The Grayson County High School football team continued their preseason 7-on-7 action on Thursday evening at Breckinridge County.
In game one, a late run from Holy Cross (Louisville) had them pick up a 24-12 win with the Cougars scoring late against Tell City to force an 18-18 tie in the nightcap.
Holy Cross (Louisville)
In a battle between orange and maroon Cougars, both offenses started off hot. Grayson County took four plays to score. Sophomore Jeren VanMeter ended the drive with the first of his two touchdowns to give GCHS a 6-0 lead.
Holy Cross also took four plays to score. On a fourth-down play where they only had to pick up a single yard, HC threw a pass down the near sideline. It looked like it was going to be incomplete but ended up hitting GC defender Owen Bratcher in the head and landed in the hands of the HC receiver to tie the game at 6.
Grayson continued their offensive success to start their next drive as well. Starting quarterback Kaylor Decker found Bratcher for 17 yards, and VanMeter for a pair of completions to bring the ball inside the 10-yard line. That’s where the success stopped. An incomplete pass, a loss of yards on a reception, and consecutive “sacks” ended the drive with a turnover on downs.
Holy Cross found themselves back with the ball and completed their first two passes, but the third found the hands of Grayson’s Michael Wood to give the blue and orange the pigskin back.
Using the momentum to their advantage, Decker completed four consecutive passes, ending with a 2-yard touchdown to VanMeter to give them a 12-6 lead.
From there, it was all Holy Cross. The top-ranked RPI team in Class A from last season scored on their next three possessions in what turned out to be a 24-12 final.
“We killed a few drives ourselves,” said head coach Bryan Jones. “Some really nice things in that game though. We made some good throws, ran some good routes, played good on defense, but just really stalled out on a few drives we shouldn’t have.”
Tell City (IN)
Another unfamiliar opponent was next for the Cougars in Tell City (IN). This game was different than a typical 7-on-7. The Marksmen were much more physical than a usual game. Rules for the games don’t allow for tackling, but there were a few plays that saw the Marksmen bring down Cougars causing minor tempers to flare.
“This is a great opportunity for us to kind of talk about (tempers flaring),” added Jones. “There was some things there that me personally I don’t know that I would be okay with my guys doing. For us to not respond is critical, because almost always the second guy gets the penalty.”
Jones mentioned that keeping cool when a game gets physical, even if there is no mal-intent is critical. “We got some rivals that we play. We are going to scrimmage Hancock, who’s always been a rival. We are going to play Breck, it’s a rival. We are going to play Edmonson, and it’s a rival, and Coach (Ed) Smart is down there that’s going to add a little bit more to it.”
Both teams started the game with turnovers on downs, but from there the offenses started to roll.
Grayson County completed a 5-yard touchdown to Owen Bratcher to take a 6-0 lead, but the Marksmen tied on their second play.
Kaylor Decker attempted a pass down the near sideline on the next possession, but for the second consecutive game, a tipped ball by the Cougars ended up in the opponent’s hands for an interception.
Both teams traded touchdowns on their next two possessions. During that stretch, it was Chandler McCrady and Michael Wood that pulled in touchdowns to tie the game at 18-18.
With time allowed for only one possession and a tie game, it was Tell City football. The Marksmen, whether on purpose or accident, started the ball on the 30-yard line instead of the 40 like the rule states.
The Cougar defense didn’t let that affect them and they forced three incompletions and a short gain to end the game in an 18-18 tie.
With the 0-1-1 performance, the Cougars are now 4-3-3 in 7-on-7 games this season with only three left to play.
“I want to see us hit some more open guys,” said Jones when asked about what he wants to see over the next few weeks. “Kaylor (Decker) has come a long way, he’s been playing a little injured. I think he’s getting better every time we come out.”
Grayson County will close this portion of their preseason on Tuesday evening at Meade County at 5:00 pm CT. They will play the host Green Wave, Holy Cross, and Nelson County that night.
By Sam Gormley, Play-By-Play Announcer/Local Sports
Reach Sam at sam@k105.com
