For the second time in three weeks, Hopkins County Central found itself in a wild ending to a football game.
Unlike its 48-46 overtime loss to McLean County on Oct. 4, the Storm was able to hold on for the 42-37 win over Trigg County on Friday at Storm Stadium
It was Hopkins County Central’s first win over Trigg in six career meetings on its home field.
The Storm seemingly had Friday’s game in hand when Isac Earl scored his third touchdown of the night to put the home team up 36-18 with 8:56 left.
However, Trigg County answered with a nine-play drive capped by a 4-yard run by Joshuan Bridges with 5:02 left.
Trigg got the football back with 4:39 left after Hopkins Central stopped the clock with a run out of bounds and a penalty on the next play.
Davaree Gude capped a quick 4-play drive with a 9-yard scoring run with 3:53 left to get Trigg to within 36-31.
Sylas Gunn took the ensuing kickoff and returned it to the Wildcat 38-yard line. Facing a 3rd-and-3 play and with Trigg out of timeouts, Hopkins Central’s Jayden Parker picked up just enough for the first down to keep the clock running.
Earl scored his fourth touchdown of the night on a sweep around the right end from 31 yards out with 1:35 left for a 42-31 advantage.
However, Trigg showed its resiliency with a 6-play scoring drive. Gude scored from 5 yards out with 22 seconds left to get the Wildcats to within five points. However, Hopkins Central recovered Trigg’s onside kick and ran out the clock for the win.
Both teams will look at Friday’s game with a ‘what if?’ attitude.
Hopkins Central played a solid first half of football, running 34 plays to Trigg’s 14. The Storm controlled the clock by a 2-to-1 margin and held a 24-11 lead at halftime.
The backbreaker for the Wildcats came in the final seconds of the half when Gunn connected on a pair of long passes inside the final minute. With the Storm out of timeouts, Gunn completed a pass to the Trigg 4-yard line with the clock inside of 10 seconds. Hopkins Central was able to get to the line and clock the football with 0.9 seconds left. On a 4th-and-goal play, the Storm passed on a field goal attempt and Gunn hit Jeremiah Groves on a slant for the touchdown.
The Storm weren’t as efficient in the second half which allowed the Wildcats to hang around.
However, the Wildcats continually had opportunities to seize the momentum only to see a penalty squash their comeback. Trigg had 142 yards in penalties on 16 flags that were counted. There were several others nullified on offsetting penalties with Hopkins Central.
Trigg drove to the Storm 12-yard line on its opening drive but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a holding flag on consecutive plays saw them settle for a 30-yard field goal by Brody Renfroe.
Early in the second quarter, Gude had a 58-yard touchdown called back on a holding penalty, an all-too-often occurrence for the Wildcats this year. Those two drives represented 10 points the Wildcats could have used.
Gude finished with 163 yards on 23 carries and passed the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight season, becoming the eighth Wildcat back with multiple 1,000-yard seasons. The junior could join Greg Bridges, Al Baker, Kelvin Grubbs, and Brandon Bridges as the only Wildcat running backs with three 1,000-yard seasons.
Meanwhile, Hopkins County Central outgained Trigg 354-311 with Earl rushing for 91 yards and catching eight passes for 74 yards. He had four touchdowns.
Parker had 130 yards on 30 carries and scored the Storm’s first two touchdowns. Gunn was 12-of-16 passing for 125 yards and three touchdowns.
Hopkins Central picked up 26 first downs with five coming on Trigg penalties.
The Wildcats fall to 3-5 with their third straight loss – all in district play. Trigg County hosts McLean County next Friday and still has a shot at playing in the postseason. However, they need a win over the Cougars and a Hancock County victory over the Storm to force a three-way tie, with the KHSAA RPI to decide the final two playoff spots among the three teams. Union County has locked down the top seed with Hancock County the likely two seed.
Hopkins County Central (3-5, 2-2) automatically gets into the postseason with a McLean County win over Trigg. A three-way tie decided by the RPI may work against the Storm.
SCORING SUMMARY
HCC – Zayden Parker 4-yard run (Kick failed), 7:09 1Q – HCC 6 Trigg 0
TC – Brody Renfroe 30-yard field goal, 2:50 1Q – HCC 6 Trigg 3
HCC – Parker 2-yard run (Run failed), 8:11 2Q – HCC 12 Trigg 3
HCC – Earl 1-yard pass from Sylas Gunn (Run failed), 3:08 2Q – HCC 18 Trigg 3
TC – Davaree Gude 69-yard kickoff return (Joshuan Bridges run), 2:50, 2Q – HCC 18 Trigg 11
HCC – Jeremiah Groves 4-yard pass from Gunn (Kick failed), 0:00 2Q – HCC 24 Trigg 11
HCC – Earl 19-yard pass from Gunn (Kick blocked), 7:02 3Q – HCC 30 Trigg 11
TC – Peyton Williams 23-yard pass from Caden Scott (Renfroe kick), 6:00 3Q – HCC 30 Trigg 18
HCC – Earl 2-yard run (Kick failed), 8:36 4Q – HCC 36 Trigg 18
TC – Bridges 4-yard run (Run failed), 5:02 4Q – HCC 36 Trigg 24
TC – Gude 9-yard run (Renfroe kick), 3:53 4Q – HCC 36 Trigg 31
HCC – Earl 31-yard run (Kick blocked), 1:35 4Q – HCC 42 Trigg 31
TC – Gude 5-yard run (Pass failed), :22 4Q – HCC 42 Trigg 37
