Wildcats Lose to Visiting Colonels 28-6

Edmonson County senior tight end Jake Coy (12) hauls in a reception against visiting Caverna High School Thursday September 12 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. 

Edmonson County junior quarterback Tristen Muse (1) runs for his life away from visiting Caverna High School Thursday September 12 in Brownsville.

Edmonson County senior running back Carter Swihart (88) looks for room to run against visiting Caverna High School Thursday September 12 in Brownsville.

​“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.

Edmonson County senior defensive end Ace Daugherty (56) holds onto visiting Caverna High School junior quarterback Cortavian Maxey (7) for a sack Thursday September 12 in Brownsville.

Edmonson County junior running back Colton White looks for room to run outside against visiting Caverna High School Thursday September 12 in Brownsville.

​“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.