Perhaps rumors of Scott County football falling on hard times were primarily inventions devised to inspire greater effort from the Cardinals.
Or perhaps real people looked at last season 6-6 result and figured Scott County’s two decade run in the top echelon of Kentucky high school football was coming to a close.
If real, those people are quite wrong.
As Cardinals Head Coach Jim McKee told an exuberant huddle after their 42-21 victory Friday: “We aren’t back. We never left.”
The win over cross-town rival Great Crossing exacted revenge for the Warhawks’ emphatic first win in the series last year.
“From the minute we lost last year, we were waiting for it,” Cardinals tight end/defensive back Red Owens said.
“We felt some type of pain and anger, we had to listen to it for 365 days,” Cards running back Timmy Emongo said.
The game started the way that very few games between the two teams have: back-and-forth.
The Cardinals started the game from their 42, and took to the ground immediately, with Timmy Emongo, Owens, and Skyler Way grinding out yardage to reach midfield and a fourth-and-one.
Quarterback Charlie Ellison performed the first of several successful quarterback sneaks on the night to convert, and Emongo and Way ran it again for a first at the 35. A pass from Ellison to Emongo got the Cardinals to the 17, and a few plays later, Nick Ranson took it ten yards for a touchdown.
“Nick played great tonight,” McKee said.
Although that was his only touchdown, Ranson led the Cardinals in yards on the night, with 133 rushing yards on 12 attempts.
“You get the ball, and everything slows down,” Nick Ranson said. “As the game went on, I saw more and more holes open up, and I just did my best.”
Isaiah Elliot nailed the extra point to make it 7-0 with 6:58 left in the first quarter. Through two games this year, Elliot is a perfect 12-for-12 on extra points.
Emongo, who scored four touchdowns last week, had a far quieter night as the Warhawks planned around stopping hum.
The Cardinals saw the that the GC defense appeared to be keying in on Emongo early.
“(Wyatt Highley) is by far their best linebacker, and we tried some plays and moved stuff around and he was playing based on where Timmy was,” McKee said.
Owens, Ranson, Way, and Garrett did plenty to help match last week’s offensive production.
“They were keying on Timmy, and the gameplan was just to hit the outside, and we did that,” Ellison said.
The Warhawks responded on their first drive. Sam Penn faked out everyone for a 6-yard touchdown run as the first quarter came to a close. Mason Tappel banged the extra point through to tie the game at 7.
The score capped a drive that covered 73 yards in 13 plays, relying heavily on Luke Ballard, who churned out yards the whole game, running for 182 of the Warhawks’ 195 yards on the ground.
Just as the Warhawks were focused on Emongo, the Scott County defense was focused on Ballard.
“Stop Luke Ballard, stop the team,” Owens said.
Ballard wasn’t doing much stopping early or late in the game, racking up 6.1 yards per rush attempt despite being the unquestioned focus of a physical Cardinals defense.
An 11 play, 73 yard drive capped by a goal line sneak from Ellison put the Cards back up, 14-7 with seven minutes left in the second quarter.
The Cards halted the next Warhawks drive when Riley Colvin forced a fumble and Emongo recovered, but the Warhawks quickly forced a turnover on downs to get the ball back with good field position.
The Warhawks offense took advantage of the second chance, stringing together a 4 play, 47 yard drive capped by a Sam Penn 1-yard rush touchdown to tie the game at 14-all with 3:30 left in the first half.
The Cardinals capitalized, taking three minutes to cover eighty yards in just eight plays, culminating in a seven-yard touchdown run from Emongo.
The Cardinals took a 21-7 lead into halftime.
The Cards defense stalled the Hawks quickly out of halftime, forcing a quick three and out.
The offense took advantage, and Ellison quickly found Owens, who stretched his way to a 30-yard touchdown reception to make it 28-14.
“I came off my fake, and I saw a mismatch, and he went up and made a play,” Ellison said.
After the birds traded three-and-outs, the Cards forced a turnover on downs to take over and Ellison and Owens repeated the feat.
This time, instead of dragging a tackler across the line, Owens was wide open enough to point skyward for a few yards before entering the endzone on the 35-yard reception to make it 35-14 in the waning seconds of the third quarter.
Emongo, always a cheerleader for his teammates, was glad to see the Cardinals arsenal of offensive weapons show out.
“We all eat,” he said.
The Warhawks didn’t quit, and Ballard broke about six tackles on a nine-yard touchdown run to make it a two score game, 35-21.
Ellison, up for the challenge all night, found a hole and took off for a 32-yard touchdown run to ice the game, putting Scott County up 42-21 with six minutes remaining.
Fortunately, the game had none of the off-the-field drama that marked last year’s game, though SC’s students section made sure to play “Our House,” and “Chicken Fried” in the waning quarter.
Offensively, Scott County racked up 376 yards rushing on 55 attempts, with an additional 83 yards in the air on just six attempts.
“It was a good win, we played as a team,” Way said. “We’ve just go to keep going tonight, we’ve got to keep winning.”
Way finished with 63 yards on 15 attempts.
Owens had 54 yards rushing and 65 receiving.
Emongo finished with 48 yards rushing on nine attempts. Jayden Garrett ran for 49 yards on just four attempts.
Ellison finished 3-for-6 through the air, and ran for 46 yards on eight attempts.
Great Crossing falls to 0-2, and still has answers to find on both sides of the ball.
Ballard was his usual terrific self, accounting for 188 of the Hawks’ 287 total offensive yards. Trey Campbell had 11 rush yards on one attempt.
Both Penn and Grant Rock saw time at quarterback, with Penn going four-for-seven for 64 yards, and Rock going 3-for-11 for 28 yards.
Britton Persley had three receptions for 49 yards, with the longest reception an excellent grab to set up the Warhawks’ second score. Unfortunately, Persley left the game limping after the catch and did not return.
Defensively, the Warhawks were led by Wyatt Highley, who had 14 tackles, two for a loss. William Braunm was the second leading tackler, with five. Jake Kearney had two tackles, one for a six yard loss.
Scott County (2-0) hosts Bowling Green (0-2) on Friday and GC (0-2) travels to Woodford County (2-0).