A season’s worth of frustrations were washed away Friday night, as the Tiger football team took down top-ranked Mayfield 14-10 in the muck and mire of Tiger Stadium.
“For those senior kids to go through what they’ve gone through this season, when we’ve had so many close losses, that group of kids went out and played their hearts out tonight against a No. 1 team,” noted Caldwell County head coach David Barnes. “This is something those kids will never forget.”
The Tigers (4-6) took advantage of a pair of Mayfield (9-1) miscues in the second half to rally from a 10-0 deficit and upend the last remaining undefeated team in Class A.
A fumble recovery by David Ray Faughn at the Mayfield 23 set up Caldwell’s first score midway through the third period.
The Tigers may have gotten a break on the play, with Mayfield quarterback Luke Guhy fumbling the snap. Guhy went to a knee to try to pick up the ball and appeared to be down. However, play was allowed to continue, with Guhy trying to pitch the ball to a running back.
The ball wound up on the ground again, with Faughn hopping on it and giving Caldwell great field position.
The Tigers got 9-yard runs from both Brandon Sigler and Jaquan Glover to set up a 1st-and-goal at the Mayfield 5. Sigler took a snap out of the wildcat and got to the 1 before being pushed out of bounds.
However, Sigler scored on the next play to get Caldwell on the scoreboard with 6:34 left in the third quarter. Glenn Gray’s extra point pulled the Tigers to within 10-7.
Caldwell, which lost the field position battle in the first half, held the upper hand in that department most of the second half.
That paid off again late in the third quarter when Mayfield was forced to punt from its own 14.
Punter Marc Wynstra bobbled the snap and was tackled at his own 6-yard line by Gavin Agnew.
Three plays later, Sigler swept around the right end and into the end zone to put Caldwell in front. Gray again added the PAT, giving the Tigers a 14-10 advantage with 10:19 to play.
Mayfield continued to struggle offensively on its next two series as the Tiger defense forced three-and-outs on both.
However, Caldwell found itself backed up at its own 11 with 4:40 to play and eventually had to punt from the 16.
Mayfield took over at the Tiger 39 with 2:48 left, but a pair of incompletions and a short run brought up 4th-and-9.
The Cardinals then caught a huge break on a questionable pass interference call on a throw down the middle. That gave Mayfield new life and a first down at the Caldwell 23 with 2:02 to play — the Cardinals’ first first down of the second half.
Mayfield appeared to have the momentum when three runs netted another first down at the 6. However, following a 6-yard run by Tyreese Murrell, an unnecessary late hit cost Mayfield 15 yards.
On the next play, Guhy was sacked by Agnew and Daniel Faughn and the ball popped free. Cole Webster recovered for the Tigers with just 51 seconds remaining, and Caldwell was able to run out the clock.
“Coach (Waynee) McGowan and coach (Aaron) McClung made a couple of adjustments defensively at halftime that helped us in the second half,” said Barnes. “Offensively, we didn’t want to show them the wildcat in the first half and let them adjust. I thought it was big for us in the second half.”
Sigler ran for 56 yards on 18 carries and had both Caldwell touchdowns. Jaquan Glover added 34 yards on 10 attempts.
Murrell rushed for 134 yards and a score for Mayfield. However, the rest of the Cardinals had minus-9 rushing yards.
Both teams struggled to pass in the slippery conditions. Mayfield completed just 4 of 15 attempts for 17 yards while Caldwell was 4 of 15 for eight yards.
Murrell’s 4-yard TD run at the 8:18 mark of the second quarter capped the game’s longest drive — a 10-play march — and put Mayfield up 7-0.
Wynstra added a 29-yard field with 5:16 left in the first half as Mayfield went up 10-0.
The Tigers will face another top-ranked team next week when they visit 10-0 Ft. Campbell in the first round of the playoffs.
Extra points: Caldwell has now won two straight from Mayfield after dropping the previous 12 meetings. The last time the Tigers took back-to-back games from the Cardinals was 1962 and ’63. ... After struggling with fumbles earlier in the season, the Tigers did not have a fumble Friday night despite the miserable conditions. Mayfield, however, fumbled the ball seven times, losing two of those. ... Caldwell won despite picking up just four first downs in the contest. ... Mayfield had 142 total yards in the contest while Caldwell was limited to just 87. ... Mayfield was held to just 14 yards of offense in the second half.
