern Kentucky football on Thursday, too — was as open as open could be for six.
“I told coach: ‘Let’s go, let’s go long,’” Vaughn said. “’Let me go one on one with this dude, and just throw a longshot.’ And he was like, ‘Alright. Let’s go. I believe in you.’ We lined up, I ran my route 100% hard, caught it, seen a lot of green grass, and I knew it was over.”
Vaughn said both of his long touchdowns were slow-and-go and hitch-and-go routes. Quite effective.
Tied at 14 with 4:22 left in the first half, Murray looked extremely poised to take its first lead of the game, following Kamden Hudspeth’s interception of Wease.
But two gutting penalties — an illegal motion and an illegal block — put the Tigers into “second down, and Gracey to go,” and wiped out a long Wilson completion and a 76-yard touchdown from Kainoa Olive.
After Parham’s parkour through Murray’s kickoff special teams made it 28-20, the Tigers didn’t tuck tail. Seven of the next eight playcalls were off-tackle, left-gut. Relentless, in all honesty, and a testament to Murray’s offensive line. On fourth-and-1, Sokolowski would score, and then Biggers would cash in for two to knot it once again at 28-all with 2:55 left in the third.
That’s when Shearer would save the day — beating one-on-one coverage right at Trigg County’s goal-line.
Noffsinger’s fifth PAT, of all things, wound up being the game-winner.
“You know she came straight from the soccer game right?” Ezell said. “And didn’t warm up at all. That’s unbelievable. I’m not aware of her warming up at all. All of a sudden, here’s Olivia. We score. Here’s Olivia. I thought we’d have her in the second half. That’s what I thought, and I was banking on that. She’s been unbelievable, dude. Here she is, I’m looking for Reid McCormick, and then here comes Olivia. And she wanted to be here. She wanted to be here.”
Murray’s next drive had some spark, after Wilson converted an inspiring fourth-and-5 situation for the Tigers. Another tough holding call, however, put Murray at 3rd-and-16, and it wasn’t converted.
Trigg County and Wease would punt for the first time with less than five minutes left in the fourth, and the Tigers took advantage of the opportunity behind Sokolowski’s stature.
But, again, one stop — and one recovery.
“It’s just really a tone-setter for us this season,” Redd said. “We came out, brought the intensity, we were ready to play, and we’re ready to keep playing for the rest of the season.”
Murray had five fumbles in the loss; none of which were recovered by Trigg County.
The last time Trigg County beat Murray…was 2008.
The Wildcats were coached by Shannon Burcham, in what was a 17-6 win at Ty Holland Stadium. Brandon Bridges, Donald Bush and Antonio Grubbs would combine for nearly 200 yards rushing and a score. Antonio Andrews was a junior, carving his way to a Class 2A state championship at Fort Campbell. America was facing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, as General Motors and Ford Motor Company issued warnings for record losses. Barack Obama was named the country’s first-ever Black president. Flo Rida and T-Pain’s “Low” was radio’s most-played song. Marvel unveiled the beginning of its stunning film franchise with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, while comedies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The House Bunny and Role Models became hits. The national average for gasoline: $3.39.
TRIGG COUNTY 35, MURRAY 34
Tigers (2-1) 6 8 14 6 — 34
Wildcats (3-0) 7 7 14 7 — 35
SCORING
TC: Jhaden Vaughn 94 pass from Jacob Wease (Olivia Noffsinger PAT), 7-0, 3:55 1Q
MUR: Collin Wilson 1 rush (PAT fails), 7-6, 0:17 1Q
TC: Kelsey Parham 27 rush (Olivia Noffsinger PAT), 14-6, 11:36 2Q
MUR: Collin Wilson 4 rush (Kainoa Olive rush), 14-14, 9:18 2Q
TC: Jhaden Vaughn 50 pass from Jacob Wease (Olivia Noffsinger PAT), 21-14, 10:14 3Q
MUR: Collin Wilson 8 rush (PAT fails), 21-20, 7:32 3Q
TC: Kelsey Parham 85 kick return (Olivia Noffsinger PAT), 28-20, 7:18 3Q
MUR: Gage Sokolowski 1 rush (Xavier Biggers rush), 28-28, 2:55 3Q
TC: Jacob Wease 1 rush (Olivia Noffsinger PAT), 35-28, 11:56 4Q
MUR: Gage Sokolowski 31 rush (2-point fails), 35-34, 3:12 4Q
PASSING LEADERS
TC: Jacob Wease 12-19-281-1-2. MUR: Collin Wilson 0-4.
RUSHING LEADERS
TC: Kelsey Parham 15-98-1, Jerimyah Shearer 3-38, Jacob Wease 2-3-1. MUR: Gage Sokolowski 19-148-2, Collin Wilson 19-123-3, Jayden Curtis 8-68, Xavier Biggers 7-56, Kainoa Olive 3-6.
RECEIVING LEADERS
TC: Jhaden Vaughn 5-196-2, Jerimyah Shearer 2-36, Kelsey Parham 2-28, Ivey Redd 2-13, Dillion Skinner 1-8. MUR: none.
MISCELLANEOUS
First Downs: TC 17, MUR 29. Turnovers: TC 1, MUR 0. Penalties: TC 6-60, MUR 9-70.
