With school consolidation on the horizon, and the Tigers shifting to a Class 6A schedule in 2025, Friday night’s matchup against Paducah Tilghman was supposed to be some grand final stand for Hopkinsville to muster its warrior might at the Stadium of Champions.
After all, according to broadcaster Jeff Sisk, it was the 101st meeting of the storied clubs — typically a tale of two athletic teams matching wits between the hedges.
Instead, the state-champion-seeking Blue Tornado rolled up 28 points in the opening quarter, and never really struggled on its way to a 56-0 running clock victory.
The fact that it was Homecoming, and a limited crowd supporting it, only magnified Hopkinsville’s difficulty against arguably the best team it will face in 2024.
Falling to 1-4 and 0-1 in Class 4A, District I play, it’s the first time this year the Tigers have been blanked. Star wideout Treston Kay was held to one catch for two yards, star quarterback John Aiden King was throttled for three interceptions — two of them coming on tip drill — and the Tiger offense gained 18 yards on 14 carries.
Fresh off of watching his team surrender more than 500 yards of Blue Tornado offense, while committing five turnovers itself, first-year coach Dustin Lopez kept his Hopkinsville squad in the locker room for more than half an hour after the loss.
“It was just our lack of competitiveness,” he said. “Paducah is elite. They’re chasing state championships. And right now, we’re trying to build our program back up to playoff berths. And you can see all of that tonight. And we just didn’t play hard. And to me, that’s indicative of myself. I always feel like if a team is coached up well and plays hard, and lines up correctly… We didn’t do that in the first half against Mayfield, and tonight we didn’t (at all). Flashes, but basically a gut check for us.”
If there was any hope in the eyes of Tigers, it was unequivocally eliminated in the game’s first 12 minutes, as Tilghman senior quarterback and Troy commit Jack James rolled up three of his four touchdown passes before the second quarter even started.
The first came 35 seconds into the contest, seats hardly warmed by fans and engines hardly cooled in the parking lots. A long screen from James to DJ Perry was followed by a 12-yard strike from James to likely DI footballer Avery Thompson — son of Tilghman coach and Crittenden County native Sean Thompson.
After a Hopkinsville 3-and-out, the Blue Tornado went to work again. James had first-down completions to Josh Campbell, Shemari Thomas and Perry, before hitting Thomas in the middle of the field on third-and-11 for the 13-0 advantage.
Another 3-and-out for the Tigers led to a punt nearly bumbled by Campbell, before he rumbled on a return back to the Hopkinsville 35-yard-line. A first-down run from DJ Wilson and another first-down catch for Thompson set James up for an easy sneak, and a 20-0 lead.
It’s here where Tilghman defensive back Jayden Morris snagged the first of his two picks of King, and James converted yet another third down to Thompson for a 26-yard score, and 27-0 edge.
James would finish with 311 yards passing and four touchdowns on 22-of-37, still just shy of former Caldwell County quarterback Elijah Sindelar’s career state scoring record.
“I think we were intimidated, for whatever reason,” Lopez added. “I think we kind of understood what Tilghman was, and they’re elite. They’re really good. I do not mind giving them a ton of credit. Jack James is as good a high school quarterback as I’ve coached against. He makes you pay. Coach (Sean) Thompson and Coach (Coby) Lewis do a good job, and they are equally as good on defense. And, for us, it was just the lack of fight. A lot of that is due to Tilghman, but a lot of that you can control if you play hard.”
James finished the first quarter completing 10 of his first 17 passes, and nearly snagged a fourth-and-31 conversion at the end of the frame, but his 30-yard toss to Thompson was ruled just short.
Morris snagged another tip-drill interception to start the second quarter, and Wilson capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown to make it 34-0, and a successful PAT started the running clock with 9:19 left in the half.
Hopkinsville looked as if it would have a successful second half, when King opened the third quarter with a third-down conversion on a pass to sophomore Tremayne Clay.
Clay, however, was molded by the defense — and a forced fumble was recovered by the Blue Tornado.
On the ensuing drive, James faced 4th-and-26, but buried a deep ball in the end zone on a fly post to the right pylon where only Perry could get it. And it made it 41-0 with a little more than a quarter remaining.
Tilghman’s reserve quarterback, junior Stone Crowe, found success in the fourth quarter. His lone pass was a 62-yard score to Brayden Wilson, after he rolled right, and found his wideout beyond open along the sideline. Hopkinsville would fumble the next kickoff, and Crowe’s scamper made it 55-0.
“Right now, I would just say we don’t have confidence in ourselves yet,” Lopez said. “Because we are coming off of a 1-9 season, to understand we are a solid team. But, we’re not talented enough to not do all of the little things right. And against teams like Mayfield, against teams like Tilghman, Clarksville High, if you don’t do the little things right, they’re going to get you every single time.”
The Leftovers
+ In between-quarters competition, Hopkinsville Lady Tigers soccer player Emma DeArmond cashed in on a PAT, placing it just inside the uprights.
+ In the pre-game, Regional Air Evac landed at the 50-yard-line, and delivered the game ball to the Hopkinsville senior cheerleaders.
+ At halftime, Tiger band delivered a strong performance of its dress show.
+ And also at halftime, team doctors Larry Long and David Bealle were joined by their families, and honored by athletics staff for their decades long efforts. Long worked for the Tigers through the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s, while Bealle took over in 1999 and remains the program’s physician today.
Bealle notably suited up for that 1986 Murray State Racers football team, one coached by legendary skipper Frank Beamer. MSU finished that season 7-4-1, including 6-1 in conference play, and went on to share a conference title with Eastern Kentucky. The Racers lost to Eastern Illinois in the opening round of the FCS playoffs, and finished the year ranked 18th in the country.
It isn’t common for a football team to only have two physicians serve nearly six decades, but this is the case for the Tigers.
+ Tilghman’s star two-way player and University of Kentucky commit Martels Carter did not fully dress for the contest, nursing a minor injury.
PADUCAH TILGHMAN 56, HOPKINSVILLE 0
Blue Tornado (5-0) 28 7 7 14 — 56
Tigers (1-4) 0 0 0 0 — 0
SCORING
PT: Avery Thompson 12 pass from Jack James (Russell Hancock PAT), 7-0, 11:25 1Q
PT: Shemari Thomas 11 pass from Jack James (Hancock PAT), 14-0, 7:09 1Q
PT: Jack James 1 rush (Hancock PAT), 21-0, 5:06 1Q
PT: Avery Thompson 26 pass from Jack James (Hancock PAT), 28-0, 4:23 1Q
PT: DJ Wilson 3 rush (Hancock PAT), 35-0, 9:19 2Q
PT: DJ Perry 26 pass from Jack James (Hancock PAT), 42-0, 4:40 3Q
PT: Brayden Wilson 62 pass from Stone Crowe (Tate Kirchoff PAT), 49-0, 5:34 4Q
PT: Stone Crowe 9 rush (Kirchoff PAT), 56-0, 4:30 4Q
STATISTICS
RUSHING LEADERS
HOP: Artavius Moses 5-9, John Aiden King 3-8. PT: DJ Wilson 9-79-1, Jack James 2-14-1, Stone Crowe 1-9, Mason Copeland 4-8.
RECEIVING LEADERS
HOP: James Bradley 4-40, Tremayne Clay 2-27. PT: DJ Perry 7-119-1, Avery Thompson 4-87-2, Shemari Thomas 4-60-1, Vanzale Hinton 2-21, Brayden Wilson 1-62-1.
PASSING LEADERS
HOP: John Aiden King 10-22-75-3-0. PT: Jack James 22-37-311-0-4, Stone Crowe 1-1-62-0-1.
MISCELLANEOUS
First Downs: HOP 4, PT 21
Third Downs: HOP 2-8, PT 3-8
Rushing Averages: HOP 14-18-1.3, PT 16-110-6.9
Passing Averages Per Completion: HOP 10-75-7.5, PT 23-373-16.2
Penalties: HOP 2-20, PT 8-90
Sacks: HOP 0, PT 0
Fumbles (Lost): HOP 4 (2), PT 0 (0)
Punts: HOP 2-50-42.5, PT 0
FG: HOP 0-0, PT 0-1
Possessions: HOP 10, PT 11
Time Of Possession: HOP 21:26, PT 20:25
