PtownDude

A crazy game to open the 7th District tourney. Hopkins Central defeated Caldwell County 79-75 in two overtimes. Caldwell went up 59-55 with nine seconds left in regulation, but Hopkins Central hit two free throws with three seconds left, then forced a turnover on the inbounds play. A stickback at the buzzer tied the game and forced OT. Caldwell scored with five seconds left in the first OT to tie the game at 71-71 and set up a second OT. Unfortunately for Caldwell, Melly Heaton suffered an ankle injury late in the first OT and did not return. She finished with 29 points. Kari Jo Harris had 24 points and 15 boards for Hopkins Central.

I'm sure Caldwell would be tickled to be moved back to the 5th. At one time, there was some sentiment toward moving University Heights to the 7th District.

Caldwell County has won 12 straight heading into the 7th District tourney. Biggest wins were Calloway County, University Heights and Hopkinsville.

My bad, Hopson had 27.

UHA may have the most talent of any team in the 2nd Region but their chemistry is horrible. There's no way Caldwell matches up position by position, but by playing hard, scrapping for every loose ball and knocking down open shots, they're able to not only compete but beat teams like UHA. Oh, and it helps to have a Matt Fraliex score 45. But the other kids know their roles too. Hopson had 29 but his effort and intensity comes and goes. Like Randolph Morris, if someone doesn't throw him the ball, he stops playing. Not sure how the rest of the season will play out, but someone's going to need to play awfully well to take out the Tigers.

I fully expect Pettigrew to win Mr. Basketball, but I think Matt Fraliex at Caldwell County deserves at least a passing glance. Probably the best pure shooter I've seen in the 2nd Region since Travis Ford was at Madisonville. Averages over 33 points, 7-8 rebounds a game, and has Caldwell rated higher than they have been in 20 years. Also a good student, solid citizen, all-around good kid. I'm hoping he at least makes some first-team all-state lists.

Fraliex had 38 in the loss and is averaging 35.3 a contest. St. Mary went on to win the Tilghman tournament.

He's started the last two games and scored 15 against Hopkins Central. Doesn't look to be bothering him any.

Caldwell County is trying to make some early season noise. The Tigers improved to 5-0 after beating Hopkins Central 76-58 Thursday night. Matt Fraliex had 38 points (19 in each half) and is averaging 34.8 a contest. The Tigers figure to get tested at the Paducah Tilghman Christmas Tournament. They play Paducah St. Mary in the opening round Friday at 8 p.m. To win the thing, the Tigers will have to win three games in just a little over 24 hours, because the semifinals and finals are both on Saturday. FWIW, Caldwell will also play in the LIT in January.

Pepper had 18 points and did a good job handling the 1-3-1. When he and Fraliex started penetrating with the dribble it really opened things up offensively for Caldwell.

Also, C.H. Price did not play for Union (radio said he had mono). At 6-5, he's usually the point on Union's trademarked 1-3-1 trap. Coley Rogers did not play for Caldwell because of a knee injury sustained in the UHA game. He should be back next week.

The 25-point margin is the biggest ever for Caldwell over Union. The Tigers had lost 13 straight to the Braves going back to the 1996-97 season (with Jerrold Fuqua and Stewart Childress). The Tigers have claimed some big early-season wins over UHA and Union back-to-back. Of course, nobody ever won a district or regional championship in December, but those may be some big games to build on.

Wow!

Heck of a game. Williams suffered a knee injury, I think on the pass over the middle down near the goal line early in the contest. He was really hurting, but he tried to gut it out and get in there a couple of times. Give Trigg credit for changing their defense after the TD pass to Tittle. Difference in the game (?) Caldwell has a long field goal hit the crossbar, Trigg's gets over the bar. I have a blurry photo that looks like Martin got a foot in and Caldwell should have had a touchdown. Channel 6 guy said he looked in. I couldn't tell if maybe he bobbled it or something. That sure would have made a big difference. Good luck to Trigg next week. Congrats to the Tigers for a great season. I still think if Williams had been healthy the outcome would have been different.

Caldwell County sophomore quarterback Will Barnes completed 13 of 19 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns in the Tigers' 45-7 win over Webster County. In the process, Barnes set Caldwell single-season records for passing yards (1,831) and touchdowns (23).

Game stats: Webster County 0-7-0-0 — 7 at Caldwell County 7-14-14-10 — 45 • SCORING Caldwell County—Rodney Bell, 5 yard run (Jake Pepper kick), 7:03/1st. Webster County—Darrion Terrell, 71 yard punt return (Deadrian Rollins kick), 10:30/2nd. Caldwell County—Bell, 67 yard pass from Will Barnes (Pepper kick), 10:11/2nd. Caldwell County—Matt Tittle, 65 yard pass from Barnes (Pepper kick), 7:47/2nd. Caldwell County—Cameron Williams, 4 yard pass from Barnes (Pepper kick), 6:56/3rd. Caldwell County—Tittle, 15 yard pass from Barnes (Pepper kick), 4:22/3rd. Caldwell County—Pepper, 18 yard field goal, 9:07/4th. Caldwell County—Lametre Riley, 5 yard run (Pepper kick), 7:51/4th. • INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: Caldwell County—Rodney Bell, 14-80; Marcus Wimbleduff, 5-52; Lametre Riley, 1-5; Michael Lipson, 2-1; Cameron Williams, 2-0; Jaquan Glover, 2-0; Cody Traylor, 1-0; Matt Tittle, 1-0; Will Barnes, 7-(-2); John Paul Boitnott, 1-(-4). Webster County—Deadrian Rollins, 19-38; Kyle Meadows, 4-13; Matthew Vance, 1-4; Brian Pinkston, 3-2; Steven Turner, 1-2; Ben Boone, 7-(-38); Team, 1-(-14). PASSING: Caldwell County—Will Barnes, 13-19-0, 261 yards. Webster County—Ben Boone, 2-6-3, 14 yards; Steven Turner, 0-1-0. RECEIVING: Caldwell County—Matt Tittle, 7-143; Cameron Williams, 3-50; Rodney Bell, 2-70; Curt Martin, 1-(-2). Webster County—Deadrian Rollins, 1-9; Darrion Terrell, 1-5. FIELD GOALS: Caldwell County—Jake Pepper, 18 yards (made) Webster County—None RECORDS: Caldwell County 10-1; Webster County, 5-6.

Next week: Trigg at Caldwell. It should be SRO at Tiger Stadium.:thumb:

FINAL. Different Caldwell defense showed up this time. Webster was held to 21 total yards, just 7 rushing, and only 4 first downs. Webster returned punt for a score in the second quarter to tie it at 7-7 but Caldwell answered with a 67-yard TD pass on a screen to Rodney Bell on its next play from scrimmage. Caldwell led 21-7 at halftime and held Webster to minus 9 yards of offense in the second half.

Webster is certainly capable of winning this game. Couple of things to remember about Caldwell, though. Cameron Williams did not play last week against Muhlenberg South and the rest of the team kinda phoned it in. Two weeks ago, Rodney Bell did not play at Heath. Also, once Caldwell matched Webster's intensity in the first meeting, the Tigers outscored the Trojans 41-7 and won 48-28. If the Tigers don't show up for this one it could be close. I don't see Webster's defense slowing down Caldwell's offense. However, I could see Webster's offense maintaining control of the ball most of the night and keeping Caldwell's offense off the field. I just don't think Webster can score enough points to stay with the Tigers. Caldwell 35-21.

Henderson Douglass was the "Bison." I wish I could take credit for knowing that, but I found it in some information I got from former Madisonville radio guy Bob Mays.

I guess I should have noted that Cameron Williams did not play for Caldwell. He rested a sore ankle from last week's game at Heath. Had the conditions have been better he probably would have played. Muhlenberg South 7-0-0-7 — 14 at Caldwell County 7-7-7-0 — 21 • SCORING Muhlenberg South—Caleb Winders, 9 yard pass from Aaron Johnson (William Axtell kick), 6:13/1st. Caldwell County—Curt Martin, 14 yard pass from Will Barnes (Jake Pepper kick), 0:45/1st. Caldwell County—Barnes, 1 yard run (Pepper kick), 8:34/2nd. Caldwell County—Michael Lipson, 3 yard run (Pepper kick), 3:42/3rd. Muhlenberg South—Johnson, 1 yard run (Axtell kick), 8:18/4th. • INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING: Caldwell County—Rodney Bell, 19-94; Michael Lipson, 7-61; Will Barnes, 8-35; Marcus Wimbleduff, 2-4; Cody Traylor, 4-(-3). Muhlenberg South—Adam Beck, 23-138; Caleb Winders, 8-46; Aaron Johnson, 18-7; Andre Hawins, 1-(-6). PASSING: Caldwell County—Will Barnes, 4-12-1, 59 yards. Muhlenberg South—Aaron Johnson, 5-11-1, 33 yards. RECEIVING: Caldwell County—Curt Martin, 2-29; Matt Tittle, 1-32; Rodney Bell, 1-(-2). Muhlenberg South—Caleb Winders, 5-33. FIELD GOALS: Caldwell County—None Muhlenberg South—None RECORDS: Caldwell County 9-1, 7-0; Muhlenberg South 2-8, 1-6. NEXT GAMES: Caldwell County hosts Webster County (Class 2A playoffs). Muhlenberg South ends season.

What a miserable night. Caldwell 21, Muhlenberg South 14 FINAL. Suns had a pass knocked away in the final minute in the end zone on fourth and goal. Suns played really hard. Tigers looked like they were wet and cold.

The Wildcats didn't prove to be very good mudders at Caldwell. But Caldwell's defense up the middle is quite a bit better than Lone Oak's. Trigg 14-7.

Matt's cousin (and current head coach) Michael Fraliex was a pretty good player for the Hilltoppers and held the 3-point record when he graduated. I thought all along that Matt would end up there too, but I guess things didn't work out.

I would agree. Caldwell by about 3-4 TDs. I know Webster's big up front, but I just don't see the Trojans being able to run much, especially inside, against Caldwell's defense. I also think Caldwell's offense will wear out Webster's D. Looks like Webster has about 7 guys that go both ways. Weather should be cool, but those big Webster linemen are going to have to do a lot of running.