Wildcats Outmatched By Elizabethtown

Darren Doyle, story and photos
In football, sometimes things don't go as planned and you lose. You make mental mistakes, fall short here, have a mishap there, and so on, but sometimes you're just simply out matched, no matter what you do. That was the case Friday night at Wildcat Stadium as ECHS fell to Elizabethtown, now 6-0 and ranked 2nd in the state 3A class.

"To be honest with you, they beat us because they're better," said Head Coach Kyle Pierce. "They're better than us right now. It's no use to be dishonest about it, they're just a better football team."

The Panthers got on the scoreboard on a 44 yard run with 7:50 to go in the first quarter. They missed the extra point to lead 6-0 at the end of one. With about 10 minutes to go in the half, they added another touchdown on a 2 yard run and again missed the extra point for a 12-0 lead. Etown was plagued with penalties throughout the contest, yet made up for it with continuous big runs. Panther quarterback Jack Wilson scored on a one yard touchdown just before the half and the extra point was good. ECHS trailed 19-0 at halftime.

The Wildcats struggled with offense as they dealt with poor field position the majority of the game. They were plagued by incomplete passes and very short runs, making it difficult to gain any momentum.

,​In the third, the Panthers scored yet again on a 28 yard touchdown and the extra point pushed the Wildcats back to 26-0. Soon into the 4th quarter Etown played add-on with another short run, 2 yard touchdown and extra point for a commanding 33-0 advantage.

The Wildcats finally got on the board with two points as Jacob Peger sacked the Panther QB in the end zone for a safety. Soon after, Senior Daniel Caudill rushed for a 35 yard touchdown, but that would be it, as the final score was 33-8.

It should be noted, that although the game seemed one-sided, Edmonson County did manage to hold Etown to the their lowest point total so far this season. 

"We moved the ball better in the second half," Pierce said. "We kept the ball away from them some, and that's what you have to do with a team like this. The disappointing thing in the first half was that we couldn't move the ball. We had some opportunities in the first half, but we just dwindled them."

Pierce said tough games like this are tests to his team. "We'll bounce back from this, hopefully. You know, it's up to our team, and that's what I told them. We've got 4 more games in the regular season and there's no guarantee that we'll make the playoffs to come back and play this team."

The Wildcats now turn their focus to Adair County, another district foe that will be another touch match up for the team. Tune in to WildcatsLive on EdmonsonVoice.com as Scott and Bryan will travel to Adair to bring you all the action live.