Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
​Edmonson County High School (4-3) once again enjoyed a full week to prepare, plus a day, returning to Friday night lights facing district rival Fort Campbell (3-3) on Homecoming October 4th in Brownsville.
 
The Wildcats were unable to control the speed and explosiveness of the Falcons on Homecoming and lost a four-quarter battle 36-31.
 
“We were just a little bit too sloppy and we made some mistakes,” Edmonson County head coach Justin Vessels said on the Edmonson Voice After Game Show. “The boys played hard. They played the whole game. They gave great effort, and it’s not any one player’s fault.”
 
Like the past two games, the opposing team scored two touchdowns, but instead of like the last two games being ahead, the Wildcats were down by one point 15-14.
 
“We made too many mistakes against a team that has that much speed,” Vessels said.
 
Too many to mistakes to overcome, I hated it, Vessels said. 

​“We started to slow down in the second half,” Edmonson County junior quarterback Tristen Muse said after the game. “Which we normally don’t do. We normally play a really good second half.”
 
Muse asserts the bulk of the blame is his from his performance on special teams in the loss, he said. He kicked it out a couple too many times and gave Fort Campbell good field position.
 
This kind of, almost selfish, theory of leadership was elaborated and written about by former Navy SEAL Jocko Wilkins in a book called “Extreme Ownership” by Jocko Wilkins and Leif Babin.
 
The theory, most often taught in Recruit Officer Training Cadet programs, basically says the leader is completely responsible for any mistakes. No matter the transgression.
 
If someone slips on a rock, any unforeseen incident, anything that contributes to any negative actions. No matter the complaint or objection from whoever the action was done by the leader assumes responsibility.
 
Muse does not know about the book or the SEAL “Jocko”, as he is often called by aficionados, but he is willing to accept the fault for the team loss, despite his coaches and other players saying there is no one person responsible.
 
This is not an attribute always given to people in leadership positions. Muse is a junior. There is room to grow.
 
And there is a bright side, Vessels said. They are 4-3 going into fall break. The seniors expressed a goal of having a winning record, and Vessels feels it is still attainable.

​The two things Vessels feels could come in between the Wildcats and winning record for the first time in years is complacency, which “won’t be a problem,” and the other thing is to stay together as a team, he said.
 
Neither will be a problem for them, he said. They like to practice and improve.
 
Fall break couldn’t come at a better time for the team. Seven games into the season, they are little banged up and the extra time off should help make a push to the end, Vessels said.
 
“We got to finish this thing off the right way,” Vessels said.
 
Owensboro Catholic is next and “they are really, really good,” Vessels said.
 
But they have to come here, both Vessels and Edmonson Voice Live broadcaster Granville Meredith said and agreed.
 
Some stats on the evening were, according to Edmonson Voice Live 18 first downs, 246 yards rushing, 42 passing and only three penalties. There was also a fumble recovery by senior defensive end Ace Daugherty.
 
There was a turnover on downs and an interception, as well as a kickoff returned for a touchdown, which were the “three mistakes,” according to the broadcast team.

Also, junior place kicker, running back and defensive back Colton White made his first field goal of the season. A 43 yard attack with room to spare. The school field goal record is 46 yards, set by the Edmonson Voice's own Granville Meredith back in 1987.
 
Good practices and keeping their heads up, Muse said is the key in moving forward. 
 
For the Wildcats to move forward, does anything change?
 
The process will not change, Vessels reiterated after the game.
 
“The process doesn’t change,” Vessels said last Thursday after the game in the Edmonson Voice. “The process is the same every week. You know, if we win, we feel good about it for 24 hours, then we are on the next opponent. If we was to lose, we feel bad about it for 24 hours and then we are on to the next one.”
 
After Fall Break, in two weeks, Friday Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. Edmonson County will host Owensboro Catholic in Brownsville.

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Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
​Every school, every team, everywhere endures the experience. Losing records and down times. In the case of Edmonson County High School football, it has been nine years since the Wildcats went 3-1 in the month of September. They currently have four wins and two losses overall in 2024.
 
Nine years ago in 2015, current ECHS head coach Justin Vessels was an assistant for then head coach, and current ECHS athletic director Kyle Pierce.
 
Vessels said he knew the players had great work ethic and attitude when he was interviewed for the job last year, he said. 
 
It showed Thursday night September 26th in Brownsville against visiting Clinton County, when most games in the area were moved up a day due to the incoming rain and potential flooding across the state.
 
Last year, Sept. 22 2023, Clinton County defeated Edmonson County 26-6 in Clinton County.
 
This year, Edmonson County defeated Clinton County 34-14 in less than ideal and soggy conditions.
 
“I think we played a very physical game tonight,” Vessels said. “I thought offensively and defensively, our offensive and defensive line played well.”
 
They anticipated having different looks to deal with from the Bulldogs defense with their shifting lines, stunts and forms, Vessels said. But they worked on recognizing the different scenarios all week.
 
Though only up by one touchdown at the end of the first half, 21-14 for the Wildcats, they would shutout the Bulldogs in the second half.
 
“Coach (Tommy) Muse coached a great game on defense,” Vessels said. “He mixed the coverages so they couldn’t get comfortable.”
 
Vessels pointed out, like in Ohio County last week, 14 points were scored in the first half, but in the second, for second week, the opposing team was shut out in the third and fourth quarter. 
​

​The Bulldogs did not make it easy for the Wildcats, even in the second half.
 
Clinton County began with the ball in the second half and ran down more than nine minutes off the clock into the third quarter before giving the ball over after a failed fourth down and 12 pass play.
 
With the Wildcats opening play from their own 20-yard line with 2:50 on the clock, senior running back Carter Swihart broke through for a 40 yard run, to the Bulldogs 40. Junior quarter back Tristen Muse carried next on a keeper. Then Swihart again, then Muse, Swihart, Muse. Like a seesaw assault to end the third quarter still 21-14 in favor of Edmonson County.
The fourth quarter was dominated by Edmonson with two scores and the majority of the time of possession, able to hold off and regain control of the ball from a turn-over on downs from the Bulldogs a few times.
 
“That was big, being able to be physical and control the ball,” Vessels said about being able to score twice and control the ball and the scoreboard in the fourth quarter.
 
“This was just a big win for us tonight,” Vessels said. “I’m really proud and happy for our players that they’re getting to have some success for all the hard work they have done.”

​Tristen expressed his favorite thing for the evening was senior running back Carter Swihart’s four rushing touchdowns. He though the “O-line had really good blocks,” too.
 
“We played extremely good on defense,” Tristen said. “Especially the second half.”
 
When not tossing pitches, hand-offs or dropping back to pass, Tristen doubles as a linebacker on defense for the Wildcats.
 
“We didn’t know if we’d be able to stop the pass,” Muse said. “Rain helped.”
 
The whole team has showed improvement in completing tackles, despite the rain.
 
“Coach Vessels is an extraordinary coach,” Muse added after asked if there was anything he wanted to add. “He knows how to mix it up. He doesn’t let us get down. He keeps us movin’, keep our heads up.”
 
His favorite thing is that coach doesn’t let them get soft, he said. He makes sure we have good practices and makes sure we play even better in games.
 
Swihart ran for 242 yards on 23 carries according to the unofficial sats from the Edmonson County Voice Live broadcast Post Game Report. 
 
“It feels amazing,” Swihart said after the game. 
 
His favorite run of the game was the 47 yard touchdown, he said.
 
“I am having tons of fun right now,” Swihart said. “I mean, at the end of the day it’s how we work at practice. You could temm if you watched our first practice, to now. You could tell every single day we are coming in and getting better. Thts the main thing. Each week we are getting better, and it shows.
 
Indeed. It does.

Next for the Wildcats?
 
“The process doesn’t change,” Vessels said. “The process is the same every week. You know, if we win, we feel good about it for 24 hours, then we are on the next opponent. If we was to lose, we feel bad about it for 24 hours and then we are on to the next one.”
 
It’s what he thinks helps the team stay steady he said. They don’t get too high, nor too low. 
 
His secret to keeping everything all Goldy Locks? 
 
There isn’t one, Vessels said.  It is what you have to do to keep the boys in the right frame of mind.
 
“I love our attitude and our work ethic,” Vessels said. 
 
Edmonson County is home again next week against Fort Campbell October 4 at 7 p.m. in Brownsville. Last year Fort Campbell defeated Edmonson 37-8 at Fort Campbell. 

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Edmonson Voice Sports:
Eight Lady Cat seniors were honored at last night's senior night activities for the 2024 Lady Cat soccer team.

The game was postponed due to lightning but the seniors and their parents were still able to celebrate their night.

Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
​The best team on turf, at least the turf of Ohio County High School was Edmonson County as the Wildcats outperformed host Eagles 48-14 on the road Friday, September 20th in Hartford.
 
Despite being down by only one touchdown at the halfway point, the Wildcats dominated the scoreboard in the second half with 27 unanswered points.
 
“It feels great,” Edmonson County head coach Justin Vessels said after the game. “This is the kind of game we needed where we could have a good game on offense and get the offense going and get the boys’ confidence (up).”
 
“It was a close game at the half, 21-14, and we came out in the second half and continued to play well, and I think we scored 27 unanswered,” Vessels said.
 
The team was not afraid coming out in the second half, Vessels said.
 
“I never felt like they stopped us,” Vessels said about the first half. “The few times we got stopped, it was stuff we done to ourselves. You know, a penalty, a bobbled snap or something that got us in long yardage.”
 
“They never stopped us, we stopped ourselves,” Vessels said.
 
So if we can clean up a few of those mistakes, we can keep it rolling, Vessels said about coming out into the second half.
 
“I don’t think we had any of those mistakes in the second half,” Vessels said.

One sign of the success on the evening according to an unofficial stats from Edmonson Voice Live broadcast was 307 yards rushing shared between five different players. Seniors running back Carter Swihart, and fullback Garret Lyons, junior quarterback Tristen Muse and running back Colton White, and sophomore fullback Jacoia Orvis, all got touches and gained yards for Edmonson.
 
“It feels really good man,” Muse said after the game. “We started off hot.”
 
“We played even better in the second half,” Muse said.
 
“All our backs ran really good, hit the holes pretty good, and our linemen, they blocked really well,” Muse said.
 
“Defense played really good too,” Muse said.

​

​Indeed. The defense had two interceptions with one from White in the second half during a play when seniors defensive back Aiden Seabolt blitzed alongside defensive end Ace Daughtery charging both from the right side. The Eagle quarterback was unable to complete his throw with full force  and lofted over both lines, like a lame duck, into White’s hands.
 
As well, on the first two possession of the game for Ohio County, the Wildcats made them punt after three downs each time.
 
However, the Wildcats also committed six penalties for 60 yards.
 
Vessels said he doesn’t want the holding penalties, Vessels said. Though he would rather those than false starts or lining up incorrectly.
 
“A holding penalty is an effort penalty,” Vessels said. “Kid is at least trying to make a block and give great effort. A mental mistake of lining up wrong, false start, off-sides, those should never happen.”

​“This was probably one of our best weeks of practice,” Vessels said of the previous week. “We was really sharp. We need to have another great week of practice and just start stacking them on top each other.”
 
“I’m proud of them ‘cause they work hard for us in practice,” Vessels said. “They are very coachable kids. They’re good kids and I am tickled to death that they are getting’ to have some success.”
 
Wildcats are at home next week against visiting Clinton County. The game is Friday Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. in Brownsville.
 

...

Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
Friday night lights was moved to Thursday in anticipation of inclement weather on its way to the area so Caverna High School traveled from Horse Cave and defeated host Edmonson County 28-6 Thursday September 12th in Brownsville.
 
With only six days to prepare and then play, for both teams, Edmonson had their work cut out for them facing a team who ran almost 40 times in their win last week with Caverna.
 
It would also be the first time this young Wildcats team had faced off against a squad of tall, lanky and strong young men. As opposed to the still tall, but generally with more girth-to-grab-onto-sized squads they met in their first three games.
 
“Well, it never feels good to lose obviously,” Vessels said. “Caverna is a little better than people think probably. They’ve got a lot of good athletes.”
 
Not only are they athletic and fast, they’re big athletes, he said. Over six feet and near 200 pounds for quite a few.
 
The lack of mass to grab past long arms coupled with rain on and off throughout the game made for difficult tackling, Edmonson County head coach Justin Vessels explained after the game.
 
Junior quarterback Tristen Muse agreed with Vessels about the rain. “We were sliding off the big fast guys and couldn’t throw the ball,” Muse said.
 
“Big, strong kids that can run,” Vessels said. “We had trouble tackling them.”
 
Vessels doesn’t think it was a scheme issue, he said. 

​“I feel like we didn’t work together very well,” Muse said after the game.
 
“They’re fast, they’re big and they’re strong,” Vessels said. “We didn’t tackle very well. Offensively, it was like we was in spurts. We had spurts where we would do things right.”
 
We would block the guys correctly, have good runs, and every now and again we would hit play-action passes, he said.
 
“Then we would have spurts where it just looked like a mess,” Vessels said. “It was a train wreck where we either blocked the wrong guy or somebody went the wrong way…”
 
It was like they were inconsistent tonight on offense and defense really, he said.
 
“I think they are a decent team, and we did not play very well against them,” Vessels said.
 
“Hopefully we can come back next week, have a good week of practice, get better and try to get a win at Ohio County,” Vessels said. 
 
In their first three games, there were maybe one or two guys who could really run, and its easier to hem them in, he said. Those guys had about five guys who could really run.
 
From the wide receivers to the tailbacks, to the fullback to the quarterback, he said.
 
“We’re still a young team that is learning how to handle success,” Vessels said. 
 
We can get better, he said.

​“I told the boys I am not down on them,” Vessels said. “We’re gonna treat this just like we did after the Grayson game and Monday we’re gonna get back to work.”
 
Vessels said he has no plans to brow beat them, be down on them or be negative, he said.
 
“I’m gonna coach them and hope they’ll have a positive attitude and try and get better,” Vessels said. “I think they will. I still like this team a lot.”
 
One thing they plan to work on next week, besides “blocking and tackling, the fundamentals of football,” is mental toughness, he said.
 
“We need to have a good next week of practice,” Muse said.
 
“When something negative happens, we can’t hang our heads,” Vessels said.
 
The one scoring drive came after the start of the third quarter, down 16-0 to the Colonels, when the Wildcats received the kickoff and junior wide receiver William Saling’s return to the 20 yard line.
 
Fourteen plays and eight-and-a-half minutes later Muse connected with senior tight end Jake Coy for a 15-yard touchdown reception. The only one on the night.
 
After a failed two-point conversion attempt, the score was 16-6 with 3:27 left in the third quarter.
 
Another positive was junior running back Blayne Deweese gaining 74 yards on five rushing attempts, according to the stats provided by Edmonson County Voice announcer Scott Lindsey in the post-game report.
 
Edmonson County travels to Hartford next week to face Ohio County Friday 7 p.m. Sept. 20 in Beaver Dam.

...

Alyssa Doyle, story and photos:
The Edmonson County Lady Cat Volleyball team fell to the Whitesville-Trinity Lady Raiders last night in a 3-0 loss at home. Despite their best efforts, Edmonson could not take the lead in the first set, losing 25-10 to the Lady Raiders.

The second set looked a little more promising for the Lady Cats as they started with the lead. The Raiders took them point-for-point until taking the lead at 9-8, never letting up, to take the second set 25-17.

Neither team could get more than a 2-point lead to start the third set until the Raiders went on a 7-point run, making the score 12-7 and forcing the Lady Cats into a timeout. Fighting hard to come back, the Lady Cats went on a 10-2 run taking the lead at 17-14, but were unable to keep spots filled on the court, losing the set 25-19 for a 3-0 match loss.

The Lady Cats are now 2-1 in District play and 6-8 on the season. They are scheduled to take on Warren Central tonight at home.

Joseph Barkoff, story and photos:
​Is two a streak?
 
“Nah, we can go for one more,” Edmonson County High school junior quarterback Tristen Muse said after earning their second win of the season shutting out visiting Muhlenberg County, 13-0 Friday, September 6th in Brownsville.
 
A streak is technically a series or sequence of three of more but two is certainly on the way.
 
The only time Edmonson gave the ball to Muhlenberg was on kick offs and a couple of punts. Other than that, they held onto the ball for an enormous time of possession.
 
“The kids played hard and I am very proud of ‘em,” Edmonson County defensive coordinator Tommy Muse said after the game.
 
Holding onto the ball was one of the goals going into the game, Muse said. With Muhlenberg having the potential to run the option, midline veer, triples, and the quarterback is pretty good, they wanted to keep the ball offensively so “they wouldn’t be on the field as much.”
 
The team feels they have a good system of review and correct installed.
 
“It feels great,” Edmonson County head coach Justin Vessels said after the game. “It always feels good to win and I felt like we cleaned up some stuff from last week to this week. We played even better this week than we did last week. Hopefully that trend can continue, where we look at our mistakes from this game and get better for next week too.”

​Minus a couple of miscues, the team has shown they can improve week to week. 
 
Plus, the time of possession really helped.
 
“That’s how we like to play football,” Vessels said. “We prefer to be a power running team with some misdirection and throw play-action off of our running game. We prefer to keep the time of possession in our favor.”
 
Going back to look at some of Muhlenberg’s scores from this season, they have scored plenty of points, so to shut them out, give coach Muse a lot of credit, Vessels said.
 
“I though the defense played outstanding tonight pitching a shutout,” Vessels said.
 
“He’s a tremendous defensive coordinator,” Vessels said of Muse.
 
Vessles’ favorite thing from the evening?
 
“We played hard for four quarters, I thought,” Vessels said. “In the first couple of games we kinda had slow starts. We came came out and played good from the start I thought, and that’s what we’ve gotta do. We’ve gotta start strong and play for four quarters.”

​The little mistakes are still on the radar to fix for the team, Vessels explained. 
 
An example of a mistake he wants to fix is lining up off sides. It made coach Muse very frustrated when they gave up free, easy yards through a penalty, he said.
 
Also, there was one “three and out, and we never want to go three and out on offense, so we want to fix that,” he said.
 
Overall, on the evening Vessels said he was “pleased with tonight.”
 
Tristen feels having the extreme time of possessions help the defense and he is glad the coaches trust him with the ball during the long segments of possession, he said.
 
“We are working really good right now,” Tristen said. “Best as we can.”
 
“I just need to air it out better,” Tristen said. “I think we played a pretty good game.”
 
“We fixed a lot of the small things. Now we just need to get the passing game going.”
 
Despite his confidence in himself and his squad, he feels they all could still improve, he said.
 
Edmonson County will have a chance to show they can continue to improve next week at home when Caverna High School travels from Horse Cave to Brownsville, Sept. 13th for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
 

.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Edmonson County High School announced Brad Meredith as their new head coach for boys' basketball today, September 5, 2024.

Meredith has been involved in coaching in Edmonson County in a number of ways since 2005, including head coach of both boys and girls track and country, as well as serving in multiple basketball roles at both the middle school and high school level.

"I want all of you to know that he has my full endorsement, and I'm tickled to death that he's going to be our head basketball coach," said Principal Jonathan Williams. "We played together, battled together, and won together, and I'm excited to know what he's going to do as a leader, as a coach, and as a mentor."

Coach Meredith addressed the crowd in the ECHS auditorium and said he was very excited and grateful for this opportunity. Meredith said he moved to Edmonson County his freshman year of high school, which was a much-needed change.

"I didn't care about anything. I didn't care about getting in trouble, I didn't care about failing, I sure didn't care about sports. Any of that stuff," he said. "I came here and this community took me in. Teachers took me in, and some of them are still here, and they cared for me."

He said coaches eventually came to him to encourage him to try sports, which led to other positive changes in his life.

"This place changed me. It turned my life around. I wouldn't be here as a teacher and coach without my teachers and coaches."

He said one of the reasons he took the job was to prove the naysayers wrong.

"People kept telling me we wouldn't be very good and about the third or fourth time I heard that, it started irritating me and it started fueling me."

He said he's going to use the doubt as a driving force to accomplish good things at ECHS.

Meredith told the Edmonson Voice his coaching preferences include being aggressive on both offense and defense.

"I want to play up-tempo and be in their faces on defense," he said. "I think with the kids we have we can be good at running at jumping, good at sharing the ball, and playing a motion offense. Obviously, if that doesn't work, we'll adjust, but that's what I'd like to do."

Coach Meredith also served as ECMS Athletic Director from 2016-2024, and head middle school boys' basketball coach from 2009-11, and then again from 2019-2024. He has served as assistant boys' basketball coach at the varsity level under various coaches and coached several freshman and JV teams. He also holds a long list of accolades in coaching track and cross country at ECHS for 19 years.

He also also served as both a special ed and PE teacher in Edmonson County Schools since 2005.

ECHS AD Kyle Pierce said Edmonson County wanted a coach that will be here longer than one year.

"I think it's important," he told the audience. "I know you seniors are going to be with a new guy and I want you all to rally around everybody. The biggest thing in this process, in my opinion, is if we've got people local that can do the job, I'm all for it. This guy knows basketball. He played here and he'll want whats best for this program as a whole."

Alyssa Doyle, story and photos:
The Edmonson County Lady Cat Volleyball team beat the defending District 12 Champions, Grayson County, at home on Tuesday night. The Lady Cougars did not go down easy, but the Lady Cats came out on top with a 3-2 win in 5 sets.

Edmonson County started strong in the first set with a 4-0 lead, but the Cougars fought back with a 6-point run for the lead. It did not take the Lady Cats long to respond as they stayed aggressive on the net and consistent with their defense. Lacking in blocks, the Lady Cat passers were forced to take on the Cougar attackers head on, and they delivered with an ECHS 26-24 set one victory.

Looking for revenge, the Cougars start the second set with a 6-0 lead against Edmonson, forcing the Lady Cats to take their first timeout of the set. The Cats continued to fight hard going point-for-point, but never took the lead, falling 23-25 to end the second set.

Set three was much of the same as the Cats never gave up, tying the game several times, but still never taking the lead. Grayson County forced Edmonson into a timeout with a 12-6 lead and then again with a 22-17 Cougar lead. The Cats responded with a 7-2 run pushing Grayson to take their first timeout, but the Cougars did not let up and took set three 25-23 and a 2-1 game lead.

Going into the fourth set, Edmonson County knew they had to win and force a fifth set for a chance to win the game. With three lead changes and four ties, neither team could earn more than a 4-point lead until Edmonson forced Grayson into the first timeout of the set with a 20-15 Lady Cat lead. Brookelyn Simon and Josie Lich stayed hot on the net earning several kills for their team as they fought tooth and nail for a 31-29 win, forcing the Cougars into a fifth set.

Although the Cougars were able to tie the set once at 4-4, they were unable to find holes in the Cats’ defense and could not withstand the kills and blocks from the home team. The Lady Cats forced Grayson to use both of their timeouts as they took the final set with a 15-13 set win and match victory.

“We know what it takes to beat hard teams, and we absolutely delivered tonight,” said Head Coach Christine Barrett. “Our conditioning played a huge role in this. I told them we have to play our side of the court. We know what we can do and we have to play our side. They have to have faith in themselves because I have all the faith in them.”

Going into the fourth set losing 2-1, Coach Barrett told her girls, “Keep pushing, keep fighting, keep doing what we do, day in and day out.”

An entirely new Lady Cat Volleyball team was seen out on the court last night. Coach Barrett says, “This year marks a significant turnaround, with the girls showcasing remarkable cohesiveness. Improved communication and a better understanding of each other’s strengths have transformed them into a unified, well-oiled unit. Their support of one another both on and off the court have been pivotal in their success, reflecting a strong sense of teamwork and commitment.”

Josie Lich lead the team in kills (14), Brookelyn Simon close behind adding 11, Bailey Ferguson had 8, Julie Norris had 7, and Rylee Skaggs added 3. Bailey Ferguson led her team in digs with 62, Averie Hill had 58, Libero Allie Faulkner had 35, Simon had 33, and Reagan Ferguson added 31. Brookelyn Simon also put up 8 service aces for the night.

The young Lady Cats are now 2-0 in district play and 5-6 on the season. Out of over 30 players on their current roster, only three seniors are listed. Edmonson County will take on Breckinridge County at home on Thursday.

Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
Edmonson County High School Wildcat football outlasted the Metcalfe County Hornets 13-12 and earned their first win of the 2024 season on the road Friday night, August 30th in Edmonton.

Metcalfe County received the opening kickoff and marched down for a score in just under three minutes, but were unable to convert a two-point attempt from the one-yard line after a penalty before the kick PAT on the previous play.

The Wildcats took their first possession but punted after four downs.

On the Hornets’ second possession, the Wildcats’ defense was able to stop the Hornets on the Wildcats’ 39 yard-line, forcing them to punt with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

On the first snap of the Wildcats’ second drive, junior quarterback Tristen Muse began the attack. He took the snap, faked a hand off to a motion back and ran off the hole where an offensive tackle once was for 21 yards.

After getting more of the offense involved with touches from junior wide receiver William Saling and senior fullback Garret Lyons, it was fourth down and 6six yards to go as the time ran out on the first quarter with Metcalfe ahead 6-0 over Edmonson.

But as the last seconds of the first quarter wound down, there were visible lightning strikes on the horizon visible beyond both endzones and the game went into a lightning delay as per rules from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.

According to KHSAA rules, lightning strikes within 10 miles of a game will cause the game to go into a delay for 30 minutes and extend time for each strike.
​
When the game resumed over an hour later, it was still fourth down and six yards to go from the Metcalfe County 36 yard-line for Edmonson County.

​After a delay, the question is always asked, how will the athletes handle to the down time? Will they be still focused and loose enough to resume play?

“We had a fourth and six, and we were able to convert that,” Edmonson County Head Coach Justin Vessels said. “And we kept the drive going. We actually scored our first touchdown on that drive so that was a great job of them to come out after that long break. Come back out sharp and focused and finish that drive.”

After the extra point from junior kicker Colton White, the score was 7-6 in favor of Edmonson County over Metcalfe with 9:14 left in the first half.

The Wildcats held onto the lead and increased it to 13-6 with a touchdown but miss the extra point after.

The Hornets were down, but not completely out and with 1:11 left in the game they would score a touchdown, and a then face a choice.

Go for one point, tie and move into overtime, or go for two points and the win, but if they fail—they lose.

While hindsight is 20-20, Metcalfe chose wrong and had the ball picked off by Edmonson’s Saling in the endzone.

With only 1:11 seconds remaining in the game, Edmonson County took the field after an onside kick off from Metcalfe and assumed the victory formation where the whole offense is close in tight and the quarterback immediately takes a knee after the snap to engage the clock and run out time.

​“It feels awesome,” Vessels said after the game. “I’m really proud of these boys. It was a hard-fought win, even to the very end. Metcalfe played a good game.”

“I told them coming into this game it was going to be it was going to be a fight to the end,” Vessels said.

It truly was.

We had to rotate people to keep them fresh because of the heat and humidity, Vessels said. Luckily, we were able to do that and fight to the end and get the win.

The hardest thing for the team to overcome for the evening was the big lightning delay, Vessels said. It’s not something you are used too.

They didn’t change a lot scheme wise from last week to this week, he said. They watched the film and tried to fix mistakes made.

“Hopefully this is something that can happen, where we get a little better each week cause we are fixing mistakes and things,” Vessels said. “And I think that’s what happened tonight.”

The offense opened up and spread the ball around successfully quite a bit more in the second game.

“I think we played much better on offense this week,” he said. “We sustained drives. We had zero turnovers tonight I believe and that’s a big key in a close ballgame like this.”

The defense remembered to wrap on tackles more often this week too.

“Defense played tremendous and got a stop there at there at the end,” he said. “That was awesome.”

“The boys played hard,” Vessels said. “They played for four quarters and it took everybody we had to rotate in and keep everybody fresh.”

The players were happy for their first win of the season too.

“Man, it feels amazing,” White said after the game.

People at school doubt them because they have had a losing season for the past few years, he said. But after this win he feels it will push a lot of momentum into the season.

“We’ll have more,” White said.

White’s favorite things from the night included getting third down stops and getting the Metcalfe punt team onto the field as well as getting the offense running he said.

The hardest thing for him was missing the extra point attempt, White said. But, he is ready for the rest of the season and reiterated he thinks they will get more wins.

“It feels amazing,” senior running back Carter Swihart said after the game. “Coming off of a 2-win (season) last year, already getting strong, you hope that it just leads to more wins.”

He thinks from last week’s loss to this week’s win, as a team, they needed this win more than anything, Swihart said.

“It feels really good, really good,” Muse said after the game. “It’s nice to see the team come together. Finally fixed the simple things, but still got a couple more and we’ll be a whole lot better.”

Fixing the simple things and getting the team moving forward is important and thinks they are on the right track, he said.

“I hope we get a whole lot more wins,” Muse said.

“Fitting all the puzzle pieces together,” Muse said. “Filling all the holes.”

“We got a bunch of stuff still to fix,” he said.

Muse thinks the easiest thing for the team to fix is doing the correct things for each position on each play, he said. He admits he was guilty of that error during the game.

The hardest will be improving more physical strength, Muse said. Like getting Bigger, stronger and physical stats.

Some of that will come with age, the rest will come from good form and repetition.

With Vessels at the helm and his support staff around him, there could be good things ahead for Edmonson County High School football as the whole team grows together, literally and figuratively.

Edmonson County will host Muhlenberg County for their home opener next Friday September 6th at 7 p.m. in Brownsville.

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Edmonson Voice Sports:
The annual Santa’s Helping Hands Benefit Golf Scramble was no disappointment to the local community, which took place at Shady Hollow Golf Club on Saturday, August 24, 2024.

Warm, sunny weather was plentiful as well as golfers from all across the state competed for donated prizes and gift cards--all for a great cause.

"This golf tournament is one our bigger fundraisers, and with the support of our community, we have the maximum allowed turnout every year," said Mark Wardlow, co-founder of SHH, INC. "After all scores were tallied, the team of Mickey Jones, Dennis VanMeter, Gary Minor & Kendall Tanner claimed the top honors with 23 under par."

Alford's Pharmacy was the event's corporate sponsor, in addition to additional sponsors such as Rafferty’s, The Edmonson Voice, Stile Homes, Jacob’s Home Furnishings, as well as the businesses and individuals who bought hole sponsorships.

"I'm always humbled by the support that's shown to our charity, and this year saw 120 golfers joining together for our cause," Wardlow said. "The course was in its usual excellent condition and Dad’s BBQ supplied a fantastic lunch once again."

Wardlow said such a big event wouldn't be possible to all the sponsors and volunteers that helped make it a success.

"So much goes into this event, and with the help of Michael Meredith, Brad Johnson, Levi Meredith, and Joe Monroe, with their willingness to plan, organize, coordinate, and especially clean up everything, it went perfectly."

Wardlow said over $8,500 was raised for the charity that benefits families in need with Christmas gifts, necessities, and a helping hand to those down and out throughout Edmonson County. Santa's Helping Hands is celebrating its 20th year this year.

,Story and photos by Joseph Barkoff:
Things don’t always start out the way envisioned, and that’s what happened in the 35-0 defeat for the Edmonson County Wildcats on the road against Grayson County Friday August 24th in Leitchfield.
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Edmonson County High School’s new head coach, but not new to ECHS, Justin Vessels, was part of a 2011 squad as offensive coordinator who took the Wildcats into the second round of playoffs, bringing serious clout to the table.

Junior quarterback and linebacker transfer Tristen Muse and his father, a former local high school football head coach, now the ECHS defensive coordinator, Tommy Muse, both bring a little clout of their own as well.​

“We got the first game nerves out,” Tristen Muse said after the game.

With them out of the way, putting an offensive drive together and get everything moving and then things like getting their defensive reads correctly are what the Wildcats need to do to be successful in the future, Tristen said.

After the game, Vessels spoke loud enough to hear. Not field level volume, but loud enough for his visibly frustrated team to hear on each bench occupied in the cement visiting team locker room.

There were no raised voices, and he made sure the athletes knew, none were coming. No cursing, no anger. Just acceptance that work has to be done and will be done.
​
“It’s a long season,” Vessels said after the game in the locker room to his team. “We’ve got lots of games. I think we can get better. I’m not at all ready to give up on this season, Okay. So y’all don’t give up on us.”

There were positives on the evening.

“We had lots of kids making their first (varsity) starts tonight,” Vessels said. “We do have a little bit of experience, but we have a lot of kids who haven’t played very much, so it was good game experience for them.”

They will use this as a learning experience, Vessels said.

“I thought we were ready for this game,” Vessels said. “But we’ve got a whole lot of stuff to work on, because basic stuff we never mess up on in practice and we hadn’t messed up in the scrimmages, we were messing up tonight.”

Things like sliding protections and even basic snaps, he said.

Vessels is unsure as to why the mistakes were made, whether they were first game jitters and nerves for the new squad, but he is sure they will work to fix them in the coming week, he said.

A head coach transfer from another school, Muse felt it was bad tackles early on, and made sure the team knew they would work on it, he said after Vessels’ address of the team in the locker room after the game.

Going forward the team knows they have some work to do.

“Just do the simple stuff,” Tristen said.

“I think we’ll do a lot of good stuff this week at practice, and we got all the first game nerves out,” he said said.

He thinks it will be better and is hopeful for the upcoming game, he said.

Edmonson travels to Metcalfe County Friday Aug. 30 with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff, so stay tuned on the Voice and the Voice Live for game coverage.

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Edmonson Voice Sports:
The Lady Cat soccer team opened their official season on Tuesday, August 13th with a district win against Butler County 12-4 at Chalybeate Park.

Goals by Edmonson County were scored by:
Junior Jenna Lashley (6)
Sophomore Hayden Hayes (2)
Junior Zoey Wachowiak (1)
Junior Ella Madison (2)
Sophomore Ellie-Claire Spainhoward (1)

Edmonson County assists were made by:
Junior Zoey Wachowiak
Senior Emma-Claire Skaggs
Junior Jenna Lashley
Sophomore Ellie-Claire Spainhoward
Senior Kenslie Pandolfi

The Lady Cats are coached by Ashley Ritter and assisted by Noe Ortiz.

Darren Doyle, story: Joseph Barkoff, photo:
Trey Tinsley, head boys' basketball coach for Edmonson County High School, has resigned, according to Superintendent of Schools Brian Alexander.

Alexander told the Edmonson Voice he learned of the news on Monday, August 12th.

"I was contacted by Coach Tinsley on Monday afternoon and he informed me that he had accepted a job in another school district. I accepted his resignation as teacher at Edmonson County High School and head boy's basketball coach. Both positions will be posted for hire," Alexander said.

Tinsley coached at Edmonson County for a total of two years; the first year was as an assistant and he was named head coach last year, where the Wildcats finished 14-16 on the season, district runner-up, and made an appearance at the Region 3 Tournament, falling in the first round to Owensboro Catholic.

Tinsley said he accepted a position in the Russellville school system and will be the lead assistant coach on the high school boys' basketball team.

"I've had two great years at Edmonson County," Tinsley told the Edmonson Voice. "I love the kids and I hope the best for Edmonson County going forward."

"I would like to thank Coach Tinsley for his work as our head boy's basketball coach last season and as an assistant the previous year. We wish him the best in his new position."

Edmonson Voice Sports:
The Edmonson County 10U All-Stars would like to thank the following businesses for supporting their team this year, which include: MelloFab, Sarah‘s Playschool, Edmonson Drug, Martin, Plumbing, Salings Grocery and Bait Shop, Professional Concrete, Massage by Samantha, Kentucky Farm Bureau, Gravil and Carney Tax Service, C&C Firearms and Outdoors, Alford’s Pharmacy, and Step Up Hair Design.

The team is made up of the following members: Noah Carey, Carter Harper, Jacob Hogg, Kayden Keith, Hayden Kiernan, Bray Martin, Wrangler Martin, Kaiden Mattingly, Asher Mello, Heath Sanders, Corbin Stockton, and Alex Thomas.

They are coached by Jake Lamastus, Andy Mello, Corey Keith, and John Kiernan.