The Grayson County Cougar football team closed the preseason last Friday night in Shepherdsville against Bullitt Central and Spencer County.
Against the Bears, junior running back Kadin Hanshaw had a nine-yard touchdown run, and senior Kayden Tyner took a screen pass 13 yards into the endzone.
The Tyner score capped off an 18-play drive that severely limited Spencer County’s opportunities to possess the ball.
“I like it because I like to control the pace of the game, I like to control the clock. If they don’t have the ball, it’s tougher for them to score,” head coach Bryan Jones said about that drive. “When we’re on the field, if that’s happening to us and there’s nothing you can do about it, it’s just really demoralizing, it’s helpless.”
In the second game, Bullitt Central came away the victors 6-0 after multiple negative plays stalled the Cougars’ offensive drives.
The lone score for the home-standing squad came after they were given excellent field position following an aggressive fourth-down call from Jones.
“We gave up the one score, but probably in that game, we would have done some things differently if it were a real game,” he said. “(We’d have) punt the ball away when we’re in our own territory and stuff like that.”
Grayson County is looking to replace two-time 1,000-yard passer Kolby Chaffins at the quarterback position and will turn to Jake Bratcher to fill those shoes. The senior beat out sophomore Trigg Payne in a camp competition for the job.
“I thought they did just fine. They managed the game well,” Jones said about the quarterbacks’ play. “We got a little bit of funny fronts that didn’t allow us to run some of our option stuff. I felt like it made it a little difficult, but the stuff we did do, I thought they did just fine.”
Across the two games, Bratcher was 8/11 passing for 56 yards and a touchdown while adding nine yards on the ground.
Hanshaw was the leading rusher with 17 carries for 86 yards and a score.
Shane Hall led in receiving with four catches for 34 yards.
Grayson County will open the 2025 season this Friday night in Brownsville against Edmonson County in the annual “Tobacco Bowl.” The Cougars have won six straight in the series to tie up the all-time mark at 24-24.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm and will be live on K105, the K105 app, and via the K105 YouTube channel.
By Sam Gormley, Play-By-Play Announcer/Local Sports
Reach Sam at sam@k105.com
