Parkersburg South’s Brady Marshall (10) gets ready to shoot as Marietta’s Brady Lent (6) defends during Saturday’s match at Jerry Brock Field. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

DEVOLA — The Marietta Tigers left their footprints all over each of the four corners of the pitch during Saturday night’s match against Parkersburg South.

MHS finished with 14 corner kicks, but none of them resulted in goals. After 80 minutes of play, Marietta’s Kellen Miller and South’s Brady Marshall had each found the back of the net once as the two sides settled for a 1-1 draw.

For the Patriots, it was their first tie of the season.

“The effort on both sides (stood out),” said PSHS head coach Rick George. “Both teams played their hearts out from whistle to whistle.

“They had a lot more (corner kicks) than we did, but the guys did a good job. We had a couple that were close calls in the first half, but after that they kind of got it together and tightened it up a little bit. So I was pretty proud of that.”

Marietta’s Cameron Koscho (17) controls the ball as Parkersburg South’s Rigoberto Amezquita (14) defends during Saturday’s match at Jerry Brock Field. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

Marietta head coach Todd Morris was hoping his team could have cashed in some of those opportunities.

“We didn’t take advantage of our chances, especially in the first half,” said Morris, whose Tigers are now 5-6-3. “I thought we had a few chances to get on top early, and when you let teams hang around they feed off the energy of, you know, keeping it close. I think we had like 14 corner kicks and weren’t able to get anything off of it.”

The match was scoreless at halftime.

In the 58th minute, a throw-in by the Patriots bounced around near the goal. Marshall was finally able to control it and nailed a perfect shot to the top left corner to put South up 1-0.

“I’ve been working with all my guys on trying to use both feet without thinking,” George said. “You could tell (Marshall) just did it fluidly. He didn’t even think about it. He just turned it to his left foot and just hit it. And it was beautiful.”

Morris added, “That was a heck of a finish. That kind of woke us up a little and we were able to answer.”

Around the 18-minute mark, Marietta had three straight corner kicks but came up empty.

With the end of the match looming and in desperate need of an equalizer, the Tigers turned to their captain. Miller booted a free kick with 13:45 left on the clock. The ball sailed toward the top right corner of the goal.

South keeper Garrett Full got up as high as he could, but Miller fit the shot perfectly between Full’s reach and the crossbar to tie it at 1-all.

“When it left this foot, I thought it was going over,” Morris said. “In fact, me and one of my assistants looked at each other, and we both said we were about to say, ‘Kellen, give us a chance.’ And then it found the top corner. Heck of an effort by Kellen, who’s been really solid for us this year. Great, great finish by him. Even after that, we had some chances to go in front, and just couldn’t quite do it.”

With nine minutes left, Marshall put another shot on frame for the Patriots, but Marietta keeper Finn Tindall made a diving save to preserve the tie. Later, Aidan Garrett made a beautiful cross to Marshall, but the shot was too high.

By the time the final horn sounded, players on both sides were spent.

“My guys have really been stepping up and giving more of that effort,” said George, whose Patriots are now 4-10-1. “We’re starting to work together. We’ve had quite a few injuries throughout the year and it’s kind of hurt us a little bit in different spots, but I’ve got a lot of young guys that are really stepping up and some guys that have potential, but hadn’t shown it really until the last couple games. It’s fantastic to see them stepping up and growing.”

The Tigers donned their all-pink kits as part of “Kick for the Cure” night at Jerry Brock Field.

“They were defending really well,” Morris said. “South was just defending their butts off. They were winning the aerial duels with us, and when the ball’s in the air, we weren’t able to get the second ball either to keep it alive. So, tip your hat to them, because they defended really well tonight.”

GIRLS

In a MaxPreps top-five matchup across the state in all divisions, Marietta made the two-and-a-half hour trip to Canfield High School and left with a 2-1 victory.

After a scoreless, but intense, first half, Grace Spencer got the Tigers on the board six minutes into the second half when her shot from about 30 yards out soared into the upper corner of the goal.

The Cardinals knotted it up at 1-all 15 minutes later, but with 18 minutes remaining in the match, Spencer found the back of the net again to put Marietta (12-2) up one.

MHS keeper Maura Misel had two quality saves to fend off Canfield.