Hopkinsville may not subscribe to moral victories, but the Tigers got the closest thing possible to a quality loss Friday night, falling 27-22 to Mayfield.
Going toe-to-toe with the perennial high school football powerhouse Cardinals – a team currently ranked No. 1 in Class 2A – Hoptown was searching for the program’s first victory over MHS since 2005. And after the Tigers scored on the game’s opening drive and maintained control of the contest for most of the first three quarters, it appeared the drought might end in the Toyota of Hopkinsville Jerry Claiborne Bowl at Stadium of Champions.
With 10:20 to go in the contest, however, Mayfield’s Kade Neely took a short pass from Jayden Stinson and rumbled 85 yards for a touchdown, staking the Cardinals to a 20-16 advantage – a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Standout receiver Reece Jesse, who finished the night with nine catches for 171 yards, made things interesting down the stretch. The junior playmaker hauled in the second of his two TD receptions on a 50-yard stripe from senior quarterback Jay Bland to pull the Tigers within 27-22 of the Cards with 2:01 left, but that would hold up as the final score.
Hopkinsville workhorse running back Jayden Dillard helped set the tone for the Tigers (1-1) on Friday, capping an 80-yard, six-minute drive with a three-yard touchdown run. Dillard finished the night with 21 carries for 71 yards. He also caught three balls for 66 yards through the air.
Mayfield (2-0) quickly answered Dillard’s touchdown run, though, as Tate Puckett struck a minute later on a 48-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Stinson with five minutes left in the opening quarter.
The Tigers and Cardinals then traded leads over the next 11 minutes of game time, as Mason Marschand’s 21-yard field goal and Tony Parrott’s 22-yard interception return for a TD gave Hoptown and Mayfield respective advantages of 10-7 and 14-10.
With just 17 seconds to go in the first half, Jesse took a jump ball from Bland and pulled in a 17-yard touchdown to put Hopkinsville ahead 16-14 at halftime. Bland finished the night 15-of-33 for 322 yards and the aforementioned pair of TD tosses.
Led by the Lackey brothers – Hayden and Conner – and a host of others, the Hoptown defense – playing without the services of the injured Erick Grubbs – held strong in the third quarter and kept the explosive Cardinal offense off the board and the Tigers clinging to their two-point lead until Neely’s explosive effort.
Mayfield then provided the dagger on a 63-yard TD pass from Stinson to Alonzo Daniel with 5:28 left, putting the Cards up 27-16. MHS, which fell to Christian Academy of Louisville in the KHSAA Class 2A state championship last season, has now racked up wins in 29 of its last 32 games.
Mayfield now leads the all-time series against Hoptown by a count of 34-32-2. Hopkinsville will get another shot at its first home victory of the season when it hosts Caldwell County (2-0) next week at Stadium of Champions.
—- Chris Jung
SCORING PLAYS
1Q (6:02): Jayden Dillard, 3-yard run (Mason Marschand PAT)
1Q (5:00) Tate Puckett, 48-yard catch from Jayden Stinson (Micah Haley PAT)
1Q (2:02): Marschand 21-yard FG
2Q (4:24): Tony Parrott, 22-yard interception return (Haley PAT)
2Q (0:17): Reece Jesse, 17-yard catch from Jay Bland (2-point conversion failed)
4Q (10:20): Kade Neely, 85-yard catch from Jayden Stinson (2-point conversion failed)
4Q (5:28): Alonzo Daniel, 63-yard catch from Stinson (Haley PAT)
4Q (2:01): Jesse, 50-yard catch from Bland (2-point conversion failed)
