Christian County coach Steve Lovelace knew what to expect when he tangled with McCracken County Friday, coached by former Hopkinsville Marc Clark. The Colonel game plan worked for the most part, but 19 penalties that resulted in two touchdowns being called back proved to be the difference in Christian County’s 19-14 loss in Paducah.
Christian County was outgained by just 20 yards by the Mustangs, who committed 16 penalties of their own. The teams combined for 315 yards of yellow flags in the contest.
It was the two touchdowns called back in the first half that was the difference between a Colonel halftime lead and a deficit.
The Mustangs struck first when Elijah Wheat hit Franklin Hayes for a 23-yard touchdown pass with 7:29 left in the opening quarter. The two-point conversion failed for a 6-0 Mustang lead.
Christian County had a chance to even the score but a nice defensive stand by the Mustangs on fourth down gave the Mustangs back the football.
The Colonels took the lead four minutes into the second quarter when Donta Abren found L’Ray Coleman for an eight-yard scoring strike to put them ahead 7-6.
The Colonels looked to extend their lead before halftime, but a holding penalty negated a Colonel score. The Colonels couldn’t overcome some key penalties on the drive and gave it back to the Mustangs.
The penalties proved to be costly as McCracken took a 13-7 lead on a Wheat to Hayes 22-yard touchdown pass inside 30 seconds left in the half.
Any joy of the lead was short-lived by the Mustangs when leading rusher Hunter Bradley suffered a serious leg injury midway through the third quarter. He came into the game with over 2,100 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns but is likely out for an extended period of time.
The Colonels could not take advantage of the momentum loss as they failed to convert a pair of fourth down plays into the fourth quarter.
Wheat connected with Hayes on their third touchdown combo of the game, this time from 61 yards out with 9:03 left in the game for a 19-7 Mustang lead.
The Colonels had an answer as Abren hit Coleman for a 22-yard touchdown with 5:26 left in the game to make the score 19-14.
Christian County’s defense came up big when Wheat threw a pick with just under four minutes left. However, the Mustang defense held, and the Colonels saw their final two drives of the game done in by more penalties.
Abren finished with 113 passing yards, and the Colonels put together one of their better running attacks this year with 140 yards.
Wheat threw for 189 yards and three scores for the Mustangs (7-3), who clinched the No. 1 seed in their Class 6A district.
Christian County (0-10) will play at Bowling Green next week in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
