Rivalry week for the 2nd oldest rivalry in the state is back once again. It's always a good time for the community's these teams live in as they have multiple days full of events and traditions leading up to the game. After Tilghman finally broke the streak last season, can they string together a few of their own? Mayfield leads the all-time series 53-47-10. 

Tilghman's offense through 2 weeks has looked good, but not great. I know they've scored a lot of points and overcame some of those obstacles, but they have been pretty sloppy and racked up and unreal amount of penalties and have had quite a few touchdowns called back. Tilghman's biggest weapon is their depth. I know, I know, Martels Carter is the single guy people will pick out, but as shown last night, if you don't kick him the ball and focus on taking him out of the game as much as possible, someone else will step up. PT will have a different standout player in a lot of games this season. Game 1 against McCracken, 11 different receivers caught a pass. Whoever is open in the spread offense will get it. Jack James was 23-27 with 327 yards passing and 4 td's against Graves, just in the 1st half. Campbell caught 7 of those on 7 targets for 170 yards and 3 td's in that first half as well. Next game may be someone different altogether. 

Mayfield has a sophmore trio in QB Gray Robbins, RB Josiah England and WR Malik Kirby that will light up a scoreboard themselves. These 3 young men will get better each game and already on a path to greatness. Robbins was 21-33 for 276 yards and 2 td's against Graves and although he did have 2 interceptions, I don't feel like they were necessarily bad throws at all. He could very easily completed those and maybe you have a different outcome in that one. Malik Kirby was his top receiver in that one with 7 catches for 129 yards and a touchdown and Josiah England had 18 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. 

I think this game will have PT as the favorite for the first time in a long, long time, but Mayfield is always going to be Mayfield and I expect this to be much closer than what some may expect at the always tough War Memorial. It is worth noting that the PT defensive starters have yielded only 1 touchdown through 2 games and to me, that may be the difference. 

I will also come out a year later and say this, I could never find the right time to say it, so I waited until now. After the long winning streak, the last several years I kept going through in my mind how I would react when Tilghman finally broke the streak. In my head I told myself it would be like beating any other top notch team, I'd be happy and go on my way. It's weird how sometimes you don't realize what something means until it happens. With my whole family sitting next to me, as the clock wound down and Tilghman was assured the victory, my daughter and son-in-law looked over at me and I lost it. Those things we call tears found their way down both cheeks and emotion overtook me. I didn't see it coming, but it happened. This game really does mean something to both sides and I'm glad we're part of such a wonderful rivalry. We both cheer each other on the rest of the season after this one year after year and I can tell you all of Paducah was thrilled to see Mayfield win the state title last season. 

As a side note, I will be in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico for this game, my family's schedules only lined up for this week back in the spring, so I guess it is what it is. We were planning on relaxing all week with no phones, but since I've been at all these games since I've been 10 years old, I guess I'm gonna break down and buy that crazy high internet package they sell after all, at least for Friday.

Good luck to both teams!

I think nearly everyone is giving the Tornado the nod in this weeks game, some even calling for a running clock and maybe that's what happens, but, I also know that despite what the Cardinals have done thus far, they are still a deep and talented team with there best days still ahead of them. All they need is to find the right pieces, put them in the right places and execute there game plan. The talent is there. Between the 1st and 3rd games is when they typically find there footing and start playing up to there potential. With that said, PT still may be too big an obstical to climb, but, I expect a much closer game than most will expect.  

Tough spot for Mayfield. A loss in this game probably means all road games for Mayfield in the later rounds of the playoffs in KHSAA RPI system.

Love the write up TP, great job!

Paducah resembles a runaway train on offense, and I’m not sure we have anybody that resembles Chris Pine or Denzel Washington. PT is the favorite this year and rightly so, and it doesn’t help that we may have lost our anchor on defense to injury last night. 

With all of that, I’m picking the Big Red to stun the Big Blue. Mayfield wins by a touchdown. Yes, I have my rose-colored glasses on, and a jug of Cardinal Cool-Aid in my hand. ?

23 minutes ago, GBR said:

Love the write up TP, great job!

Paducah resembles a runaway train on offense, and I’m not sure we have anybody that resembles Chris Pine or Denzel Washington. PT is the favorite this year and rightly so, and it doesn’t help that we may have lost our anchor on defense to injury last night. 

With all of that, I’m picking the Big Red to stun the Big Blue. Mayfield wins by a touchdown. Yes, I have my rose-colored glasses on, and a jug of Cardinal Cool-Aid in my hand. ?

@MaddenCurse44 will be very proud of you for this post - except that last sentence where you stated you have your rose colored glasses on.

I will say this. PT can be their own worst enemy and Mayfield knows how to take advantage of another team's mistakes. If the Cardinals play mistake free, they have the firepower to get the win.

19 minutes ago, GBR said:

Love the write up TP, great job!

Paducah resembles a runaway train on offense, and I’m not sure we have anybody that resembles Chris Pine or Denzel Washington. PT is the favorite this year and rightly so, and it doesn’t help that we may have lost our anchor on defense to injury last night. 

With all of that, I’m picking the Big Red to stun the Big Blue. Mayfield wins by a touchdown. Yes, I have my rose-colored glasses on, and a jug of Cardinal Cool-Aid in my hand. ?

Thank you! I love the pick also. You just never know. I've always heard "It's a poor frog who won't praise his own pond". Sounds silly I know, but it's really true. 

High school football has shown that just when you think you know what to think, you don't. I expect a really good game. 

Obviously C4 is C4. No need to say more. I got to catch some of the McCracken game, and I thought number 8 looked just as dynamic as him. Who’s he, #8? 

PT by as many as they want. 

8 minutes ago, WarMemorialVet said:

Obviously C4 is C4. No need to say more. I got to catch some of the McCracken game, and I thought number 8 looked just as dynamic as him. Who’s he, #8? 

#8 is Vanzale Hinton, he's a 3 star Vanderbilt commit. He's a good receiver and db both. 

It looked like DJ Wilson had an ankle sprain and I’m guessing he may be out this Friday. He got tackled from behind but it wasn’t a horse collar or anything like that. Possibly a high ankle sprain.  The other Hinton looked pretty good in his relief.  
 

So will T Pride not be doing updates this Friday night???

Any longtime Mayfield supporters want to take a stab at how long it's been since the Cardinals were a decided underdog at home?

There's arguably no greater home field advantage than War Memorial, where Mayfield boasts a record of 115-4 over the last 15 years. 

I believe PT wins without much trouble, but you never know with these big rivalry games. If it’s close, I’ll be surprised which doesn’t say anything bad about Mayfield, PT has just gotten that much better and on another level right now.

If Mayfield can stay within 2 scores in the 3rd Quarter, be somewhat competitive, then we will be alright for 2A ball.  Mayfield will have to run the ball successfully to somewhat compete with this PT team. It's about growing as a team.

3 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

Any longtime Mayfield supporters want to take a stab at how long it's been since the Cardinals were a decided underdog at home?

There's arguably no greater home field advantage than War Memorial, where Mayfield boasts a record of 115-4 over the last 15 years. 

One of the craziest stats you'll ever see, a testament to Mayfield's greatness and longevity. That is impressive under any metric. 

Must have been 4 good teams, anyone know off hand or care to dig that up for us?