Union County clinched the top seed in Class 3A District 1 and may have sent a message to the rest of the state Friday as they handed Trigg County a 42-7 loss in Morganfield.
The Braves racked up 442 yards and jumped out to a 42-0 lead on their way to a 9-0 season record.
Kris Hughes returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown on the game’s fourth play, however, a penalty nullified the score. Hughes made sure the next play counted as he took a jet sweep toss and raced 70 yards for the score.
It was the first of two touchdowns for Hughes, who has a college visit to the University of Louisville planned for Saturday. The senior receiver has seen his recruiting stock jump this year in leading the Braves in both receiving and rushing.
Hughes finished the game with seven catches for 143 yards and two rushes for 123 yards.
After a punt on their first drive, Trigg County drove to the Union 36-yard line but the ninth play ended with an interception.
The Braves scored on all four of its first half possessions. Kanye Pollard scored on a 15-yard run on the first play of the second quarter that opened the floodgates to a 29-point quarter.
Hughes would score on a 65-yard run to put the Braves up 21-0. Union scored two touchdowns in the last 45 seconds of the half. Freshman Willem McPeake scored on a 22-yard pass for a 28-0 Union lead. After a short kickoff, Trigg moved from its 44-yard line to the Union 14 in four plays. On the final play of the half, Cannon Sheffer picked off a Jerimyah Shearer pass at the 3-yard line and returned it 97 yards for a score. The two-point conversion put the Braves ahead 36-0 and triggered a running clock for the second half.
Trigg County did manage 214 yards in the contest, with 89 yards coming on a Kelsey Parham touchdown run with 3:35 left. With Jacob Wease suffering an injured throwing shoulder against Webster County last week, Trigg County threw the football a season-low 13 times. Shearer was 4-of-13 passing for 56 yards. He was picked off three times.
Parham finished with 163 yards on 13 carries but 10 other Wildcat carries lost five yards.
Sheffer finished 13-of-16 passing for 226 yards for the Braves, who won their fourth game in five outings against Trigg.
The Wildcats came into the game averaging 38 points a game but have scored two touchdowns in the six quarters played since Wease’s injury. But the Wildcats also need a defensive response as they prepare to close the regular season at Caldwell County. Trigg gave up 216 rushing yards to Union County, which was 15 more yards than their season average.
Trigg County (7-2) will try and regain some momentum heading into the postseason with its annual meeting with Caldwell County in the 139 Bowl Friday. The Tigers had Friday night off.
Union County (9-0) will close its regular season against winless Calloway County.
Friday’s outcome also set the matchups for the first round of the Class 3A playoffs. Trigg County will make the 128-mile trip to play at Hart County in the first round on Nov. 4. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Wildcats and the Raiders (7-2).
Union County will host Glasgow (6-3), the four-seed in District 2 who made a state semifinal appearance last year.
Two-seed Paducah Tilghman (4-5) will host three-seed Taylor County (5-4), who will make a 211-mile trip for the first-round matchup. Four-seed Webster County (3-6) will drive 201 miles to play a first-round game with District 2 top-seed Casey County (6-3), whose only district loss came to four-seed Glasgow Friday night.
