Playing for their postseason lives and trying to snap a five-game losing streak against district foes Logan County, the Hopkinsville Tigers scored three second-half touchdowns on Friday to down the Cougars 20-13.
Hopkinsville won its second straight to improve to 3-5 and even its district mark at 2-2. Logan County saw its playoff hopes nosedive with the loss to stand at 1-3 in district play.
Despite three trips to the red zone, the Tigers couldn’t punch the ball in during a scoreless first half. Hopkinsville saw two drives stall inside the Logan County 20-yard line, and a third ended with an interception at the goal line by Logan’s TySean Thomeczek.
However, the Hoptown defense kept the Cougars stuck in neutral, and the teams went to the locker room with a 0-0 halftime score.
Hopkinsville was forced to punt on its first drive of the second half, but a Logan County fumble put the Tigers in business at the Cougar 17.
After the turnover, quarterback Aiden King only needed one play to get on the scoreboard with a run up the middle. The extra point was off-target, and the Tigers led 6-0 with nine minutes left in the third quarter.
Logan County took advantage of a special teams miscue to get in the end zone. Punting from their 32, a bouncing ball hit a Hoptown player, and the Cougars recovered at the Tigers’ 39-yard line.
Cooper Parker scored on a three-yard dive, and Logan County added the extra point for a 7-6 edge with just over five minutes left in the third.
Hopkinsville drove to the Logan 6 early in the fourth quarter but again turned the ball over on downs. However, the Cougars’ reprieve was short-lived, with Artavius Moses falling on a 1st-down fumble to give the Tigers the ball back inside the 5-yard line.
A penalty pushed Hoptown back to the 13, but King ran for his second touchdown to put the Tigers in front for good. The two-point attempt was unsuccessful for a 12-7 score with 9:20 left in the game.
A chance to put the game away went begging when King was intercepted in the end zone by Hunter Holloway. But the Hoptown defense forced another punt, and Treston Kay returned it to the Logan 23-yard line.
Kay came through with a 19-yard catch over the middle on 4th down to give the Tigers a 1st and goal at the 2, and James Bradley scored on a short run to stretch the margin to two possessions. King ran for the two-point conversion for a 20-7 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
Logan County made things interesting on a 37-yard TD run by Brady Hinton with :42 left, but the Tigers fielded the ensuing onside kick to run out the clock.
Hopkinsville will wrap up its district slate with a trip to Allen County-Scottsville next week. The Patriots knocked off Calloway County on Friday to take their district mark to 3-1. The Tigers prevailed in overtime when the teams met last season at the Stadium of Champions.
