On 3rd down in the red zone, Eli Brown took the snap, stepped forward, and pulled the handoff out of the belly of Willie Reynolds.
Brown dashed forward and then pulled it back out, scrambling around the backfield looking for open space before getting brought down for a loss of 15.
Down 28-14, the Raiders fell out of field goal range and failed to convert on 4th down heading into the half down 14. Missed opportunities were the story of the game.
“They wanted to give us the game in the first half.” Defensive coordinator Richard Stonebreaker said after the game in an interview with GoRaidernation.com.
Hopkinsville converted on an onside kick to start the second half and spent the next 24 minutes of gametime on a 40-7 run. Tyler Graham touchdown run.
Rakeem Chambers 15-yard scamper for a score. Graham 26-yard TD toss to Chambers.
In the second half, Hopkinsville relied on methodical drives to take up time and put up points to extend their lead to a final score of 61-21.
Three times over the course of the evening, the Tigers started with the ball inside their own six-yard-line and ended up crossing the goal line.
For Hopkinsville, Tyler Graham ended the game with 153 yards passing and a touchdown to go along with 61 yards rushing and 3 scores. Three other Tigers topped 50 yards on the ground. Vincent Brown added a touchdown to his 125 rushing while Zach Akins and Ameer Love tallied 89 and 53 respectively.
For East, Willie Reynolds racked up another huge third quarter and finished the game with 186 carrying the ball including a 69 yard dash up the middle of the field for a score. The other two Raider scores came on Antwan Gilbert runs in the first and second quarters.
Warren East heads back to Jim Ross Field to host Meade County next Friday at 7.
