Tiger Football Opens with Win
The Macon County Tigers opened their 2016 campaign with a win over the Smith County Owls.
The final score was 34-12.
The 2016 schedule had Macon traveling to Carthage last Friday night. The Owls opening possession resulted in a score and missed kick and they led 6-0 early in the opening period. They added a second scored to open the 2nd quarter and led 12-0. However the Tiger offense got going and with 4:44 left in the half Seth Carlisle hit Chris Oliver with a 37 yard TD pass. A little trickeration gave Macon a two point conversion with a pass from Carlisle to Tanner Cleary, the snapper, and Macon trailed 8-12. Following a big interception by Jason Sewell, Macon marched right back down the field and Carlisle scored on a 4 yard run with 0:07 left in the half. Following an unsuccessful kick by Joey Medrano Macon led 14-12.
The second half for the Tigers was a much better result. After stopping the Owls Michael Tirjan broke a 45 yard TD run. PAT by Medrano was no good and with 9:44 left in the 3rd Macon led 20-12. With the Owls seemingly wearing down, the Tigers would score again with 11:53 left on a 2 yard run by Carlisle and he would add a 2 point conversion to make the score 28-12. Macon would tack on one more score on a 23 yard run by Tirjan with another unsuccessful PAT attempt by Marshall Avera. Final score Macon 34 Smith County 12.
For the game Seth Carlisle was 1 of 6 passing for 37 yards and a TD and he rushed 23 times for 136 yards and 2 scores. Michael Tirjan rushed 20 times for 167 yards and 2 TDs. Braxton Crawford had 2 rushes for 51, Ryan Carver had 3 for 4 yards, and Branson Henry, Isaac Belton, and Will Talley all rushed one time. Chris Oliver had the lone catch for 37 yards and a score. Senior Linebacker Dylan Butler led the defense with 8 tackles, followed by Tirjan, Tanner Cleary, and Tyler Swindle with 5 each. The Tigers rolled up 361 yards of rushing offense and finished the game 6 of 12 on 3rd down conversions. However they did fumble 6 times, losing 3 of them.
Macon County will have their home opener this Friday night against the Westmoreland Eagles at Pat Parker Memorial Field. Game time is scheduled for 7 pm.
Photos by Julie Collins
