The Marshall County Tigers golf team ran their record to 5-1 on Thursday afternoon when they defeated the Forrest Rockets at the Lewisburg Recreation Center in the Jabber's "It's Time" tournament, which celebrates the first day of school for local students.

With thunderstorms shortening the match, the two teams only counted the results from the first five holes of play. Taking the top four rounds from six golfers, the Tigers finished with a team score of 90 to capture the "It's Time" tournament title for the second straight year, while the Rockets posted a 106.

Tiger leaders

Senior Austin Blade and junior Brooks Leftwich combined for a total of three birdies and both carded an even par 21 to lead Marshall County to victory. Zach Smith and Patrick Kennedy each shot a 24 for the Tigers as well, while Kasey Beard turned in a 27.

"We're playing great right now and are on a roll. In the first two tournaments that we played, we had too many big numbers. We've been able to avoid that our last four matches," said MCHS coach Robby Giles. "Austin and Brooks had high expectations coming into this season and they're both playing well. They're the leaders of the team and set the tone for us. When they're both on their game, we're tough to beat."

Rocket leaders

Sophomore Gary Lukonen once again was the low man for Forrest and paced the Rockets with a 25. Hawken King followed Lukonen with a 26, while Tim Elliot and Robert Garcia carded a 27 and a 28 respectively. Jarvis Lyttle also shot a 32 for FHS.

"We played about as well as we can play," said Forrest coach Jeremy Jean. "I think we handled playing on a new course pretty well. A few shots here or there made a big difference. The greens here are a lot smaller than Henry Horton's so we had to get used to that."

The Tigers will begin defense of their title in the Gary Wells Cup next Thursday when they take on county rivals Forrest and Cornersville in the first leg of the competition at Henry Horton State Park.