Hopkinsville “Speeds” Past Warren East 24-0

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It sort of feels like deja vu for the Hopkinsville Tigers. For the second year in a row in the Class 4A playoffs, they traveled to Warren East as the lower seed and came away with a surprisingly easy win over the Raiders. And, just like last year, the win gets them a rematch with the #1 seed in their own district, who beat the Tigers in the regular season. Last year, it was a second game with Logan County. This year, Hopkinsville will get a second chance against Madisonville.

Friday night, the Tigers speed, on both sides of the ball, was far too much for Warren East to handle, as Hoptown rolled to the 24-0 win. On offense, the Tigers were able to take advantage of the speed of players like Ellis Dunn, Tayshaun Barker, and Jordan Hopson. On the other side of the ball, Warren East seemed to have no answers for players like Erick Grubbs and Keyshawn Palmer.

When the Tigers had the ball, Dunn, Barker, Hopson, and others were able to gash the Raiders, especially in the 2nd half. When the Raiders were on offense, Grubbs, Palmer and others were either in the backfield or cutting down runners at the line of scrimmage.

Hopkinsville got on the board on their first possession of the night, capping off a drive that started at their own 37 yard line with a 35 yard field goal by Mason Marschand to make it 3-0 with 7:10 to go in the first quarter.

Warren East fumbled the ball away to the Tigers on the very next possession, however Hopkinsville was unable to take advantage of the mistake and had to punt the ball back, pinning the Raiders at their own nine.

The game stayed at 3-0 until late in the first half. Ellis Dunn had a big punt return, setting the Tigers up at their own 49 yard line. The very next play, Dunn and Tayshaun Barker connected for a 51 yard score to extend the lead to 10-0 with 4:12 to go in the half.

The Tigers effectively sealed the win with their opening possession of the second half, capping off a 65 yard drive with an electrifying 23 yard run from Ellis Dunn on 4th down to make it 17-0 with 7:34 to go in the third.

After forcing a Warren East punt, the Tigers again found the end zone on their very next possession. This time it was Jordan Hopson taking it to the house from 23 yards out to make it 24-0 with 4:24 to go in the third.

After that it was the Tiger defense, which had been very good all night long, closing the deal. Hopkinsville’s defense never let the Raiders get a whiff of the end zone in the second half, as they held on to the shutout for the rest of the game. On the night, the Tiger defense limited Warren East to only 125 yards of offense.

Hopkinsville finished the game with 278 total yards. Ellis Dunn passed for 92 yards and ran for another 38. JaTorion Dillard led the team with 74 yards rushing, while Jordan Hopson added 69 yards.

The Tigers, who won last year’s first round game on the blue turf 21-7, improve to 5-6 on the season. The Tigers advance to the regional semifinal next week at Madisonville. The Maroons won the regular season matchup between the two teams 14-0.

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