In what looked like the best game of the week turned out to be a real snoozer at Bardstown as the Tigers and Panthers were both unbeaten, but only one left that way. Bardstown put together two scoring drives early and sat on a 14-0 lead for most of the game walking away with a 21-0 win in district play. Three touchdown passes from Brayden Clark to Shannon Tonge were the difference and the defense did the rest against the Elizabethtown offense which was shackled most of the evening without the services of starting quarterback Ryder Gregory, who did not play for an undisclosed reason. Elizabethtown was held to around under 150-yards total offense and the Tigers will face another undefeated matchup this Friday with Spencer County coming to town.
The Tigers pounded the Panthers on the ground.
As for John Hardin, the nightmare season continues. Facing undefeated Central Hardin, nothing much went right for coach Doug Preston’s team as they fell behind early and the Bruins were able to convert most of them into points in a 50-0 Central Hardin win. The Bulldogs were held to under 40-yards total offense and the Bruins ran for over 250-yards on the ground and 5-scores from a balanced offensive attack. Mason Gardner, Walker Meredith and Jumyni Noel each found the end zone. Central Hardin must now face their toughest challenge against Henderson County.
Nelson County is off to their best start (3-1) since 2010 when Jaime Egli was the head coach. Phillip Stockdale has the Cardinals flying high after their 37-0 win over Marion County. The Cardinals pounded out 311-yards rushing with Trevor Beam and Joey Goff doing most of the work with over 200-yards rushing and several scores. The defense held the Knights around 86-yards offense. Nelson county must go on the road and face Elizabethtown this Friday for a chance to find out how much they have improved.
Meanwhile Bethlehem got back on the winning track with a 49-13 win over Washington County behind 216-yards passing from Quarterback Cooper Stone and four touchdowns. Runningback Zane Wickliffe had 106-yards rushing and two touchdowns, while receiver Hayden Osborne had 5-catches for 104-yards and two touchdowns. The Eagles scored on five offensive possessions in the first half and coach Bryan Walker appears to have Bethlehem primed and ready for the big games in October.
The Trojans got back on the winning track with a track race type game with Apollo. North Hardin would score on their first five possessions of the game (four-touchdowns / one field goal) of the first half and survived the aerial circus by Christian Combs (he averages 30-passes a game) to win 52-25. The Trojans got marvelous performances by quarterback Jayden Thorpe (212-yards-3 TDs), 151-yards rushing by Kye Boyd (3-TDs) and 8-catches by Shaun Boykins (100-yards). The Trojan defense came up with two interceptions and a couple of sacks as a tuneup for a big road match with John Hardin.
