BCP 9-4-24

Sports Bedford County Post September 4, 2024 12A Mistakes costly for Golden Eagles in shootout loss to Marshall Co. Richland spoils Champs’ home opener By CHRIS SIERS csiers@ bedfordcountysports.com B ELL BUCKLE — Early on in Friday night’s home opener, Richland made it clear the Raiders wanted to press the ball down fi eld via the pass game. With that game plan and mentality, the Raid- ers got two early scores and continued to air it out as the Raiders spoiled Cascade’s home opener, 54-14. Raider quarterback Blane Woodard con- nected on two passes to Jake Sands on the game’s opening drive before An- drew Hu ff broke through on a 4-yard score, just 1:18 into the game. After forcing a punt on the Champs’ opening drive, Woodard again went to the air, this time connecting on a 41-yard touchdown pass for a 14-0 lead with 9:02 left in the fi rst quarter. Having been shell- shocked by the up-tempo pace from the Raiders, Cascade then leaned on quarterback Christian Casey as the Champs orchestrated a 13-play scoring drive, capped by a Kaden Hill 10-yard touchdown run. Following Gabe Per- ez’ successful kick after, Richland led just 14-7. But the Raiders again leaned on an e ff ective passing attack to set up a second touchdown run by Hu ff with 10:39 left in the fi rst half. Having once again fallen behind by two scores, this time it was a 90-yard kicko ff return down the visitor sideline by Corey Gooch to give the Champions a much- needed spark. The momentum was short-lived however. Richland answered with two more touch- downs to close the half, coming on a direct snap, 9-yard score by Hu ff and a 2-yard score by Sands. With Richland mak- ing halftime adjust- ments, Cascade was held to a three and out on the fi rst drive of the second half and struggled to fi nd consistent momentum moving the ball against a stingy Raider defense. “The community is behind us. It doesn’t feel like it with the score, but we’re so close. The de- fense doesn’t look like it on the scoreboard, but we’re so close with as- signments and every- thing,” Champion coach Jared Carku ff said. Richland closed the game by adding three more rushing touch- downs in the third quar- ter. In game-planning for Richland, late in the week it was revealed quarter- back Peyton Wireman would be out for the season with an injury, prompting the Cascade Kadin Hill keeps his eyes focused as he finds the crease in the Richland defense and scores on a 10-yard touchdown run to put the Champs on the board. Corey Gooch hits the brakes and skirts past a Richland defender. Gooch had a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter for Cascade. –Post Photos by Chris Siers See Champs, Page 14A By GARY JOHNSON Sports Writer S HE L B Y V I L L E—Wh e n Shelbyville Central and Marshall County square o ff on the football fi eld one thing is certain, it’s going to be an explosive, exciting game with more times than not a lot of points on the scoreboard. Such was the case time around time as well as the teams scored a combined 82 points and racked up a com- bined 896 yards in Marshall County’s 47-35 road win over the Golden Eagles on Thursday evening. The Tigers (2-0) collected 464 yards of total o ff ense fol- lowed by Shelbyville Central (1-1) with 432 yards.Golden Eagle junior running back Robert Bailey turned in anoth- er stellar performance with his second 200-plus yard rushing e ff ort to start the season, gain- ing 243 yards on 20 touches with three touchdowns. Marshall County quarter- back Tyler Thompson was just as impressive, completing 14- of-25 passes for 339 yards with fi ve touchdowns and one inter- ception. He also added a rush- ing TD. The di ff erence in the game was Marshall County made a few more plays and a few less mistakes. “We just made too many mistakes throughout the game and that’s on us,” Shelbyville Central coach Jud Dryden said. “Marshall County is a good ball club and they ex- ecuted well when they had to. We gave away some things we don’t normally give away. We will go to the fi lm and look at fi xing them.” The Tigers jumped out to an early lead, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the fi rst quar- ter, a 5-yard pass to Anthony Smith followed by a 65-yard completion to Aja Jones. Hendrix was good on both extra-point kicks for the 14-0 lead.” Not the start we wanted but there again, I think we ex- tended that fi rst scoring drive with a costly penalty and good teams fi nd ways to take advan- tage of those,” Dryden said. The Golden Eagles got on Shelbyville Central junior running back Robert Bailey breaks a tackle on the way to the end zone in a matchup with Marshall County Thursday night. He rushed for 243 yards on 20 carries with three TD’s in the game. Sophomore quarterback Steven Bobo scored on a 77 yard run and threw for another in the Golden Eagles shootout with Marshall County. –Post photos by Gary Johnson See Eagles, Page 14A