The Fort Campbell Falcons overcame a 13-point first quarter deficit to defeat Trigg County 47-32 in Thursday Night football at Fryar Stadium on post.
The win clinched the number four seed in Class 2A District 1 for the Falcons and knocked Trigg County from postseason contention.
Trigg County looked early as if they were going to roll to an eighth straight win over the Falcons in the game’s first three minutes. Davaree Gude ran for a 65-yard touchdown on the game’s first play. It was the 50th rushing touchdown of his career, becoming only the fourth Wildcat to accomplish the feat.
After the Falcons were forced to punt on their first offensive series, Gude carried the ball twice for 56 yards with a five-yard scamper, giving the Wildcats a 13-0 lead with 9:21 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Falcons would respond by scoring touchdowns on their next four drives. Levi Cruse caught a 12-yard pass from Tanner Walters to get the Falcons on the board midway through the first quarter. Walters, who moved into the starting role early in the season, completed his first eight attempts and kept the Wildcat defense off balance by running for a pair of first downs.
After the Wildcats turned the ball over on downs near midfield, Fort Campbell responded with a six-play 52-yard drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run by Keshawn Dixon with 1:16 left in the opening quarter that gave the Falcons their first lead at 14-13 and one they would not relinquish.
Andrew Bennett picked off a Trigg County pass and returned it 46 yards into Trigg County territory. Three plays later, Walters found JP Perryman in the corner of the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown pass.
Deon Edison returned the ensuing kick 71 yards to the Falcon 4-yard line. Trigg County had 2nd and goal at the 1, but had to settle for a 22-yard Brody Renfroe field goal that got the Wildcats to within 20-16 with 8:03 left in the half.
A strong kick return by Perryman gave the Falcons possession in Trigg territory, where they needed six plays to cover 41 yards. Walters scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns from two yards out to put the Falcons up 27-16.
Trigg drove the football into Falcon territory, but Kyre Ferguson picked off a Caden Scott pass at the 10-yard line to stall the Wildcat drive.
Fort Campbell opened the second half with a seven-play 56-yard drive as Walters scored his second touchdown to extend the Fort Campbell lead to 34-16.
Trigg answered with seven straight run plays and reached the end zone on a 16-yard run by Ahmari Alexander. Trailing 31-23, it appeared the Wildcats were driving for a potential tying score when the Falcons were forced to jump on a bad punt snap, giving Trigg the football at the Falcon 11-yard line.
However, the Falcons’ defense stiffened and kept the Wildcats out of the end zone.
The Falcons then put their punctuation mark on the momentum shift when Antonio Rivera, -1 yard rushing entering the game, scored on a 73-yard run to give the Falcons a 41-23 lead. Rivera finished with 104 yards on five carries.
Edison would score on a 4-yard run to get the Wildcats to within 41-30 with 10:41 left.
Trigg then caught a break when the kickoff was touched by a Falcon just shy of the goal line and went out of bounds for safety.
However, that was the last momentum that Trigg County enjoyed as Ferguson picked off his second pass of the night, returning it 96 yards to the end zone for the Falcon exclamation point.
It was a clean effort for the Falcons. who were flagged just five times for 35 yards, and were +3 in turnover ratio.
Dixon ran for 142 yards on 24 carries, and Walters added 37 more as the Falcons rushed for 273 yards.
Walters was 9 of 14 passing for 89 yards, all in the first half.
Trigg County outgained the Falcons in yards, 376 to 362. Gude had 205 yards rushing on 21 carries, and Edison added 43 yards on 9 carries.
Scott was 8 of 19 passing for 90 yards and was picked off three times.
Trigg County’s season ends with a 2-7 record as they miss the playoffs for a third straight year. It’s the first time that’s happened since the KHSAA expanded the playoff format to four teams from each district in 1992.
Thursday’s game was originally scheduled to be played on October 3rd, but the shutdown of the federal government two days before put the game in limbo as Fort Campbell was instructed by the DoDEA to put a hold on all extracurricular activities, including all sports.
The game was postponed to Friday after the KHSAA gave both schools an exemption that allowed them to play a district game in the final week of the season. However, that cost Trigg County a regular-season contest at Fulton County, which was originally scheduled for Halloween night.
Fort Campbell improved to 4-6 and, as the fourth seed in the district, they will travel to Owensboro Catholic in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs next week.
Elsewhere in the district, Caldwell County will travel to Hancock County; McLean County will play at Crittenden County; and Mayfield will have a first-round bye after Fort Knox opted out of the postseason as opposed to making the trip to War Memorial Stadium to play the Cardinals.
