On Saturday, Sept. 2, after a week of anticipation leading up to the second biggest football rivalry in the state of Kentucky, Paducah Tilghman and Mayfield took the field at War Memorial Stadium to continue that storied tradition. After a hard-fought 48 minutes, Paducah Tilghman came up short, 16-14 at the end of regulation.

After allowing touchdown on the ensuing drive of the game, Tilghman’s defense remained strong, giving the ball back to the offense when at the 10:36 mark, Malachi Rider (11) punched in a two-yard carry to give Tilghman their first points of the night, giving us a score of 7-6. After forcing a field goal with 6:38 to go in the half, Rider would find the end zone again for a four-yard touchdown followed by a two-point conversion from Jack James (10) to Shemari Thomas (10) to make the game 14-10 going into the half.

Tilghman’s defense proved to be a point of emphasis for Mayfield at the half. “They’re red zone defense was very good, we’ve got to be better in the redzone. We had a few to many field goals instead of getting the ball in the end zone,” said Cardinals coach Joe Morris(per Jared Jensen of the Paducah Sun).

Tilghman would end the night with 237 yards of total offense, coming up just short in the end of the second half, ending in a 16-14 loss.

Paducah will travel to South Warren for their next game on Sept. 16, taking on the Spartans after their bye week.