5 Takeaways from Week 1 in Football
Bardstown COULD be BACK! If there is one thing you could take away from the first week in high school football, it may be that Spencer County has been always a good measuring stick for the Tigers season. Since moving from 2-A to 3-A, Bardstown has opened the season with Spencer County and in 2015 lost 48-14 thus setting the stage for a tough 5-6 year. In 2016, they won 29-13 and marched to a 10-2 year, then last season lost 36-14 and fell to 3-7. This year, their 38-0 win over Spencer County might be a good sign as the rushng defense locked down allowing only 149-yards and the Tigers moved up and down the field for 224-yards. Head coach David Clark knew going nto the year that the he still had a very young team and just a few seniors so the best is yet to come.
Franklin-Simpson was a bad matchup for Elizabethtown at the wrong time. It would be foolish for fans to look at the Wildcats 44-20 win over the Panthers and predict doom for head coach Mark Brown’s season. Yes! It was a pretty good trounching as Franklin-Simpson looked like a team which wants to repeat as 4-A State Champions and their running game was very effective. Although runners Carlos McKinney (224-yards) and Tre Bass (210-yards) did the ground work, the real heros was the Wildcats offensive line which simply over matched the young Panther defensive line which was working in several new starters a team which lost multiple starters from last year’s Final Four team. So effective was the Franklin-Simpson running game that freshman quarterback Luke Richardson was only asked to throw once. It all added up to the worst loss since 2014 during the Mark Brown era. The Panthers will still have some more bumps in the road with Christian-Academy of Louisville, North Hardin, LaRue County and Bardstown on the schedule, but the good thing is that last season this same Wildcat team lost 55-23 in week one and –well you know what happened in the end.
Hawks make a LOUD statement! For those that thought that LaRue County would come down to earth quickly after a dream season last year could be in for a rude awakening after what they did to Marion County. The 48-0 win was typical Hawks with the ground game getting most of the attention with an overpowering performance by runningback Anthony Atkins (247-yards on just 10-carries and three TDs), who dazzled the crowd with runs of 42-yards, 63-yards and 70-yards. The Hawks pounded out 602-yards running and limited the Knights to just 114-yards total offense. Head coach Josh Jaggers had to love the work by his offensive line, but just as impressed by the D-Line which controlled the game throughout.
Close, But No Cigar for the Bruins! It has been a long tme since an area team has beaten powerful Bowling Green, but last Saturday the Bruins took their shot and despite a really bad first half performance made a game of it. In their first game with new quarterback Chase Elmore, the Bruins couldn’t get untracked in the first half trailing 20-0 and it looked like a potential blowout, but then things changed as Elmore and the ground game got things going. First Deonco Wilkerson scored on a 37-yard run to make it 20-7 capping a 95-yard scoring drve in which Elmore completed an 11-yard pass on third down to keep the drive alive. This after the Bruin defense stopped Bowling Green on a fourth and goal to start the drive. Central Hardin’s defense went above and beyond the call of duty to keep the game close. Josh Volentine scored on an 8-yard run with less than eight minutes left, but after stopping the Purples again in the red zone, the Bruins were unable to capitalize. So the good news is that Central Hardin should be alright without Jacob Hobbs and Elmore seems to be a capable replacement. The bad news is that there are still plenty of good tests for head coach Tim Mattingly’s team including North Hardin, John Hardin and Meade County (which lost a close one to Simon Kenton) still ahead.
Big Bulldog Comeback! Trailing 12-0 at the half and then allowing the Mercer County Titans to score on their first possession of the second half to build the lead to 19-0 is not the best way to start a game, but the John Hardin Bulldogs showed a lot of heart by responding by getting within a point at 19-18 on a 34-yard touchdown catch by Aaron Scott from quarterback Justin Russell and then the two point conversion by Josh Garrett that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay, but the game wasn’t decided until Mercer County’s field goal attempt from 30-yards out was short. The win was a big one for John Hardin second year coach Chris Engstrand and confirmed a new attitude this season after a disappointing 2017.
