Week One of Area Football
Blowouts was the call for the first week of high school football in area schools and some were surprising. The number 63 was popular in Mumfordville as the Raiders put that many points on the board against Caverna. When asked if Hart County had ever broke 70 (which they could have), no one could honestly answer Yes. The 63 at least exceeded the 60 they put up against Green County in 2018. Raider coach Chad Griffin had the offense purring behind 553-yards rushing (132- by Joshua Crump and 123-by Jordan Bradley) and quarterback Keaton Walters had 157-yards passing and a defensive effort that allowed just 38-total yards by the Colonels had the Raider cheerleaders doing plenty of pushups (they do after each Raider Touchdown) as Hart County looks ready for a big season.
On the other hand, two area teams were on the wrong side of a blowout in Glasgow as first LaRue County, then John Hardin had the going rough. The Hawks struggled mightily against Woodford County at the Don Franklin Scottie Bowl, 43-8. The Yellowjackets were returning plenty from last year’s team and moved up and down the field all day long, while the Hawks under new coach Sonny Judd struggled as they gained 111-total yards on offense while being pounded for 239-yards on the ground.
The Hawks were adjusting to plenty of new personnel as did the Bulldogs and were beaten soundly 48-6. Bulldog coach Doug Preston had practically a brand new team on the field and it showed as they were limited to just 63-yards total offense while the Scotties piled up 296-yards on the ground and had five touchdowns rushing. Things don’t get easier for either team as the Bulldogs welcome Bardstown and LaRue County travels to Taylor County this week. Meanwhile, the Tigers pulled off what might be known as the GREAT ESCAPE when 5-4 140-pound Tyleeq Williams answered quarterback Brayden Clark’s Hail Mary pass on the last play of the game with a heavenly catch behind the Gators defensive secondary to pull off a 20-15 come from behind victory over Greenwood. This happened about 00:21 after the Gators went ahead on a 3rd and 7 12-yard scoring pass from Ryan Huff to Chase Johnson and a successful 2-point conversion to push the Gators ahead 15-14. To complete a crazy week one of football, Fort Knox won their first game of the season for the first time in a long time, 8-6 over Shawnee thanks to a stubborn defensive effort by the Eagles. It wasn’t pretty, but Eagle head coach Wes Arnold will take it.
Bowling Green and North Hardin slugged it out in a brutal defensive struggle that saw few touchdowns and lots of big hits, but the Purples coming off a 6-6 season finally got the lead back for good in the third quarter and were able to finally slow down the Trojans powerful running game to win, 23-14.
South Warren may have lost plenty of offensive skill players from last season’s Championship team, but you wouldn’t have known it when they jumped all over Highlands, 49-14 in the Rafferty’s Bowl in Bowling Green. The Spartans had plenty of offense and scored three defensive touchdowns to give the rest of the 5-A schedule plenty to think about.
