Needing a win in Friday’s regular-season finale to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Hopkinsville Tigers saw a second-half rally fall just short in a 35-28 loss to visiting Pleasure Ridge Park.
The Tigers kicked off their playoff push with a win over Logan County in week nine. However, a loss to Allen County-Scottsville the following week and Logan’s win over Warren East left Hoptown trailing the Cougars in RPI for the district’s fourth seed.
Hoping to end the regular season with an RPI-bumping victory over PRP, the Tigers found themselves in an early hole instead. Dean Hynniman threw for a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, hitting Calvon Mitchell for 15 yards and Daryl Ron Guy for 23, to get the Panthers going.
Hopkinsville saw a trip inside the PRP 10-yard line come up empty after failing on 4th and 2, and the Panthers answered with an 88-yard TD connection from Hynniman to Guy.
Inside the final three minutes of the half, the Tigers turned back PRP on a 4th and 7 from the Hoptown 11-yard line. Aided by a personal foul and a pass interference penalty on the ensuing drive, Hopkinsville marched down the field and looked to have seized the momentum when James Bradley found the end zone on a short pass from Aiden King with 19 seconds left.
However, Mitchell returned the kickoff 77 yards for a back-breaking touchdown as time expired, giving PRP a 28-7 halftime advantage.
The Panthers stretched the lead in the third quarter with a short rushing touchdown, but it was all Hoptown the rest of the way.
King found DeAvery Ramey for an 11-yard touchdown toss with 5:37 to go in the quarter, and Jaylen Ray picked off a Hynniman pass in the end zone on PRP’s next possession.
With PRP again threatening early in the fourth quarter, Bradley stepped in front of a Hynniman pass and returned it for a score to cut the lead to 35-21.
Less than two minutes later, the Tiger defense came through again when Treston Kay picked off a pass a step ahead of the goal line and took it back 99 yards to cut the margin to one score and reignite Hoptown’s playoff hopes.
With 1:34 to go in the game, Hopkinsville forced a PRP punt and took over on its own 26-yard line in search of the tying touchdown. But it wasn’t to be, as King’s pass over the middle to Ramey was intercepted by John Hammond to end the Tigers’ season.
King finished 16/29 for 159 yards and two scores and ran 12 times for 35 yards. Bradley had nine catches for 59 yards, Ramey caught four for 51, and Kay had two for 27 yards.
The Tigers finished with 252 yards of offense but had the ball for only 17:18, while PRP had it for over 30 minutes. Hopkinsville had 18 1st downs and was only penalized four times for 31 yards.
Hynniman threw for 250 yards to spearhead PRP’s 440 yards of offense. Guy finished with six catches for 153 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Kelvin Whiteside rushed for 81 yards, and Mitchell added 52. The Panthers overcame 15 penalties for 141 yards.
Hopkinsville’s season ends at 3-7, the Tigers’ second consecutive year of missing the postseason.
PRP improved to 2-8 and will travel to Ryle next week to open the playoffs.
