The Hopkinsville Tigers pitched a shutout in the first half of Friday night’s season-opener against Louisville Ballard, but special teams mistakes undid the Tigers’ defensive work in the second half on the way to a 28-3 loss to the visiting Bruins.
The Tigers start the season with a loss for the first time since 2018, but that didn’t appear to be in the cards early on. With only a minute and a half played, Treyvon Jefferson hit Daisjaun Mercer over the middle down to the Ballard 10-yard line. After a sack on 2nd down, Jefferson and Mercer hooked up again down the the 3, but the Tigers settled for a Zach Moss field goal.
The teams traded interceptions for the remainder of the half, starting with an Emmanuel Cheatham pick with Ballard driving at the Tigers 23-yard line. The Tigers gave the ball right back three minutes later when Ballard’s Gavin Willis stepped in front of a Jefferson pass to give the Bruins the ball at the Tiger 29 as the first quarter ended.
Jefferson was intercepted again with just under eight minutes to play, and the Tigers returned the favor when freshman JoVaun Jackson picked off a Bruin pass with less than a minute until the break.
The game turned on the first play of the second half. Ballard’s Chaunte Marrero took the opening kick back 93 yards to get the Bruins on the scoreboard and deliver a gut punch to the Tigers.
The Bruins were back in the endzone with two minutes to play in the third quarter, taking over inside the Tiger 5 on a bad snap on a punt and punching it on a short pass from Tristen Hawkins to Grant Berkley.
Special teams were at fault again for Ballard’s third score, with Marrero taking a punt back for a 21-3 lead early in the fourth quarter. Marrero capped his three-score night when he took a pass on 3rd and 1 from the Hoptown 47 all the way to the endzone with just under seven minutes left to play.
Both teams finished with eight 1st downs. The Tigers rushed for 61 yards on 34 carries and the Bruins had 44 yards on the ground on 18 tries. Hoptown ran 49 plays for a total of 75 yards to Ballard’s 186 yards on 41 snaps.
Hawkins finished 13-23 with two TDs and two picks for 142 yards. Jefferson was 6-15 for 136 yards with two interceptions.
Hopkinsville will be back at the Stadium of Champions next week when they face Mayfield in one half of the Jerry Claiborne Bowl. The Cardinals were 35-21 winners over Graves County in week 1.
