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Colonels fight back but lose to Murray in a high-scoring affair

It was the kind of game that gives defensive coordinators sleepless nights. The Murray Tigers were a little stronger on offense on Saturday night, defeating the Christian County Colonels 54-36 at the Stadium of Champions.

You have to give the Colonels a lot of credit in this game. Every time it looked like Murray was going to pull away, the Colonels got up, said “not so fast,” and fought their way back into the game. The Colonels offense had some big moments. If they had just managed one or two defensive plays in the second half, the Tigers might have returned across the lakes a sad bunch of kittens.

In fact, the Colonels had a chance to make the Tigers sweat after the Tigers, leading 47-36, lost the ball at the Christian County 25-yard line and gave the Colonels the ball with 3:51 left in the game. But Christian County lost the ball with 3:05 left in the game, losing it on one down.

Murray then dropped the hammer with 2:28 minutes left in the game, scoring a 32-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Robbins to Jeremiah Jones to make the final score 54-36.

The highlight of the evening was Murray's high-caliber offense. The Tigers managed a total of 478 yards of offense in this game. Wyatt Robbins was almost unstoppable for the Tigers, throwing 364 passes and making some good runs.

Murray also managed 114 rushing yards in the competition.

The Tigers started the game looking like they could make short work of the Colonels. Wyatt Robbins and Jeremiah Jones scored their first touchdown of the night on a 5-yard pass with 9:16 left in the first quarter to increase the lead to 7-0. Robbins then ran off a 9-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 14-0 with 4:27 left in the quarter.

At this point, the Colonels showed how resilient they have become. Christian County took the ensuing kickoff and launched a 70-yard run that ended with a one-yard run by quarterback Jaiden Williams, cutting the lead to 14-8 early in the second quarter.

The Tigers got back on the field, covering 64 yards in eight plays and capping the drive with a two-yard touchdown run by Amarion Bomar with 8:59 left in the half, extending their lead back to 21-8.

Christian County seemed to be falling apart after Murray scored on the first play after the interception. This time it was Wyatt Robbins who found Isaiah Martin for a 25-yard touchdown and the Colonels were down 27-8. But they came back.

Christian County took over at their own 45-yard line and stormed down the field. Jaiden Williams scored from four yards out and the lead shrank to 27-16 with 1:44 left in the half. The problem was that the Colonels couldn't find a way to slow down the Murray offense.

With seven seconds left in the first half, Robbins and Jones combined for their second touchdown of the night and Murray went into the break with a 34-16 lead.

Led by Jaiden Williams, the Colonels fought their way back into the game with the first possession of the second half. A 59-yard run was capped by a 30-yard touchdown pass from Williams to Aiden Jesse and Murray's lead shrank to 34-22 with 9:13 left in the third quarter.

But this time, too, the Colonels were unable to make the stop they wanted. The Tigers launched a 13-play offensive that ended with Wyatt Robbins scoring from 3 yards out and extending the lead to 40-22.

The Colonels struck back again. They started their next attack at Murray's 36-yard line and scored a direct hit when Tristin Dillard scored from ten yards out to extend the game to 40-30 with 2:35 minutes left in the third quarter.

Murray responded again, this time with a 55-yard drive capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Robbins to Isaiah Martin, extending the lead again to 47-30 early in the fourth quarter.

As a testament to their development, the Christian County Colonels didn't let Murray get away with it. A 61-yard drive over 10 plays ended with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Jaiden Williams to Josh Bridges and the lead shrank to 47-36 with 7:17 left. But the Colonels couldn't recover the fumble at the end of the game and Murray sealed the victory with a late touchdown.

Tristan Dillard led the Colonels' offense with 79 yards. Jaiden Williams added 69 yards on the ground. Williams was also 8-15-2 in the air for 105 yards.

Christian County drops to 0-4 with the loss. The Colonels are back at the Stadium of Champions on Friday night when they host the Christian County Colonels.

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