The Grayson County football team made their season-opener a successful one last Friday night as they defeated the Hancock County Hornets 23-6 in Hawesville.
The Cougar ground attack accumulated 239 yards and three touchdowns and the defense, with the exception of a 65-yard touchdown run by junior Darian Clay, held the Hornets in check the whole game.
Senior Hunter Gibson carried the ball 21 times for 130 yards, better than six yards per carry, and scored once. Quarterback Logan Kopp carried 17 times for 44 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Ethan Stewart came off the bench in the fourth quarter and picked up 60 yards on eight carries.
Junior linebacker, Zach Bratcher, led the defense with nine tackles, including one tackle for loss. Senior linebacker Cooper Terry had eight tackles, while senior Hunter Pendergest had four tackles, including two for losses.
The Cougars got on the board first with a 43-yard, five -play drive following a failed Hornet attempt on fourth down which gave the Cougars the ball in Hornet territory. Gibson carried in from the one and Logan Raymer added the extra point to make it 7-0 at the 3:59 mark of the first quarter.
The Hornets were facing a third-and-14 at their own 35-yard line when Clay got loose on a pitch-out. He carried 65 yards for the score, but really carried for close to 100 yards on the play as he ran to the near sideline, turned it up field, then raced completely across the field to the opposite sideline before turning back upfield and into the end zone. Their try for a two-point conversion failed and the Cougars still led by one, 7-6.
With 13.4 seconds left in the first half, the Hornets fumbled the ball and senior Ryan Mode covered it at the Hornet 19-yard line. The Cougars tried a pass into the end zone which fell incomplete. With 02.6 seconds showing on the clock, head coach Ed Smart sent out Raymer to attempt a 37-yard field goal. The senior, who is a starter on the Cougar soccer team, drilled a perfect kick that split the uprights and gave the Cougars a 10-6 halftime lead.
On their second possession of the third quarter, the Cougars put together a 78-yard, 13-play drive that took 6:30 off the clock and culminated in a one-yard run by Kopp that made it 16-6 with 1:12 left in the period. A two-point try failed.
The Cougars forced the Hornets to punt and took over at their own 44-yard line. Ten plays later, Kopp carried in from the three-yard line with 5:50 left in the game. Raymer’s extra point made it 23-6, which is how the game ended.
The Cougars will open their home schedule this coming Friday when the play host to Nelson County. That game is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at Cougar Field.
By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com
