Cats Can't Get Past Hornets In Season Opener

Hancock County Wins Over Edmonson 26-14

Senior quarterback Jon Smith leaps past the defense in a 26-14 loss to Hancock County in the 2020 season opener.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Edmonson County couldn't overcome of couple of big plays from the Hancock County Hornets Friday night in the 2020 football season opener at Wildcat Stadium as they fell 26-14.

The Hornets stung first only a minute and a half into the game when Hancock's Logan Willis was able to squeeze through on a one-yard touchdown after a big push on their first possession of the game; however, the Cats stopped their two-point conversion and Hancock led 6-0.

The Wildcats didn't get on the board until the second quarter as they clawed back for the lead after quarterback Jon Smith connected with Isiah Johnson on a 7-yard touchdown pass. Clay Walden nailed the extra point and the Cats were on top at 7-6 with 11:53 to go in the second.

Edmonson County's Clay Walden (25) runs the ball against Hancock County.

It was Hancock again on their next possession as they broke through for a big 42-yard touchdown run. The Cats once again stopped their two-point conversion attempt and the Hornets led 12-7 with 11:10 left in the second. The score would remain the same at the half. 

Both teams battled in the third but as the quarter wound down, Hancock's Xander Early broke through with a huge 67-yard touchdown run with seconds left in the quarter. For the third straight time, Edmonson County stopped the two-point conversion attempt and Edmonson trailed 18-7.

Isaiah Johnson (12) looks for an open spot against Hancock County.

Edmonson County with the first kickoff of the 2020 season.

Edmonson County answered in the fourth quarter with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Johnson again. Walden's extra point cut the Hornet lead to 18-14 with 7:40 to go in the game. That would be all the offense the Cats would generate and Hancock scored on a crazy 17-yard TD pass where quarterback Cole Dixon escaped a sack attempt, spun around and launched the ball, almost blindly to connect with a receiver in the end zone. Their 2-point conversion attempt was good with 3:59 to go for a 26-14 lead, which would be the final score of the game.

Head Coach Nathan Smith said he liked what he saw for the most part, but he felt some bad luck and big plays by the Hornets contributed to the first game loss.

​"We did some really good things, but had a little bit of bad luck on a couple plays," he said. "They big-played us, is what they did."

Smith said it's also been difficult preparing for football as normal, because there's been nothing normal about it.

"It hasn't been easy. You know, this has been a little bit different. We normally exchange films. They give us their film, we give them our film, but we didn't do that this year. There were no scrimmage games this year, so we sort of went into this blind. The stuff they ran, they did not run last year, so we had to adjust to that stuff on the fly. Offensively, I thought we moved the ball well all night. We had a couple penalties inside the 20 yard line, a couple bad plays, but offensively I felt like we could do about whatever we wanted to do. We had a good running game with Clay and Isaiah hitting it pretty good on the outside. One thing we gotta work on is hitting some of the deep balls. They were open--oh my goodness."

District play will begin next week as Metcalfe County travels to Wildcat Stadium on Friday.

"I told the boys that we'd love to win every game, but some of them count more than others," Smith said. "Metcalfe County is one of the toughest teams we play all year."

Kickoff is scheduled for 7pm on Friday, September 18th. The WildcatsLive crew will carry the live broadcast and video streams. Live audio can be heard on EdmonsonVoice.com and the live video stream can be watched on the Voice's site, mobile app, and our Facebook Page.