Edmonson Voice Staff Report:
Edmonson County High School has announced the 2019 Wildcat Football Homecoming candidates.

Seniors: Taylor Davis, Chloe Jones, Elle Madison, Alex-Shae Horn. 

Juniors: Hannah LaMastus, Breanna Lindsey, Macie McCombs, Kaylee Russell

Sophomores: Lainey Alexander, Carly Dunn, Rachel Hennion, Paige Wolfe

Freshmen: Kennady Ashley, Kaley Lindsey, Mattie Stearns, Lily Jayne Vincent.

The Homecoming is scheduled for Friday, September 27, 2019 at Wildcat Stadium vs. Warren East with festivities beginning at 6:30pm.

Edmonson Voice Sports:
The Wildcats fought through injuries against the Hancock County Hornets last night on the road but fell 36-27 in a hard fought match.

In addition to injured running back/defensive lineman Tucker Dockery and lineman Dalton Doyle, quarterback Jon Smith was on the sidelines for this game with a ankle sprain he suffered in the loss to Grayson County last week during the Wildcats' first drive.

Isaiah Johnson stepped up as quarterback for the Cats on Friday in place of Smith.

Hancock struck first with a 12 yard touchdown run in the first quarter but Edmonson answered with a huge 88-yard kickoff return from Chance Lucas for a touchdown and extra point for their first and only lead of the game at 7-6, as the Hornet extra point attempt was no good on their first touchdown.

Errors caused some problems for EC at times which included some defensive penalties at crucial points. Hancock scored next on a safety as a result of a high snap from the Cats that went out of the back of the end zone for an 8-7 lead. The Hornets scored again on a 55 yard touchdown pass with the extra point for a 15-7 lead in the first.

Hancock landed another touchdown early in the second and then again on their next drive for a 29-7 lead. Edmonson County was able to score before the half on a 63 yard touchdown pass from Chance Lucas to Brock Stethen. The extra point missed and the Cats trailed 29-13 at the half.

​Johnson drive through for a 50 yard touchdown late in the third and converted the two point conversion to cut the lead to 29-21.

Early in the fourth, Hancock struck again with a touchdown and extra point to extend the lead 36-21. Edmonson County's Johnson was able to score again on a 26 yard drive himself, but it would be the final scoring for the Cats and the game as Hancock went on to win.

Edmonson County falls to 1-3 on the season and will face Metcalfe County on the road next Friday in a district game.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
After a bit of a rocky start to the 2019 season, the Edmonson County Lady Cats are looking to get back on track. Several close matches have not gone the way EC has wanted, which had resulted in a 2-12 record going into last night's match against Hart County; however, last night's win is what head coach Bridget Simon says will hopefully direct the team back to where it wants to be.

"I am really hoping that last night’s game will help change the momentum and start helping the girls see that they can win and give them more confidence," said Coach Simon. 

The Lady Cats pounced early in set one, taking a 5-0 lead over the Lady Raiders. Hart County responded by shoring up their errors and tied the score at 9-9. Edmonson County's 7-1 run allowed them to regain the lead at 16-10, to which Hart answered with three straight, but that would be about all the offense the Lady Raiders would generate as the Lady Cats finished them off with a 9-3 run and taking the first set 25-16.

Hart County regrouped and reduced their errors in the start of set two as they led for most of the first part. Edmonson County finally tied the score at 12 and took their first lead of the set at 13-12. From that point, there were five different lead changes and six different ties until Edmonson County called a timeout with a 21-20 lead.

They outscored the Lady Raiders 4-1 for the final points of the set as they went on to win 25-21, and the game 2-0.

"Right now we are working on coverage and moving our feet to make good, clean passes, said Simon. "At the beginning, they were having trouble with moving to the ball. Overall, the past couple of games I think they have gotten better at that. So right now we are just focusing on keeping positive attitudes and high spirits throughout the game even if we aren’t ahead in the game. I think that is huge for us— to stay positive and to just keep having confidence that we can win."

Freshmen Kaylee Lindsey, Alyssa Doyle, and Rylee Laster led the team with kills (Lindsey 13, Doyle 3, Laster 2) while juniors Abbie Slaughter and Emma Woodcock led with digs (Slaughter 6, Woodcock 5). Senior Rachel Cowles led in the assists column with 10 while Woodcock also added 6 assists.

Edmonson County now looks to get revenge on their 12th District rival Butler County on Thursday, who defeated the Lady Cats in Morgantown a couple weeks ago. The Lady Bears took three straight sets from EC in their first meet after the Lady Cats won the first set. The game is scheduled at home for a JV-Varsity match beginning at 5pm.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
The Wildcats struggled against the Cougars on Friday night in the 44th annual Tobacco Bowl as Grayson County kept the coveted tobacco stick with a 31-18 win over Edmonson County. Headed into the rival game, Edmonson County held a 24-19 game advantage, but there would be no such luck in adding another win to their column on this night.
 
The Wildcats looked solid early as they struck first with a 33-yard touchdown from Chance Lucas. The extra point was no good but Edmonson took a 6-0 lead and kept it going into the second quarter.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
The Wildcats defeated the Butler County Bears Friday night in Brownsville at the Wildcat Stadium home opener in a dominating 54-12 win.  Led by senior Chance Lucas' 95-yard, three-touchdown night, the Wildcats righted the ship from last Friday's brutal loss against Portland.

Matt Shaw put the Cats on the board early as he scored on a 17-yard touchdown with just over four minutes to go in the first quarter. Clay Walden's kick was good and Edmonson led 7-0. After the Wildcat defense held the Bears, EC took possession again and Lucas notched his first touchdown of the night--a 10 yard run with just under a minute to go in the first. Walden's kick was good again for a 14-0 lead.

Just seconds into the second quarter, quarterback Jon Smith connected with Brock Stethen on a 48-yard touchdown pass. Walden split the uprights again for a 21-0 lead. 

Soon after, Butler County created some offense and Zack Silcox scored on a 3-yard run; however, the extra point was no good and the lead was cut to 21-6 with 7:21 left in the quarter.

On the Wildcats next possession, it was Smith and Stethen again, this time on a 52-yard pass and touchdown, with Walden notching another extra point for a 28-6 lead. The Bears didn't have long to put together offense on their next possession. Edmonson County's Isaiah Johnson picked off Jagger Henderson's pass and ran it back for a 60-yard interception touchdown. Walden didn't connect on the extra point, but Edmonson had stretched their lead to 34-6 with just over 5 mins left in the half.

The Bears squeezed another touchdown as the Cats took a 34-12 lead into the field house at the half. Lucas was big yet again, this time in the third with two more touchdown runs, first a 30-yarder, then 33 yards more as the quarter was winding down. Edmonson stretched their lead to 47-12 to put the game out of reach for the Bears. 

Edmonson would score once more on Isaiah Johson's huge 68-yard pass from Smith just as the fourth quarter got underway for the final score of 54-12. 

Coach Nathan Smith discussed the performance and the big night from Lucas.

"Chance has working his hind-end off," said Smith. "He's lifting after practice, he's working hard. We toyed with the idea of putting him in the backfield in the off season because he was a little bit small and I went and talked to him about it. He's really committed himself to getting bigger and stronger so he's able to break some tackles and make big runs like that."

Lucas wasn't the only bright spot of the game and Smith commended his entire team.

"We've got a great group of kids, and I know I say that every year, but they just keep getting better," he said. "They don't give me any trouble, they're not in trouble at school, they're pretty good in the classroom, they're good around the field house, and I trust them. That's a big thing. I've had football teams with players that it's hard to trust them sometimes. I trust every player on this team and they work hard for me. I just really love them for it."

Edmonson County moves to 1-1 on the season and will travel to Grayson County next Friday for the annual "Tobacco Bowl," in an attempt to repossess the coveted tobacco stick. Pregame show is set for 6:45pm with the WildcatsLive crew on the Edmonson Voice, with kickoff scheduled for 7pm.