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. 

...

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.