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.
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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.
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“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."