Maddox O’Neal passed for 268 yards and five touchdowns while Kayden Wahl ran for 193 yards and a score as McCracken County played spoiler on Homecoming night at Caldwell County.
The visiting Mustangs (2-3) never trailed while claiming a 44-27 victory at Tiger Stadium in Princeton.
Caldwell (1-4) was within 10-7 when Jack Roach scored on a 2-yard run with 10:53 left in the first half.
But by halftime, McCracken had blown open the game, taking a 30-7 advantage at the break.
The Tigers played better in the second half — even outscoring McCracken 20-14 over the final two quarters — but couldn’t mount a serious challenge against the Class 6A school after falling behind in the first half.
Four different Mustangs had touchdown receptions in the contest.
Jakari Matchem caught five passes for 80 yards, including scoring grabs of 26- and 27-yard passes in the first half.
Cooper Falconite had five grabs for 36 yards with a 6-yard TD reception in the third quarter.
Reed Brookshire made four receptions for 33 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.
Jude Lanier caught three passes for 73 yards with a 5-yard scoring grab in the third quarter.
O’Neal finished 22 of 36 in the air for 268 yards.
With another 247 on the ground, McCracken rolled up 515 total yards in the contest.
The Mustangs had 27 first downs — 16 in the first half.
Caldwell finished the night with 280 total yards and 14 first downs.
Daelyn Lander completed 18 of 34 passes for 253 yards and two late touchdowns. He was picked off twice.
But the Tigers could not mount much of a running attack, netting just 27 yards on 17 attempts.
Gus Fox had six catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns — on catches of 17 and 37 yards in the fourth quarter.
Luke Parker made seven receptions for 76 yards and Luke Maddox made five catches for 77 yards.
Roach had two 2-yard TD runs for Caldwell.
Roach also had a big night defensively for the Tigers with 17 tackles, including five solos, four tackles for loss and 10 first hits.
Kam Spikes made 16 stops for Caldwell with five first hits and one tackle for loss.
Caldwell will play at Christian County next week while McCracken goes to Murray.
