Hopkinsville’s Treston Kay provided the first-half fireworks and the Tigers made Christian County pay for empty red zone trips on the way to a 40-7 victory on Friday at the Stadium of Champions. The Hoptown defense that drew the ire of Coach Dustin Lopez last week after a loss to Mayfield used sure tackling and timely turnovers to hold the Colonels to a single score and give the Tigers their first win of the season.
Christian County had no answer for Kay, beginning with a 74-yard scoring strike from quarterback Aiden King for an early Tiger lead.
The Colonels chewed up almost the next seven minutes with a drive down to the Hopkinsville 3-yard line that included three pass interference penalties. But Artavius Moses forced a fumble and Foster Jackson recovered for the Tigers to send the Christian County offense to the sideline empty-handed.
Jeiren Williams made a diving interception for the Colonels, but the Tigers got the ball back on another Christian County fumble recovered by Jaylen Ray. On the first play after the turnover, King and Kay hooked up again for a 52-yard touchdown to extend the lead. James Bradley added the 2-point conversion for a 14-0 score with 9:18 left in the first half.
With the Colonels forced to punt on 4th and 16 from their 48, Kay finished off his TD trifecta with a 79-yard return to stretch the margin to three scores with 6:58 to go in the second quarter.
Christian County appeared ready to grab some momentum just before the break when Aiden Jesse took a screen pass and went 50 yards down the sideline to set up the Colonels with a 1st and goal from the 1. However, they went backward and turned the ball over on downs after being stuffed on 4th and goal from the 9.
Besides a turnover for each team, the third quarter was uneventful until King’s pass over the middle intended for Kay was tipped into the hands of the Tigers’ Keyshun Teal for a 79-yard TD reception that looked like the knockout blow. Hoptown was unsuccessful on the 2-point attempt to lead 26-0 with just over a minute left in the quarter.
But the Colonels showed some life on their next possession, scoring their lone touchdown on a 64-yard 4th down strike from Sebastian Dazey to Aiden Jesse. Tyler Stokes added the extra point to make it 26-7 to start the fourth quarter.
King added his third touchdown of the night with a 16-yard run up the middle, and Moses tacked on the 2-point try to make it 33-7. With the Colonels forced to throw with time running down, Moses picked off Dazey and returned it to the Colonels’ 12-yard line. Freshman Tavares Burgess got in the endzone from two yards out for the Tigers’ final TD.
Hopkinsville racked up 17 1st downs but was also penalized 15 times for 200 yards. Kay finished with three catches for 161 yards, and James Bradley rushed for 85 yards on 10 attempts.
Jesse led the Colonels with six catches for 192 yards and a score, and Zyon Wharton hauled in two for 88.
Both teams will be on the road next week against Tennessee competition. Hopkinsville will hope to even its record at 2-2 when they face Clarksville High, while the Colonels will try to avoid an 0-3 start at South Gibson County.
