Smith-Cotton football rolls past Marshall on senior night

Published 5:28 am Saturday, October 24, 2026

Smith-Cotton football combined a high-efficiency offensive performance with a defensive shutout to secure a senior night victory.

The Tigers scored on seven of nine possessions and held Marshall to six first downs in a 46-0 win on Friday, Oct. 23, at Jennie Jaynes Stadium.

“There’s nothing better than getting the win for your seniors,” S-C head coach Mike Franklin said. “For a lot of them, this is it for them, right? So, it’s always really good when you get a win for the seniors on senior night, for sure.”

Smith-Cotton (4-5) put points on the scoreboard on six of its seven first-half possessions — the first being an 18-yard touchdown run by senior Alex McDonald to cap an 11-play, 73-yard opening drive.

“I just got the ball, kind of bounced around a little bit, seen an open field and I just hit it,” McDonald said of his score. “It felt good to score on senior night.”

Marshall (1-8) picked up its only two first downs of the first half on its opening drive, which ultimately ended with a punt.

After their first possession, the Owls went three-and-out on four consecutive drives before senior Demarcus Sims recorded an interception late in the second quarter.

“Our defense has been our strength all season, man,” Franklin said. “These guys are really flying around right now, and they’re really peaking at the right time. They do a great job of doing their 1/11th and moving on to the next play and doing it again. If our defense can keep playing like that, I think we can be in a lot of games moving forward.”

Following Marshall’s first punt, junior Armand Wright ran in a 50-yard touchdown while senior Rylon Curry added the 2-point conversion to put Smith-Cotton up 15-0.

Senior Max Edwards blocked the Owls’ next punt, setting the Tigers up in the red zone.

Two plays later, junior quarterback Lane McCollester connected with junior Asher Cason for an 8-yard touchdown. Curry punched in the 2-point conversion again, extending the lead to 23-0 with 1:37 left in the first quarter.

Wright scored another long touchdown on S-C’s next possession, this time running it in from 46 yards out. The 2-point attempt was unsuccessful, leaving the score at 29-0.

Wright credited the offensive line for his success running the football.

“I think they pretty much executed their job efficiently,” Wright said. “Big shoutout to them … Those are my guys. They pulled around and it just opened up like that. The safety was playing too deep, and it was just a straight shot.”

After the fourth straight three-and-out by Marshall, junior Karson Wiskur knocked in a 40-yard field goal to make it a 32-0 game.

Sims’ interception set the Tigers up at the Owls’ 12-yard line with 29 seconds left in the half. Curry capitalized, scoring from seven yards out three plays later to put S-C up 39-0 at halftime.

The only times the Tigers did not score were on a second-quarter drive that ended inches short of a first down on fourth down and when the fourth-quarter clock expired.

“We knew we had a good shot at getting the running game going, which has been a strength for us all year,” Franklin said. “Our offensive line alone did a great job tonight, opening up holes for the running backs, and the running backs did a good job of hitting the holes and doing what they do.”

The running clock was activated for the entire second half. Sophomore Zane Horton added S-C’s final score via a 6-yard touchdown run with 1:22 left in the third quarter.

Marshall picked up four first downs in the second half, but its two drives ended with a punt and a turnover on downs.

The shutout is S-C’s third in the last four weeks — the other two coming against Battle on Oct. 2 and Capital City on Oct. 9.

“It feels amazing [to get the shutout],” Edwards said. “We work hard at practice all the time and we do it as a team … It felt good to get those JV players in and give us a little break before districts. It felt good to get them in there and have some fun on senior night.”

Smith-Cotton earned the No. 2 seed in the Class 5 District 7 Tournament, meaning it will host No. 7-seeded Battle at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30.

“We’re really blessed to be able to have another home game,” Franklin said. “Now, it’s win or go home. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. We have to attack the day the same way. We have to come focused and ready to go.”

Grain Valley earned the No. 1 seed in the district, while Grandview is No. 3, Belton is No. 4, Capital City is No. 5 and Ruskin is No. 6.

AREA SCOREBOARD

Cole Camp (No. 4 seed in Class 2 District 5) 17, Adrian 14

Tipton (No. 1 seed in Class 1 District 5) 41, Russellville 12

Crest Ridge 14, Windsor (No. 4 seed in Class 1 District 5) 6

Paris 50, Lincoln 8-man (No. 6 seed in 8-man District 3) 0

Hardin-Central 58, Northwest 8-man (No. 1 seed in 8-man District 3) 38

Sports editor Jack Denebeim can be reached at 660-530-0142.