It wasn’t volleyball, but Caldwell County did use a bunch of Spikes to subdue Christian County — Kam Spikes, that is.
On a rainy, windy night at the Stadium of Champions in Hopkinsville, the Caldwell senior toted the football 21 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns as the Tigers captured a 37-6 victory over the Colonels.
Caldwell (2-4) ended a four-game losing skid by rushing for 247 yards — and limiting the Christian offense to just 21 yards rushing and 58 total yards.
The remnants of Hurricane Helene might have made it miserable at times for the hardy fans in the stands, but the Tigers seemed to get stronger as the game went along.
Both teams had trouble hanging on to the football in the slippery conditions, though.
It was a Caldwell fumble that set up the first score of the night.
Christian (0-5) took over deep in Tiger territory, and struck first when Jaiden Williams hit Josh Bridges for a 13-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone.
That put the Colonels up 6-0 with 1:34 left in the opening stanza.
On a night when it looked like points might be difficult to come by, Caldwell exploded late in the second quarter to get to halftime with a 24-6 advantage.
The Tigers came up with a big fourth down conversion when Daelyn Lander rolled to his left and found Gus Fox open in the corner of the end zone for a 4-yard TD pass. Sutton Ritchey kicked the extra point ot put Caldwell up 7-6 with 5:14 left before halftime.
The Tiger defense kept Christian pinned deep in its own end, getting the ball back for the Caldwell offense in great field position.
Spikes made the next possession pay off for the Tigers with a 10-yard scoring run. That helped extend the margin to 14-6.
Caldwell got the ball back again and found the end zone again on a 24-yard TD run by Luke Maddox. That made it 21-6 at the 1:16 mark of the second period.
The Tigers got the ball back one more time in the closing seconds of the half, and got a 43-yard field goal from Ritchey on the final play of the half to go up 24-6 at halftime.
Caldwell kept the ball on the ground and continued to add to its lead after the break.
Spikes scored on a 6-yard run up the middle with 9:40 left in the third period to give the Tigers a 31-6 advantage.
Fox put the exclamation point on Caldwell’s win with a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown with 9:16 left in the game to extend the margin to 37-6.
Caldwell threw the ball just six times in the contest, with all three completions going to Fox for 21 yards. That gave the Tigers 268 yards of total offense.
The Tigers also got 90 yards rushing and a TD from Maddox.
Caldwell had 14 first downs while holding Christian to three.
The Colonels turned the ball over six times while Caldwell had three giveaways.
Caldwell’s win kept Christian from evening the all-time series. Instead, the Tigers hold a 15-13 lead in a series that is likely done for the foreseeable future. The teams are not on each other’s schedules for the next two years, and the Class 2A Tigers aren’t expected to play 6A Christian after that school consolidates with Hopkinsville High School.
Both Caldwell and Christian face difficult tasks next week.
The Tigers will go to Mayfield (3-2), which beat Henderson County 14-7 in double overtime on Friday.
The Colonels will host Bowling Green (5-1), which routed Ohio County 57-0 Thursday night.
