Daisjaun Mercer scored three touchdowns (including one defensive), the Tigers rushed for more than 300 yards, and Hopkinsville is bound for the Class 4A playoffs — following Friday night’s 49-6 dismantling of district rival Calloway County at Jack D. Rose Stadium in Murray.
On the game’s third play from scrimmage, Mercer (bound for Miami of Ohio football after graduation) took a tipped pass in the left flat for a 20-yard score — his 19th career interception and third returned for points.
Lakers senior running back Johnathan Durham would answer immediately — squirting from a scrum to rumble 81 yards down the right sideline on the next offensive play to keep his team’s season scoring streak alive.
From there, however, it was all Tigers, all the time, needing this victory to secure a postseason berth.
“I feel like we all came out to play together tonight, just on one cord,” Mercer said. “Battle the whole four quarters and just believe in what the coaches had planned all week.
“It’s been a long season. We’re just making sure we’re having fun, and we want to go out and compete every game. That has been the main focus for us: just believing in the guy next to you, as we all work and get better throughout the week.”
If Mercer didn’t practice much this week, it didn’t much show. His 60-yard rush down his right sideline opened up a 13-6 advantage to start the second quarter — and jumpstarted 28 unanswered points from the Tigers for a 35-6 halftime lead.
Mercer actually had a 28-yard, third-down score wiped away during that stretch following an ineligible player downfield penalty, which was followed by an interception of quarterback Zach Moss by Lakers freshman linebacker Shaun Phillips.
But that was the only stymie for the Tigers, who rolled up the rushing behind the efforts of Devin Coleman, Trushaun Matt, Darrius Green and Samuel Kanu.
“We just had to get some distribution,” noted HHS coach Marc Clark. “Too often, we get plugged in to one guy, and we obviously know that Mercer a handful, but we’ve got to more people involved and have better distribution. We see so much ‘odd’ coverage with [Mercer] that we’ve got to get him in different places. Get him in the backfield. Get him in the slot. Move him around a little bit.
“But overall, I thought we made good decisions most of the night, and the kids played really well.”
One of the younger teams in all of west Kentucky, Calloway County was once again without its top receiver in senior Sam Chapman, and its freshman quarterback Wyatt Robins was held to 7-for-21 passing for just 31 yards. And after his touchdown, Durham rushed 22 yards on his next 13 touches.
Late in the second quarter, Robins was just 2-for-8 passing and was looking for a third-down conversion when Hopkinsville’s Isaiah Manning nabbed a sack to force the punt.
Three plays later, Green rushed for a 20-yard score right up the middle — giving the Tigers a 34-6 edge.
Two games remain before the start of the playoff bracket: Hopkins County Central at home, and a road challenge against Paducah Tilghman on Halloween weekend. And the Tigers seem healthy.
“We took the classy approach tonight,” Clark added. “In terms of when we had the running clock, we wanted to make sure we got guys out. Try to be a program with class. That’s just our mentality. But overall, we’re super healthy, and we’re looking forward to that final push.”
HOPKINSVILLE 49, CALLOWAY COUNTY 6
Tigers (3-5) 7 28 14 0 — 49
Lakers (0-8) 6 0 0 0 — 6
SCORING
Daisjaun Mercer 20 INT return (Zach Moss PAT), 7-0, 10:43 1Q
Johnathan Durham 81 rush (PAT fails), 7-6, 10:20 1Q
Daisjaun Mercer 60 rush (PAT blocked), 13-6, 11:47 2Q
Devin Coleman 5 rush (Mercer rush), 21-6, 9:09 2Q
Trushaun Matt 30 rush (Moss PAT), 28-6, 7:20 2Q
Darrius Green 20 rush (Moss PAT), 35-6, 4:17 2Q
Daisjaun Mercer 33 rush (Moss PAT), 42-6, 9:36 3Q
Samuel Kanu 27 rush (Moss PAT), 49-6, 0:01 3Q
STATISTICS
PASSING LEADERS
HOP: Zach Moss 7-14-67-0-1. CAL: Wyatt Robins 7-21-31-0-1.
RUSHING LEADERS
HOP: Daisjaun Mercer 2-93-2, Devin Coleman 10-75-1, Darrius Green 8-55-1, Trushaun Matt 4-41-1, Samuel Kanu 3-34-1, Treston Kay 3-18. CAL: Johnathan Durham 14-103-1.
RECEIVING LEADERS
HOP: Daisjaun Mercer 3-34, Trushaun Matt 1-18, Jacquez Coleman 1-11. CAL: Logan Smith 3-15, Jessie Esparza 1-13.
EXTRA
First Downs: HOP 17, CAL 6
Total Net Yards: HOP 384, CAL 132
Penalties: HOP 9-73, CAL 3-23
Punts: HOP 1-38, CAL 7-209
Time of Possession: HOP 32:36, CAL 25:56
Third Down: HOP 3-6, CAL 1-12
