Both teams played their cross-town rivals in their first game, which we all know has a lot of emotion involved. Mayfield bested Graves 31-15 and Tilghman was finally able to put it together in the second half and pull away winning 64-36 against McCracken after being down at halftime.

As I mention yearly, this has been a pretty good series. PT has won the last 3 in a row, but are 8-5 against Graves overall in the last 13. Graves always plays tough defense against the Tornado and usually PT has tough sledding against the Eagles defense in a lot of these. I expect Graves to give PT a good dose of it again. The Graves defense probably played better than the score indicated against Mayfield. Two turnovers, one fumble and one interception both on their own side of the field led directly to two of Mayfield's touchdowns. Overall, they played solid in that game.

Tilghman on the other hand, especially in the first half, looked rough in the defensive secondary against McCracken. To be fair, even when Tilghman was in position, McCracken has the qb and the receivers to get the job done and they were absolutely fantastic. Watch out for them moving forward.

As far as offense, PT, even with many new faces, picked up where they left off the last several years and put up a lot of yards and points. Avery Thompson and Chance McPike are a handful for anyone to deal with. The Graves offense had a lot of opportunity in their game against Mayfield, they just couldn't capitalize. There were several guys open throughout the game, they just weren't able to connect. Graves also showed signs of what could be a pretty good running game at times.

Graves will watch the McCracken game and see if they can also take advantage of some throws down the field against the Tornado.

Tilghman's new Qb Xavier Isable threw for nearly 300 yds and 5 touchdowns against McCracken, but overthrew several before finally letting the nerves settle and looked pretty good in the 2nd half. PT under Coach Thompson will always have their share of plays downfield and this game will be no exception.

Graves starting with Mayfield and Tilghman back to back nearly every year has got to be tough, but also they seem to play better later in the year. I know Graves had high hopes for this year and I still would if I were them. They had a lot of young starters the last couple seasons and now have some good experience in a lot of areas.

After this game, Tilghman has one more home game all the way up until 10/16 when they return home against Warren East, so they need to get this one as they become road warriors for a bit.

Can Graves cut down on a few mistakes and limit turnovers and keep this one close like McCracken did for so long, or is Tilghman's offense just a bit much?

Graves does not have enough to stop this Paducah Tilghman team infact don't see a WKY team that can after week 1. Could change as season progresses.

I saw that Isable had 548 passing yards for PT against the Mustangs. I’d seen a different number earlier that didn’t make sense to me. I thought he was pretty impressive!

Paducah Tilghman offense is fine. Defense will get better as the season goes on. PT wins.

1 hour ago, PTown Dad said:

I saw that Isable had 548 passing yards for PT against the Mustangs. I’d seen a different number earlier that didn’t make sense to me. I thought he was pretty impressive!

I saw that this afternoon as well. Makes more sense with all those big plays. I got my total from The Paducah Sun this morning but have seen 3 different totals for him so far. I'd say the 548 is more accurate based on what we all saw.

There are also 400 photos posted in 5 parts to the Paducah Tilghman Football Facebook page. Some very good photography and photos of a lot of the key plays. I was impressed with the pictures.

Graves is a solid football team. I do wonder if they can consistently win with Houston at QB. Sounds like he missed several open receivers vs Mayfield. I think they can be more successful with Mathis or Stonecipher at the helm. Either way, PT as too much fire power for the Eagles.

PT 49-14

The news coming out of Graves County is that there will be a quarterback change with Stonecipher taking over.

As mentioned by @Golf2074, could we see a qb change for Graves.

Looking back against Mayfield, the Graves pass defense played pretty well, only allowing Robbins 110 passing yds on 9/19 passing.

Where Mayfield earned their keep in that game was on the ground with England and then Overstreet with 57 yds on only 5 carries. Overall Mayfield ran it at 5 yds a pop with 45 carries for 226 yds.

I'm sure Graves will try to be physical and set the tone early to see if they can disrupt the PT passing game as well. Tilghman may have more carries than usual if they can and that's what the Eagles will need to do.

Always look forward to this game and Graves always brings it. I've got a lot of friends who will be sitting on that side of the field who will likely be there tonight.

Always makes it tough when you obviously want to win, but you also want to see their kids perform well and I'm sure they will.

Will there be a stream for this game?

39 minutes ago, theguru said:

Will there be a stream for this game?

https://youtube.com/@ptathletics9543?si=pmhXEzuAf-FHiEaT

Should be on here tonight.

I'm just walking in the stadium. Been waiting outside for 20 minutes because GoFan is horrific tonight and not working and they weren't gonna let us in. Finally just told me to go.

4th and 7 for Graves on PT 38

They pick it up. On PT 22 1st down

Fumble. Graves recovers. 2nd and 16 on PT 18