It’s another Wildcat Football Friday Night. Tonight the Wildcats travelled to Tompkinsville, KY, Home of the Monroe County Falcons. The last time the Wildcats beat the Falcons was in their undefeated regular season of 2011. The last time they beat Monroe County in Tompkinsville, well, even the coaches can’t remember. In the last 6 meetings, the Falcons are 5-1 against the Wildcats going in to tonight’s game. Tonight’s game would play a huge factor in the seeding for each team in the playoffs. The winner would play the winner of the Ft. Campbell/Trigg County game, while the loser would have to travel to Paducah to take on Paducah Tilghman.
The first quarter saw the Wildcats and Falcons in a defensive battle. Both teams moved the ball well at times, but neither offense could put consistent drives together. The quarter saw each team with 2 possessions, and each team with drive ending punts. At the end of the 1st quarter, there was still no score in the game
The second quarter started out much the same. The Wildcats finally broke the scoring ice first with a 4 yard touchdown on a quarterback keeper by Sophomore QB Jake Dial with 11.9 seconds left in the first half. The XP was no good.
At halftime, the Wildcats lead 6-0.
The Falcons received the ball to start the second half. The Falcons moved the ball well, but again, the Wildcat’s defense made a nice defensive stand to force the punt.
The Wildcats were moving the ball well themselves, but a couple of penalties proved to be a drive stopper. Freshman kicker Brett Brannon came on to punt, and punted a booming, well placed ball, out of bounds at the Falcon 3 yard line.
The Wildcats defense was playing tough, but a 15 yard facemask penalty gave the Falcons a first down. The Wildcats dialed up a secondary blitz two plays later that forced a bad pass from Falcons freshman QB, Ty Mink. Austin Lemieux-Gravil made a well timed jump, and intercepted the ball, and ran it back to the Falcons 6 yard line. The Monroe County defense keyed on the run, and held the Wildcats out of the endzone. On 4th down, the Wildcats sent Brett Brannon on the field to try a 25 yard field goal. Brannon had plenty of leg behind the ball as it split the uprights. The Wildcats lead 9-0 with 3:21 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Falcons came out in the 4th quarter moving the ball well against the Wildcat defense. QB Ty Mink and RB Lincoln Keith were gaining valuable yards for the Falcons. The Falcons went to a Wildcat formation that had Edmonson County on its heels. After several nice runs by Mink and Keith, the Falcons got on the board with 5:56 left to go in the game on a 4 yard touchdown carry by Trey Whitlock.
The Wildcats came back and moved the ball well, but penalties forced the Wildcats to punt it back to the Falcons.
The Falcons received the punt and ran it back to the 50 yard line, but a holding penalty erased the run back, and put the Falcons at their own 17.
Mink and Keith again moved the ball well. After a run by Keith, the Falcons had the ball at the 40 yard line. That’s when the Wildcat defense said “Enough is Enough”. The Wildcat defense dug in. On 1st down, Drew Decker made a great tackle on Mink for no gain. Second down , found Keith running for a gain of 3. Third down was an incomplete pass. On fourth down, the Falcons ran the ball and strung the Wildcats out, but a great tackle by Drew Decker stopped the Falcons short of the first down.
The Wildcats took over with 2:41 left, and effectively ran the clock out to seal the 9-7 win.
Coach Kyle Pierce, in the post game interview, stated how proud he is of the team and their win tonight. “It wasn’t pretty, but the players did what they needed to do to win. We had people step up and mature tonight. That can only help us moving forward.”
The Wildcats will travel to Morgantown to take on the Butler County Bears next Friday. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
