It’s only been three weeks since Caldwell County and Murray waged an epic 42-40 battle on the gridiron at Ty Holland Stadium in Murray.
But when the teams square off again this week in the rematch in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs in Princeton, the contest could have a decidedly different look.
Start with the Murray quarterbacking situation.
Senior Hunter Utley threw for 385 yards and three scores against Caldwell County on Oct. 18. However, Utley, a four-year starter, was injured just before halftime in a loss at Mayfield the following week. A broken wrist has ended his high school football career.
Meanwhile, senior wide receiver Jaiden Jackson missed last week’s win over Fulton County and was scheduled to have surgery for an old ACL injury. Jackson ran for 101 yards against Caldwell while catching 10 passes for 124 yards.
Utley had thrown for 2,354 yards and 30 touchdowns this season while Jackson had caught 39 passes for 490 yards in addition to rushing for 203 yards and scoring eight total touchdowns.
Jackson was also a key part of the Murray defense.
The black-and-gold Tigers (7-3) figure to have a much more ground-based attack behind sophomore quarterback Rowdy Sokolowski this time around.
Junior Charvelle McCallister ran for 171 yards and three touchdowns in Murray’s 35-0 win at Fulton County last week.
Sokolowski put the ball in the air just 10 times, but completed six of those for 98 yards and a score against the Pilots. He also ran for 52 yards on six carries.
Senior receiver Tommy Waldrop is still a huge threat offensively for Murray.
Waldrop caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown when the Tigers and Tigers squared off earlier this season. Waldrop has 56 receptions for 1,005 yards and 13 scores in 2019.
Meanwhile, Caldwell will hope to continue a balanced offensive attack that has seen senior running back DeEric Hollowell pile up 1,203 yards and 22 touchdowns on the ground while junior quarterback Russ Beshear has thrown for 1,359 yards and 17 scores.
Caldwell has five receivers — including Hollowell — with at least 20 receptions this season as Beshear has spread his passes round.
The 2019 season saw Caldwell suffer heartbreak before the regular season even began with the death of head coach David Barnes just a week before the opener. However, the Tigers have drawn inspiration from Barnes and fashioned an 8-2 record with losses only to Mayfield and Hopkinsville.
The Caldwell-Murray series has always been close, with Murray holding a 16-15-1 advantage all-time.
The last time the two schools hooked up in the playoffs was 2014. Caldwell was favored that night, but an injury to quarterback Elijah Sindelar took much of the steam out of the blue-and-gold Tigers as Murray came back to win 47-28. Sindelar, now at Purdue, would go on to be named Kentucky Mr. Football that season.
This week’s game kicks off at 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium in Princeton.
With the added factors of playoff time, colder weather and the aforementioned Murray injury predicament, it will be interesting to see if the two teams can match the scoring pace of their first go-around this season.
Still, with both teams ranked in Class 2A, the contest figures to be one of the most attractive matchups in western Kentucky in the opening round.
The Caldwell-Murray winner likely earns a trip to Mayfield in the second round of the playoffs. Mayfield hosts Fort Campbell this week.
