Darren Doyle, story and photos:
The Wildcats celebrated their first win of the 2025 season over the Clinton County Bulldogs 28-20 on the road in Albany.

The Wildcats, powered by solid performances from Will Saling, Tristan Muse, and Jacoia Orvis, controlled the game from the opening whistle, building a lead that Clinton County couldn’t overcome.

Edmonson Voice Sports:
Two senior players and one manager were celebrated along with their families Monday night at ECHS for senior night 2025-26 for Lady Cat Soccer.

Zoey Wachowiak, Jenna Lashley, and manager Makaila Palmer were all honored at midfield for the senior night celebrations.

The Wildcats showed resilience in the third quarter with Jacoia Orvis scoring a 5-yard touchdown run at 6:00, though a missed two-point conversion left the score at 19-9. Grayson County answered swiftly, as Ethan Mudd broke free for a 32-yard touchdown run at 2:55. The extra point was no good, making it 25-9. Hanshaw continued his performance with a 7-yard touchdown run with just 10.5 seconds left in the third, pushing the Cougars’ lead to 32-9 after the extra point.

In the fourth quarter, Hanshaw capped his night with a 56-yard touchdown run at 9:17, extending Grayson County’s lead to 39-9. The Wildcats refused to go quietly, as Connor Self punched in a 5-yard touchdown run with 2:12 remaining, though a failed two-point attempt left the score at 39-15. Despite their late push, Edmonson County couldn’t overcome the Cougars’ early dominance, and the game ended with a final score of 39-15.

When asked if a halftime speech seemed to motivate the team to come out a little stronger in the third quarter, Coach Vessels said no.

"We really didn't change anything I was trying to do. I think, you know, it was no kind of fired up speech or nothing to get them going," he said. "They played hard in the first half. We just had some mistakes. We were out there a little too long on defense."

Vessels also noted the nine penalties that gave the Cougars 60 extra yards.

"We don't want to give them cheap yards like that, you know, get them easier conversions on the downs. But then offensively, it took us a little while to get rolling, but, you know, we're still, we knew how to attack them coming in. We didn't change how we was going to attack them in the second half. It's just, we started opening the holes a little better. We started hitting a few passes. And when we watch film, you know, we're going to see mistakes that we made, and you know, it should give us some hope like, hey, if we do this, this, fix this, fix that, we could be pretty good. I know last year when we played Grayson they really got a hold of us. It was 35-0. I think it was 39-15 tonight. We're not into moral victories, but we're getting better, I think. They're still very big and strong and physical when they ran the ball on us, and there were times we just couldn't get stops, and then there were times where we couldn't sustain drives. We can't have the fumbles and turnovers. We can't have the silly penalties. You know, there's lots of things to work on. And I told the boys, this is not the end of the season. You know, you' got nine more regular season games. If we had one tonight, we'd feel good. Tomorrow, we'd get right back to work on Clinton. We end up losing tonight. Nobody feels good about it. I feel horrible about it, but I can't dwell on it past the night 'cause tomorrow I've got to get to work on Clinton County and try to get a win next week."

For the Wildcats, Jacoia Orvis and Connor Self provided offensive sparks, while Colton White’s field goal kept Edmonson County competitive early. The Cats also showed signs of tough defense, breaking blocks, and making solid tackles.The game highlighted Grayson County’s ability to capitalize on big plays and maintain pressure, while the Wildcats showed flashes of potential that they’ll look to build on in upcoming games.

The Wildcats are 0-1 on the season and are scheduled to travel to Clinton County next Friday night at 7PM with the WildcatsLive crew going live at 6:45PM with the pregame show.

Edmonson Voice Sports:
ECHS senior Lady Cat golfer shot a personal best in competition yesterday at Park Mammoth Golf Club in the AA sectionals with a score of 86. She was the leading scorer for Lady Cat Golf and finished second overall in the girls' individual category. 

She now qualifies to compete at the AA state level later this season.

The ECHS boys' golf team has shown major improvements since the last couple of seasons with some young players that have been putting up impressive numbers.

While the boys did not qualify for AA state play, they had a very solid showing with junior Ian Madison tying for 10th place overall with a top score of 79 for ECHS. 

Junior Zach Cook shot an 83 for the Wildcats. They finished 5th overall in team play with a score of 347.

Edmonson's boys finished ahead of Warren East, Hart County, and Butler County in yesterday's tournament. They have already notched wins against Trinity (Whitesville) and McLean County this season. Today's match against Grayson was postponed due to the heat index.