Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Edmonson County defeated the Monroe County Falcons at Wildcat Stadium 33-0 on Thursday night for their first district win of the season. The regular Friday night game was moved to Thursday as a result of the start of fall break.

Monroe County struggled with penalties throughout the game and a fumble from the Falcons gave the Wildcats the ball on Monroe's 31 yard line with 1:56 to go in the first. An additional penalty was assessed against Monroe that put the Wildcats on the Falcon 16 yard line. Matt Shaw was able to push through after a couple plays for a 4 yard touchdown with 1:31 in the first and Clay Walden punched the extra point through for a 7-0 lead.

Quarterback Jon Smith also fired up his passing game as he shot a 41 yard pass to Brock Stethen, who made a leaping catch in the end zone for another Wildcat touchdown with 5:31 left in the second quarter. Walden's extra point was good and the Cats lead 14-0. 

The Falcons turned the ball over once again and Edmonson County took over on Monroe's 46 yard line with 4:12 left in the half. The Wildcats were able to push into the red zone and it was Stethen again on a 6 yard touchdown pass from Smith. Walden's extra point landed upright again and the Wildcats extended the lead to 21-0, which would be the score at the half.

Edmonson struck again in the third on another rushing touchdown from Matt Shaw, who had over 100 yard rushing on the night. The extra point missed this time but the Cats extended the lead to 27-0 and took that lead into the fourth.

​Chance Lucas helped the cause early in the fourth quarter with a 14 yard run for another Wildcat touchdown with 9:33 to go. Extra point was no good but Edmonson stretched their lead to 33-0.

Edmonson County assistant coach Ben Gray said the win was much needed, and the district win was certainly welcome. He noted the stellar play from Brock Stethen, who not only went for 75 yards, but also led the team in tackles.

"He is our best tackler, he's one of our most aggressive players, usually he's our best defensive player, and we usually try to move him around a lot," he said. "Pretty much whatever we ask him to do, he's going to do it."

Coach Grey said having quarterback Jon Smith up under center more than in shotgun was part of the game plan and it paid off tonight.

"We had been having some issues with some bad snaps so we worked on it and went back under center," he said. Monroe County also had some players out tonight and we were able to take advantage." 

Edmonson County is off next Friday for fall break but will take on Green County at home on October 18th. The Wildcats are now 2-5 on the season with three regular season games left on the year.

Edmonson Voice Sports:
Edmonson County junior Nathan Oliver has qualified for the KHSAA state tournament after finishing 5th in this week's Region Championship at Hidden Hills Golf Club in Tompkinsville, where he shot a 75.

The overall team winner was Bowling Green, who will go on to compete at the state level, as well as the top 7 individual scores, where Oliver qualified. 

The boys scored a team total of 351, which placed them finishing 7th out of 15 total teams. Other scores were Eli Booker (86), Andrew Talley (92), Ben Elmore (98) and Evan Stice (108).

"We had a good tournament and season, but we will miss our seniors Eli and Ben," said Coach Ed Nunnelee. "They have been playing since the 7th grade, but we have some good players coming up."

Oliver will play next week where the state tournament will be held at Bowling Green County Club, a club where he is a member. Nunnelee said Oliver is comfortable at the course and hopes the familiarity will be an advantage.

The girls’ regional was played Monday at Crosswinds Golf Course in Bowling Green where ECHS was represented by sophomores Hallie Cassady and Paige Wolfe, plus 8th grader Makayla Hogg.  While none advanced to the state, each girl shot their lowest tournament score of the year.

"Our girls team is very young with six sophomores and two in middle school, but they can be a pretty good team next year," said Nunnelee. "It will take some work on their part but I think this group is willing to do just that."

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
The Edmonson County Lady Cat volleyball team has grabbed two wins already this week with sweeps of both Caverna and Glasgow.

EC defeated Caverna 2-0 on Monday night on the road (25-12, 25-15) and Glasgow at home last night 2-0, (25-12, 25-17).

In the game against the Lady Colonels, freshmen Kaylee Lindsey and Alyssa Doyle led the team with kills with 6 and 4 respectively, and junior Abbie Slaughter led in digs with 8. 

On Tuesday night's game against Glasgow, freshman Alyssa Doyle and 8th grader Madison Bullock led the way in kills with 4 each, Emma Woodcock led with 9 assists while adding 5 digs, Abbie Slaughter added 6 digs,  senior Rachel Cowles added 5 digs and 4 assists. 

Edmonson County is now 8-15 on the season (0-13 Region 3, 0-6 District 12) and is set to take on Allen County on the road Thursday night in a rescheduled match from earlier in the season. After fall break Oct. 7-11th, the team is scheduled for three final home games before the district tournament in Grayson County.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
The Wildcats couldn't stop Warren East on Homecoming night as they fell hard to the Raiders 39-12 at Wildcats Stadium on Friday. After a 35-yard kickoff return to start the game, the Wildcats turned the ball over, gave up a Raider touchdown, and things never really improved for Edmonson County.

East scored again with a touchdown on their next possession but the extra point attempt was blocked by Chance Lucas. Edmonson trailed 12-0 with 7 mins to go in the first.

The Raiders had extended their lead to 32-0 at the half. 

Edmonson County finally got on the board with a 13 yard touchdown by Lucas on a pass from quarterback Jon Smith with 7:48 left in the third. The extra point was no good and the Wildcats trailed 32-6 with 7:48 to go in the third.

Lucas was able to rush 17 yards for another touchdown with 15 seconds to go in the game, but it was obviously too little, too late as the Raiders dominated on this night.

Assistant Coach Ben Gray discussed the struggle for the Cats on Homecoming night.

"I'm not trying to be mean to our kids or our program, but we seem to be mentally weak on certain things, and if something goes wrong, we have a hard time bouncing back," he said. "That early turnover--again--we've said it over and over, we're constantly shooting ourselves in the foot."

The Wildcats are scheduled to take on Monroe County on Thursday at home next week, not on the typical Friday night due to the start of fall break. 

​Edmonson County is now 1-5 on the season. 

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Despite the all-out effort from the Lady Cats last night in the final regular season District 12 match of the season, Whitesville-Trinity found a way to overcome an eleven-point deficit in the first set to win not only set one, but go on to sweep Edmonson County in the game.

It is the second consecutive season without a win over a district opponent for Lady Cat volleyball. The team is still working through the growing pains of a rebuilt system after the loss of many veteran players and standouts since the District 12 championship team in 2017. The team has experienced five different head coaches since 2014.

There are still plenty of bright spots shining on the 2019 Lady Cats. One: while the team will be losing 6 seniors this year, the Lady Cats still have plenty of underclassmen that have been part of the rebuild. Two juniors and two freshmen are currently part of the starting lineup, with one of those juniors, Emma Woodcock, who is now in her 5th season as a major contributor for the varsity team. Two: the team has closely competed with the other three District 12 Teams: Trinity, Butler, and Grayson County, despite not notching district wins. Their 0-6 record does not reflect the 5-set matches against Trinity and Butler County, the sets that went down to the wire, nor the injuries and other obstacles--some off the court--that the team has fought through all season long.

First year head coach Bridget Simon said despite the loss, she felt like last night's contest was one of the better games all season long when talking about team play, which is what any team has to have when heading into the postseason. 

"I want the team to keep up that momentum and team spirit," she said. "We had more than a few obstacles to deal with last night that we couldn't overcome and I think that made a great impact on the outcome of the game."

During set one, the Lady Cats came out with an intensity and drive that set a clear tone to the start of the game. Trinity was forced to call their first timeout as Edmonson County pounced early for a 7-2 lead. The Lady Cats continued their dominance with another run that forced Trinity's second timeout at 14-4. They ran their lead up to 18-7 but the Lady Raiders refused to go away and began making some major adjustments. 

An 8-4 Trinity run forced Edmonson into a timeout with the Lady Cat lead holding at 19-15. Edmonson County stared down the game point with a 24-22 lead but allowed the Lady Raiders to score 3 straight to force extra points. Trinity finished the set on a 21-8 run to take set one 28-26.

From there, the momentum was shifted in favor of the Lady Raiders and Edmonson County struggled to gain leads. In set two, the Lady Cats played catch-up until they tied the score at 10. They forced Trinity into a timeout with a 14-11 lead, but the Lady Raiders scrapped back and tied the score at 15. After Trinity scored the next point, they wouldn't lose the lead again as they topped Edmonson County 25-17.

Set three was a close repeat of the previous, despite a good start from EC. After a Lady Cat 6-5 lead, Trinity climbed back on top at 7-6 and held their lead from that point on for the 25-16 set win, as well as a three-set sweep.

With 6 regular season games left, Coach Simon said the Lady Cats will continue their effort to improve.

"We're going to keep focusing on building on our strengths and learning from our weaknesses."

Edmonson County is now 6-15 on the season and is scheduled to play at Caverna on Monday at 5PM.