The Hopkinsville offense was held without a touchdown for the second-straight game on Friday night, leaving the Tigers at 0-2 for the first time since 2018 after a 21-3 loss to Mayfield in the nightcap of the Jerry Claiborne Bowl at the Stadium of Champions.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Tigers drove to the Mayfield 19-yard line on a long pass from Treyvon Jefferson to Daisjuan Mercer. A run by Jayden Dillard set up a 1st and goal from the 7, but the Tigers couldn’t punch it in and settled for a 33-yard field goal by Zach Moss.
The Cardinals answered on their next possession, setting up 1st and goal from the 3 before two motion penalties pushed the ball back to the 13-yard line. On 3rd and goal from the 12, sophomore quarterback Zane Cartwright hit Daniel Coles for a 7-3 lead with 1:15 left in the half.
Mayfield needed less than three minutes in the third quarter to extend the advantage, with Cartwright and Coles hooking up again for a 27-yard TD completion.
The Cardinals had the ball in the endzone again with 3:01 left in the third, but another motion penalty wiped it off and the score remained 14-3 with a quarter to play.
After a confusing sequence of events when Hoptown’s Kemaure Mumford blocked a Mayfield punt only for the Cardinals to recover for a 1st down, Cartwright hit Coles on 1st down for a 70-yard touchdown with 9:46 to play.
Jefferson found Mercer for a long completion down to the Mayfield 5-yard line, but Jefferson fumbled and the Cardinals recovered on the 15 with 7:40 left on the clock. Hoptown’s David Boswell recovered a fumble in Mayfield territory to set up the Tigers’ last scoring chance, but Trushaun Matt’s catch on 4th and 5 from the 17 was out of bounds in the back of the endzone.
The Tigers held an edge in 1st downs with 15 and time of possession at 26:57 but were outgained 379 yards to 273. Jefferson was 10/19 for 192 yards through the air, and Dillard led the way on the ground with 94 yards on 17 carries. Mercer finished with 176 yards on four catches.
Mayfield ran for 126 yards on 28 carries, led by Kylan Galbreath with 104 yards on 18 tries. Cartwright was 10/18 for 253 yards and three scores, with Coles making five catches for 148 yards. Isaac Stevenson caught four passes for 116 yards.
After only dressing 33 players on Friday, the Tigers will hope for some reinforcements to be available when they welcome Caldwell County to the Stadium of Champions next week.
