Friday night the 10^th ranked Eagles took on the 1-2 Tornadoes from Paducah Tilghman, winning by a field goal from senior Evan McCombs in overtime, 30-27, to remain undefeated.

From the look of the first half, the Eagles did not look like they would beat the sixth ranked team inclass 3A football. After a 25-yard field goal by Tilghman’s Miles Butler put the Tornadoes up 3-0, the Eagles punted the ball back away. In the first quarter, the Tornadoes led 10-0. Quickly, Tilghman scored another touchdown on a 15-yard pass to go up by 17. The Eagles decided to answer back with 6:13 left in the half, on a 12-yard touchdown pass to Jake Williams. Going in at halftime with a score of 17-7, the Eagles did not hang their heads.
Although they had a rough first half, the Eagles bounced back and outscored the
Tornadoes by 10 points in the second half. Peyton Puckett threw a three-yard pass to Dustin Vessels for a touchdown with 6:38 left in the third quarter. The extra point was blocked and the Eagles were down 17-13. There was no time for celebration as Paducah Tilghman responded with a touch down of their own putting them up 24-13.

Late in the third quarter on a pass from Puckett to Jordan Smith, the Eagles scored yet again, but failed on the two-point conversion, down 24-19. With 8:56 left in the game, the Tornadoes kicked another field goal to increase the lead by eight. While in a crunch for time, Puckett threw to Joey Marshall for an 80-yard touchdown.

What may have seemed like the most important conversion in the game, the Eagles went for two with success, tying the score at 27.  However, with 3:44 left in the game, the Eagles may have scored too quickly. Tilghman drove the ball down into Eagle territory, and with one minute left tried for a field goal. Cody Crider was there at the right time to block it. After failing to score, the Eagles handed the ball back over to the Tornadoes. With .05 seconds remaining in the game, Tilghman threw an interception to Josh Carter who ran the ball all the way back down to the eight-yard line

With time expired and the score tied at 27, the Eagles headed into overtime. The Tornadoes had the ball first and with another big block from Crider, the Eagles got the ball back. After failing to score a touchdown, Evan Mccombs kicked a 21-yard field goal to put the game away to give the Eagles a 30-27 victory and a perfect 3-0 record.

This is a game that will be talked about at Graves County for weeks to come, and while preparing to head to War Memorial Stadium next Friday, Sept. 20, and play number one ranked Mayfield, the Eagles could not be more ready.

*Photos by Bekah Courtney