On Monday evening, the McCracken County Mustangs and Lady Mustangs traveled across town to Jetton Field for a doubleheader against Paducah Tilghman. While the Lady Mustangs and Lady Tornado met for the first time this year, the boys would face off for the second time this season, following the Mustangs’ 5-0 win at home on August 22.
The Mustangs would own the night at Jetton, with the Lady Mustangs opening the evening with an emphatic 8-0 victory, before the boys completed the sweep with an equally dominant 6-0 win in the later leg.
Mustangs 6, Blue Tornado 0
Similar to their first meeting, the Mustangs stayed on the front foot early, holding the majority of possession as they pressed towards Tilghman’s goal. Despite being tested early, Tornado keeper Blain Oliver held firm, keeping the Mustangs at bay across the first ten minutes of the half.
Bar the occasionally sprung counterattack, Tilghman stayed on their heels early, finally succumbing to the pressure near the 12 minute mark. Near the edge of the box, Julian Warfield stepped into a shot, firing past Oliver to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. After keeping their foot on the gas for the next 15 minutes, McCracken would double their advantage, again from range. Cutting in from the right side, Jake Hazel would curl a shot on goal, nestling inside the far post for the 2-0 lead. Despite threatening on more occasions, the margin would stay at two goals through to the half, with McCracken taking their 2-0 lead into the break.
Once play resumed, Tilghman held more possession, getting better looks on offense early. Though producing chances from both set pieces and open play, staunch defending from the Mustangs kept the Tornado off the board, as they held onto their lead through the midway point of the match. After sustaining early attacks from Tilghman, the Mustangs extended their lead with 19 minutes left on the clock, as Dexter Pacheco found the back of the net for a 3-0 lead. From there, McCracken took back momentum, peppering Oliver in search of their fourth. With just under ten minutes to play, a well-stopped shot from Jake Hazel rebounded straight to Maks Hazel, who finished for McCracken’s fourth goal of the evening. Two late strikes from Warfield and Jake Hazel capped off the night for the Mustangs, as they completed the sweep on both the doubleheader and the season series over Tilghman with a 6-0 win.
“We only beat them by five last time, but I actually feel like [Tilghman] played better tonight than they did before. We had to work for this one, and keep our best players out on the field for a lot longer,” McCracken County head coach Michael Wiersma. “It’s always good to see us come out and play hard against a rival, overall it was a good performance. We’ve played some good teams lately, hopefully we can keep it up and form some good habits.”
Lady Mustangs 8, Lady Tornado 0
Straight from kickoff in the night’s opening match, the Lady Mustangs showed dominance, pouring forward into Tilghman’s half early. McCracken quickly found the back of the net through Audrey Estes, whose strike at the two-minute mark was followed by a second goal from Maddy Ledgerwood just over a minute and a half later.
As the half rolled on, the Lady Mustangs continued to control the action, tacking on goals from Brisa Perez and Savannah McDowell, before Ledgerwood completed a brace with 15 minutes to play in the first, making it 5-0 for the visitors. Though Tilghman was able to slow them at times, McCracken stayed on the attack through the remainder of the half, adding a pair of goals from Katelyn Heider, taking a 7-0 lead into halftime.
Creating chances straight from the jump as the second half began, the Lady Mustangs wasted no time putting a bookend on the contest. With just under five minutes played, Ava Englert struck from the edge of the box, as the final whistle would blow on an 8-0 victory for the visitors.
“In the first half, we had some trouble finishing, I thought there were some more chances that were just sitting in front of goal. In the second, we just decided to throw our back line up top, give those girls some chance to get in on the offensive side of things, and it worked out,” Lady Mustangs head coach Michael Lane said. “I try to make sure our girls are playing at the same high level, no matter who they play. Credit to them for trying different things to slow us down, and it worked at times in the first. But there were more times we should’ve just put the ball away, and couldn’t.”
Looking ahead for McCracken County, the boy’s team looks to make it two in a row this Thursday against Mayfield, whilst the Lady Mustangs return to action at home this Saturday against Lakeland Preparatory, out of Tennessee.
The Blue Tornado face a quick turnaround as they return to Jetton Field Tuesday, taking on Marshall County at 7 p.m. As for the Lady Tornado, they also return Tuesday, hitting the road for a 6 p.m. kickoff at Union County.