CAL received and a Cole Hodge to Darwin Cotton pass to the Bardstown 25 on the opening play to set CAL up but the drive stalled at the Bardstown 11.  Bardstown got a couple of first downs and then punted.  CAL started their second drive at their own 23 and ended it with a 23 yard TD pass from Cole Hodge to Trey Cotton to take a 7 to 0 lead with 253 left in the 1st quarter.  Bardstown went three and out and punted.  CAL started on the Bardstown 45 and drove to the 1 before fumbling the ball back to Bardstown.  CAL forced a short punt and took over on the Bardstown 27 yard line and Hodge connected with Malachi Embers for a 13 yard touchdown pass to go up 14 to 0 with 447 left in the 1st half.  CAL forced Bardstown to punt again and started on the Bardstown 45.

Bardstown received the 2nd half kickoff and drove to the CAL 26 yard line where they fumbled it back to CAL. On the next play Gavin Copenhaver went 74 yards for a touchdown to put CAL up 21 to 0 with 813 left in the 3rd quarter.  Bardstown took the kickoff and drove to the CAL 18 before turning it over on downs.  CAL came right back with another Gavin Copenhaver long touchdown run to put CAL up 27 to 0 with 439 left in the 3rd quarter. CAL stopped Bardstown again and returned the punt to the Bardstown 46 yard line.  CAL scored again on a Connor Hodge to Cole Hodge 33 yard touchdown pass to go up 35 to 0 with 1154 left in the game.  In desperation Bardstown went for it on 4th and 7 and Conner Hodge came up with an interception and advanced it to the CAL 42. CAL grinded it out on the back of Gavin Copenhaver and capped it off with a 34 yard Jackson Barrickman FG to make the (final) score 38 to 0 with 340 left in the game.

Congrats CAL! Congrats Coach Cantwell!

 

Sheesh!

Congrats to CAL for state championship! Congrats to Bardstown on being state runner up!

Ouch!

No shame in this for Bardstown, they had a great season.  CAL on the other hand is a fantastic football, good in all phases, and very well coached.

 

 

Pretty much expected. Only one real test in the playoffs for CAL. 

Congrats to both squads on their fine seasons. 

23 minutes ago, mcpapa said:

Pretty much expected. Only one real test in the playoffs for CAL. 

Congrats to both squads on their fine seasons. 

Only one real rest all season. They beat everyone not named Paducah Tilghman by an average score of 50-6. Tilghman was the only team to score more than twice against them. CAL held ten opponents to one score or less. 

The real 3A championship game was probably played two weeks ago. A healthy Bardstown could have made this a game, I believe. 

48 minutes ago, theguru said:

 

Led CAL with 13 tackles, as well. He covered every inch of the field today. 

CAL is a great all around team Congrats to them all. Those young men showed up and did their jobs! I wish a couple things would’ve went Bardstown’s way so they could’ve got in the end zone. At the end of the day the better team won.
 

It was great to see a team of kids who all went to the same middle school make the State Championship, this Bardstown team is the definition of home grown! I believe there are less than 5 kids on the entire team that didn’t go to Bardstown Middle School. 

3 minutes ago, DevilMayCare said:

Only one real rest all season. They beat everyone not named Paducah Tilghman by an average score of 50-6. Tilghman was the only team to score more than twice against them. CAL held ten opponents to one score or less. 

The real 3A championship game was probably played two weeks ago. A healthy Bardstown could have made this a game, I believe. 

Tilghman lost a lot of football games this year and I know behind the scenes we weren't sure what to do with them in the rankings but they were a pretty good football team when they had it together and the close losses to Mayfield and CAL prove that.

31 minutes ago, theguru said:

Tilghman lost a lot of football games this year and I know behind the scenes we weren't sure what to do with them in the rankings but they were a pretty good football team when they had it together and the close losses to Mayfield and CAL prove that.

I'm hoping they put it together next year and maybe make another run. A lot of pieces back. Congrats to PT alum Coach Cantwell and his CAL team on the win. Maybe we have a newly developing rivalry, you never know. I think it would be great. Shout out to Bardstown as well, no shame in making it to the big game ever. 

Disappointed in the performance but very proud of the Tigers and really enjoyed the ride. This was tremendous for the whole town. CAL is well coached and fundamentally sound. Bardstown returns 7 starters on offense including Ty Ty Williams and 8 starters on defense.

Disagree with the remark that “the real 3A championship was 2 weeks ago” etc. they lost to a team we dropped 66 on, so . . .

I was expecting a Cal victory but not like that.