Cats Fall To Butler, Prepare For Playoffs

The Edmonson County Wildcat football team fell to 4-6 on the season after last Friday night’s 26-6 loss in Morgantown. The Wildcats trailed 8-6 after the first half, but turnovers and some injuries played a major factor in the second half.

The Bears got on the board first when a Wildcat punt snap when high out of the back of the endzone for a safety. On the ensuing kickoff, the Bears returned the kickoff for a touchdown. The Wildcats stopped the extra point to keep the score at 8-0 to end the first quarter. The Wildcat offense bounced right back. Freshman Tucker Cole took a sweep around right end for a 47 yard run to the Bears 9 yard line. Two plays later, sophomore Jake Dial scored from 2 yards out on a quarterback sneak. The Wildcats two point conversion attempt failed and kept the score at 8-6 with 8:36 left in the first half. The Wildcats moved the ball into Bear territory but an interception right before the half kept the Bears in front 8-6.

The second half remained a defensive game as both teams traded punts. The Bears defense came up with a big play when a defensive lineman intercepted a Wildcat screen pass and returned it 10 yards for a touchdown.  The extra point attempt was wide to keep the score 14-8 with 6:18 left in the third quarter.  The Bears extended their lead when a Butler County receiver caught a short pass on the Bears sideline and a missed tackle led to a 65 yard touchdown pass.  The extra point failed to keep the score 20-6 with 2:40 left in the 3rd quarter. The Bears scored their final touchdown on a 2 yard pass with 10:20 left in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats stopped the two point conversion attempt to keep the score 26-6. Both teams traded possessions to end the game.

According to head football coach Kyle Pierce, the game was decided by a few key plays. “I thought we played extremely well defensively for most of the night. Two of their touchdowns came on a kick return and an interception return. Our defense gave up two big pass plays all night. One went for 65 and the other set up their last score.  We held them to 6 yards of offense in the first half. We had too many turnovers offensively, and too many mistakes in our kicking game.  Butler has a good football team this year and you simply cannot make the amount of mistakes we did and beat them.”

The Wildcats now turn their focus on the Class AAA playoffs where they will travel to Trigg County in the first round.  Pierce says the Wildcats will have to be physically and mentally tougher than they have played this season. “Trigg County has some monsters on their offensive and defensive line. They have a few really nice skill players in their running backs and quarterback. They really try to spread you out with formations and run you over. We will have to stop their running game and create some big plays. We know it’s a challenge, but we know if we come out and take care of the football and play well defensively and in our kicking game, that we will be alright. We’ll go back to work this week and have a great week of practice and prepare as hard as we can for Trigg County.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 in Cadiz. 

ECHS Athletics

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