Darren Doyle, story and photos:
The last game of the 2021 football season came to an end for the Wildcats in heartbreaking fashion tonight as Breckinridge County scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion in the final seconds after Edmonson County led as much as 14 with only a few minutes left in the game.

The loss was a brutal ending to a tough, winless season under first-year head coach, Ed Smart. Wildcat football hasn't gone a season without a win since 1972. Coach Smart informed the team this week that he would not be returning as coach next season.

ECHS Principal Jonathan Williams said the search for a new coach for next season is already being discussed.

Breckinridge County started the fireworks early (literal fireworks, as they were shot with each score from the Tigers) as they scored first on a touchdown from Michael Johnson, although the extra point attempt was no good. They led 6-0 with 6:52 in the first quarter.

The Wildcats answered big as Zander Bass returned the kickoff for a 55-yard touchdown. Their two-point conversion gave them the 8-6 lead with 6:42 in the first.

Edmonson County extended their lead with another touchdown in the second quarter as Matt Shaw bulldozed his way into the end zone. The two-point conversion was no good and the Cats led 14-6 at the half.

Shaw connected again for the Cats in the third and Edmonson County enjoyed their largest lead of both the game and the season, 20-6. The Tigers soon answered with a 15-yard TD from Michael Johnson again, and the two-point conversion was good, cutting the Edmonson lead to 20-14 with 4:25 left in the third.

With just under 8 minutes in the game, the Wildcats ran a nice reverse as Michael Mills connected with Daren Alexander for a 16-yard touchdown. After the extra two, Edmonson led 28-14.

The Tigers were far from done as they scrapped back with 4:41 left with Jacob Henning scoring for Breckinridge. The extra two points cut the Edmonson lead to 28-22.

Edmonson County was 16 seconds away from the first and only victory of the season when Tiger quarterback Kiyren Watkins, who stepped back looking to pass, somehow wiggled his way out of the blitz and ran the ball 60 yards for a game-tying touchdown with 9.9 seconds on the clock. The two-point conversion was good to give them a 30-28 lead.

The Tigers pooched-kicked on the kickoff and the ball dribbled up field and off the hands of a Wildcat as time expired. The Tigers celebrated their fourth victory (4-6) in a row as the Cats left stunned.

Edmonson County put up a total of 220 yards of rushing offense, led by quarterback Zander Bass with 98 yards. Michael Mills added 57 yards (as well as 33 yards in passing on two reverses), and Matt Shaw added 46 yards rushing. Daren Alexander notched 33 yards of receiving yardage.

Logan Davis led the Cats in total tackles with 13, while Bass and Mills added 9 each.

The Wildcats finish the season 0-10, with two of those losses as a result of COVID cancellations early in the season.

Madison Doyle, story and photos:

Several seniors were recognized tonight at the football game for five different sports, including football, marching band, cheerleading, cross country, and golf. Enjoy this slideshow of our seniors with their families.

Not present tonight: Golf senior Hallie Cassady, daughter of Staffane and Kyle Cassady, and Keegan Stewart, son of Wes Stewart.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
The Wildcats fell to the Monroe County Falcons 39-6 on Friday, October 22nd on senior night 2021, for the final home game of the season.

Monroe County scored first as John Harlin rushed in with a 13-yard TD for the Falcons with 8:39 left in the 1st quarter. The Falcons led the Wildcats 7-0 after the extra point.

The Falcons scored again with 4:30 in the first after the Falcons returned to the red zone, this time with Jordan Page and a one-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good and Monroe County led the Wildcats 13-0.

After a Wildcat turnover, Monroe's Peyton Knudson scored on a 36-yard TD and the extra point extended the Falcon lead to 20-0 with 2:53 in the first.

The Falcons scored two more touchdowns before the half, but the extra points were no good. They led 32-0 at halftime.

The Wildcats were scrapping early in the third and finally got on the board after getting into the red zone. Matt Shaw pushed through with a 1-yard TD run. The Edmonson extra point attempt was no good and with 5:08 left to go in the third quarter, the Wildcats cut the Falcon lead to 32-6.

With the Monroe County quarterback Petett under pressure, he maneuvered out of a tackle and connected with John Harlin for a 24-yard touchdown as the clock ran out in the third. The extra point was good and the Falcons led 39-6.

Coach Smart said last week that he wants any team he coaches to improve as the season goes on. He said he thought the first half of tonight's game didn't reflect much of that improvement, although he thought the Wildcats played better in the second half. While he wasn't happy with tonight's game, he credited his seniors for sticking through a very tough season.

"I feel bad for our seniors, it's been difficult," he said. "They took it pretty hard in there and that's why it took me a while to get up here. We talked about some things. Until you've played this, you don't quite understand what we're going through. We've talked about kids at school making fun of them and calling them losers. And you know how kids can be, and I've tried to explain to them that's why we have to stay together. It can be a cruel world and people are going to point things out, but I'm like, they don't understand all the time and the work these boys have put in, and they're trying to represent our school and community. They're trying to do the best they can and we're coming up short, but I mean it's not because we're not trying, and it's not because we're not out here. There's a lot of other kids walking the hallways that ain't out here, so I take my hat off to our kids because I'm proud of them."

Seniors on this year's roster included: Gage Abney, Ian Clark, Logan Davis, and Matt Shaw.

During halftime, the 2011 ECHS Wildcat Football team was recognized on-field, which was one of the most successful at Edmonson County. The team won the first district championship for football that year since 1986. They enjoyed a perfect 11-0 regular season, coached by Kyle Pierce.

Also recognized were members of the 2021 youth football league. Dozens of future Wildcats were brought on the field and honored for their hard work this season.

Edmonson County is now 0-9 on the season and is scheduled to play Breckinridge County on the road next week for the final regular game of the season. The team is working on scheduling an extra game to possibly make up for one of the COVID cancellations they experienced earlier in the year.

Edmonson Voice Sports:
Four different Lady Cat volleyball team members were named to various all-district teams for the 2021 District 12 season.

The following players were recognized after Tuesday night's championship game:

• Senior Karrington Peger was named to the All-Academic Team
• Junior Kaylee Lindsey was named to the All-Season Team
• Junior Whitney Davis was named to the All-Season Team
• Junior Alyssa Doyle was named to the All-Tournament Team

Trinity defeated Grayson County in the championship game, 3-0.

Madison Doyle, story and photos: 
The 2021 ECHS Lady Cat volleyball season came to an end last night against Grayson County in the 12th District Tournament, hosted by Edmonson County.

The Lady Cats won the first set of the match 25-23, but the Lady Cougars took the last three (26-24, 25-17, and 25-23) to win the game and advance to the district championship, ending the season for EC. 

Interim Head Coach Caitlin Caudill had nothing but good things to say about her team despite their loss.

"I’m proud of the fight the girls put up. Last night, they never gave up and I couldn’t have been more proud of them for that." She also added that everyone on the team "from our senior all the way down to our 7th graders" had improved all season long. "I look forward to seeing them put in work over the off season and come back next season even better."

Juniors Alyssa Doyle and Kaylee Lindsey led the Lady Cats once again with 12 kills each. Junior Rylee Laster followed close behind with 8, Whitney Davis added 2, and Raven Cast added 1. The Lady Cats also had some blocks as Alyssa Doyle led with 6, and Lindsey added 4. Junior Whitney Davis led the team in digs with 24. Lindsey followed with 23, Doyle and Cast each had 15, Thompson with 11, Madison Bullock with 10, and Laster added 4.

EC also had a few service aces last night, as Davis and Thompson both had 4, Lindsey had 2, and Doyle and Alivia Mabrey each added 1. 

The Lady Cats will be losing one senior, Karrington Peger. They will have 6 players who will be returning next year as seniors, and Coach Caitlin Caudill says she is expecting "big things" from them. The Lady Cats ended their season 7-21. 

Edmonson Voice Sports:
Edmonson County High School will host the 2021 District 12 Championship tonight as Butler County and Whitesville Trinity start things off at 5:30PM.

Immediately following will be the second game of the night, where the Lady Cats will take on Grayson County around 6:20PM.

Several sponsors are providing tickets for the first 100 ECHS students for the tournament. The Lady Cats are asking fans in attendance to wear red to the game. Tonight's game sponsors providing student tickets are Middlebrook Subdivision-Blevins & Blevins, LLC., Bank of Edmonson County, Edmonson Voice, McReynold's Physical Therapy, and Mark Wardlow.

The game will be broadcast live with video and audio streams on the Edmonson Voice Facebook Page and EdmonsonVoice.com beginning at approximately 6:20PM.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Edmonson County fell to Green County tonight 42-7 on a soggy homecoming night, but Coach Ed Smart said at the beginning of the season that his goal was for his team to be better by the end of the year. Despite the growing pains and tough losses the Wildcats have faced this year, Coach Smart said he has seen his team improve as the season has moved forward.

In the post game interview with the Wildcats Live crew, Coach Smart said, "I told y'all the first time we talked, I wanted to see improvement. It's been a gradual process, but I thought defensively, at times we looked pretty good. Offensively, we're still struggling a little bit. We can get some first downs and there's a lot of things we need to work on, but there's improvement, and that to me is the key."

The Wildcats have struggled mightily with a roster that is small in both size and personnel; they are also young and getting used to new positions and a new coach. Several of their games this season have seen running clocks--contests where the opponent led by 36 points or more. Scoring has been tough throughout all year, but there hasn't been a game during this 0-8 season (two of which were COVID forfeitures) where the boys gave up. If you couldn't see a scoreboard, you'd never know the Cats were trailing like they've been, based on their effort.

Tonight, Green County struck first with Julian Seymour scoring on a short carry on the Dragons' first drive of the game. Their two-point conversion was good and they led 8-0 with 9:19 in the first.

Green County scored again with 1:48 left in the first on another rushing TD from Houston Hodges; however, they did not convert on the two-point conversion. They led 14-0 going into the second.

Defensively, Edmonson County looked better than they had in previous games, stopping holes and making much better tackles.

Wildcat junior Zander Bass, who switched positions from WR to QB with fellow junior Daren Alexander, broke free on a quarterback keeper and ran 39 yards for a touchdown with 3:52 left in the half. Kicker Owen Stills scored the extra point and the Cats cut the lead to 14-7.

The Dragons scored on a big play during their next drive, this time on Blake Houchins' 59-yard TD run. Green County failed to score on the two-point conversion but extended their lead to 20-7 with 3:41 left in the half.

Green County wasn't finished in the quarter. With under two minutes to go, they scored again on a 19-yard run and extended their lead once more after a two-point conversion to 28-7, which was the score at the half.

The Dragons scored once more in the third and then again on another big run in the 4th--this time, a 56-yard run by Kelson McKinney with another two-point conversion, which brought the score to the final 42-7.

Zander Bass completed 3 out of 7 pass attempts for 18 passing yards while adding 55 rushing yards. Michael Mills rushed for 40 yards and Michael Shaw rushed for 38.

Gage Abney and Blake Shields each notched 10 tackles, Logan Davis added 9, and Michael Mills and Noah Meredith added 8 tackles each.

Mills also had a 58-yard interception.

"You want to see from that first game to the last game, you want to get better, and that's what I seeing," said Coach Smart. "I'm not happy about things--the result, but the truth of the matter is, we're getting better. If we'd turned around and got beat 66-0 and looked like we did in the first half against Hancock, then I'd be really disappointed and upset."

Edmonson County has one more home game this season, which is scheduled for Friday, October 22nd against Monroe County. It will be fall sports senior night at Wildcat Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7PM with the WildcatsLive crew going live at 6:45PM.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
It may have been windy and soggy through the soaking rains tonight, but everyone was all smiles at the 2021 ECHS Football homecoming despite the weather.

Miss McKenna Woosley was named this year's senior football homecoming queen and she was escorted by Mr. Alex Elkins.

The junior princess was Tina Compton, who was escorted by Tyler Anderson. Sophomore princess was Chloe Pandolfi, who was escorted by Landon Meredith. Freshman princess was Lilly Parsley, who was escorted by Landon Franich.

The attendants, who did not join the court due to the weather, were Lilly Mae Forbes, daughter of Ted and Joanna Forbes, and Hudon Hennion, son of Zach and Sydney Hennion, as well as Kaisley Milliken, daughter of Katie Jaggers and Jared Sherrard, and Jensen Elmore, son of Travis and Nikki Elmore.

The court was crowned by last year's queen, Katie Lindsey, who was escorted by Eli Pedigo.

The Wildcats lost to Green County, 42-7.

The Lady Cats got off to a slow start last night in the first set against Muhlenberg County, as they allowed the Lady Mustangs to take an early lead which was extended to 19-13 and forced a Lady Cat timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Lady Cats went on a 6 point run, which forced the Lady Mustangs into a timeout of their own. Edmonson County took their first lead of the game since the score was 2-1 at 22-21 and from then on, they fought point-by-point until they were outlasted by Muhlenberg in one of the highest-scoring sets Lady Cat fans had seen in several years, with the Lady Mustangs taking the set 30-28, and a 1-0 lead.

The Lady Cats had a better start in set two as they led 16-11, which forced Muhlenberg into their first timeout; however, the Lady Mustangs went on a 9-4 run and tied the score at 20-20.

Costly errors from Edmonson allowed Muhlenberg to take the lead and win the second set 22-25, and the game, 2-0.  

Juniors Kaylee Lindsey and Alyssa Doyle led the Lady Cats with 6 kills by Lindsey and 5 by Doyle. Juniors Whitney Davis and Rylee Laster both added 4. Lindsey and Doyle also added 4 blocks each; Davis and Laster each added 1. Whitney Davis and Alivia Mabrey led in digs with 13 each, while sophomore Madison Bullock added 9, Doyle added 8, Lindsey added 6, and Raven Cast added 3.

EC also had multiple service aces, as Kaylee Lindsey had 2, and Davis and Mabrey had 1 each.


The Lady Cats are now 7-19 on the season and are scheduled to take on Breckinridge County at home this Thursday at 5:30 p.m, which is the last regular season game before they host the district tournament next week.

Edmonson Voice Report:
Edmonson County High School has announced the 2021 Football Homecoming candidates for this Friday night's game.

Standing left to right: Chloe Pandolfi (10th grade) Leah Ballance (10th grade) Addison Bullard (9th) Lilly Parsley (9th) Maggie Cassady (9th) Addison Browning (9th) Chaney Browning (10th) Kennady Stice (10th)

Middle Row (all 11th grade): Cadence Warthen, Ryley Jones, Tina Compton

Front row (all 12th grade): Emma Grace Cena, Maham Shahbaz, Rachel Hennion

Not pictured: McKenna Woosley (12th grade), Macy Allen (11th grade)

The girls were dressed in pajamas as part of Spirit Week, which is customary on the week of homecoming. This week's festivities include: Monday-pajama day, Tuesday-twin day, Wednesday-color wars between classes, Throwback Thursday-decades day, and Friday-Wildcat Spirit Day.

The game is scheduled for this Friday night at Wildcat Stadium against Green County at 7PM. The Edmonson Voice will carry the livestream with the WildcatsLive crew, beginning at 6:45PM.

Last night the Lady Cats fell to top-rated  district foe Whitesville-Trinity (21-4, 6-0) in a home match-up in four sets. While the game was notched as another loss for Edmonson County, the effort given by the Lady Cats was as good as EC fans have seen all season long.

After a rough start for Edmonson County, Trinity took the first set 25-22. Edmonson County responded with an intense second set, taking the Lady Raiders past 25, and winning 28-26. With starters Kaylee Lindsey who is nursing a sore ankle and Alyssa Doyle who has battled illness this week, Trinity took advantage of some big runs and outlasted the Lady Cats for the final two sets, 25-17 and 25-11. 

Multiple team members said it was fun feeding off the positive energy from the fan section in Wildcat Alley, which was the largest group of student fans the gym has seen in a couple years. 

Interim Head Coach Caitlin Caudill said some big blocks and timely digs kept the game close, but the girls seemed to run out of gas toward the end of the game. 

"I am very proud of the fight the girls showed last night", Coach Caudill stated, "They proved last night that they can play with anyone. We have a few things we need to work on, but we will work over fall break and be ready to take on Muhlenberg County when we return." 

The Lady Cats are scheduled to take on Muhlenberg at home on Monday, October 11th, at 5:30 pm. ​ Edmonson County is 7-18 on the season and now 3-5 in district play.