Hearsay

Final.

Bardstown 35 Nelson County 7. Final.

Bardstown 35 Nelson County 7. 87 yd. pass Riley to Poynter. 2:51 to go.

Bardstown 28 Nelson County 7. Hamilton 18 yd. TD run. 8:30 to go in game.

Things getting chippy

Bardstown 21 Nelson County 7. :51 to go 3rd qtr. Hamilton 1 yd. TD run.

Competetive game, though Bardstown has shot themselves, first with holding penalties on opening drive, then 3 turnovers in second quarter.

Bardstown 14 Nelson County 7. Halftime.

Bardstown 14 Nelson County 7, 1:05 to go 1st half. Kam Morley 7 yd. TD run following Tiger fumble.

Bardstown 14 Nelson County 0. Sevyn Hamilton 78 yd. TD run. 9:04 to go 1st half.

Bardstown 7 Nelson County 0 late 1st qtr. Riley to Chi Poynter TD pass.

6 minutes to go, 1st Q, no score. Tigers drove to Nelson 20, but turned over on downs.

I'm withholding any judgment on Bardstown until after I see the Owensboro Catholic game. While I don't necessarily expect the Tigers to win, if they put up a spirited fight against a team that beat Bowling Green, that would be enough for me to argue they should be a discussion 3A team. Right now, I'd keep them hungry and leave them in the 8-9 range. The progress of the passing game and front 7 on defense is encouraging, though.

Welcome 100Proof Truth, good to have some locals on here with me. I disagree that "special teams" and "three bad snaps" were the difference in games 1 and 2, which I witnessed. The Tigers fell behind early and then dominated the second half against Elizabethtown. They did knock a kickoff loose and return it for a TD, but the tide had already well-turned by that time. Bardstown was sloppy against Fern Creek, and there was some concern on the final drive by Fern Creek that they were driving and a bad snap put them in third and long, but to extrapolate and assume they would have scored is a reach, at best. There was never a moment in which anyone felt that Bardstown was not the better team. The sloppiness was then put to rest against John Hardin, and here we are. I also have not noticed any dip Tiger fans have in the "pride" of their team, in fact, the coaches have confided that the collegiality of this group is as good or better than its been in a long time. That said, I agree with you that there is no expectation that Bardstown will just waltz in and spoil Nelson County's homecoming. Wins are earned. Noone understands that better than this year's blue-collar crew. Nelson has some good players and they go hard and do appear to be more disciplined under Coach Boston, and morale is high. That is good for local football. As I said, I expect this to be a solid football game.

Two undefeated cross-town rivals square off Friday when Bardstown makes the 5-minute drive over to Bill Broaddus Field at Nelson County. The Cardinals (3-0), under first-head coach Josh Boston, have gotten off to an impressive start, posting home victories against Shelby County and a romp Friday night against Thomas Nelson, sandwiched around a surprise victory on the road against Desales. In doing so, Nelson County has turned to a trio of veteran seniors, led by QB Kam Morley, WR/DB Jacob Reynolds, and RB Grant Cox. Morley, in his third year as the signal-caller, was 16-25 for 238 yards, 2 TD's and 1 INT entering Friday's contest, but it has been his legs that have also given defenses fits, the Cardinals second-leading rusher with 110 yards and 4 TD's before Friday night. Both of his TD passes entering last week were to lanky senior wideout Reynolds, who also has paced the defense with 2 INT returns for scores. Cox, last year's second-leading rusher, is the bell cow back with a workmanlike 169 yds and 2 TD's before Friday. The Cardinals defense tallied 6 sacks against Desales paced by Juniors DE/LB Deken Minter and DT Lucas Coy. Bardstown (3-0), under second-year head coach Justin Grundy, put together its most complete game of the season in a 35-10 Friday night victory over John Hardin. While the Tigers got another fine performance from Senior tailback Sevyn Hamilton, it was the emergence of the aerial attack that took center stage Friday, with Junior QB Carson Riley throwing for over 200 yards and 3 TD's, 2 to emerging sophomore star Chi Poynter, and another to Swiss-army knife dual threat Junior Tylan Spalding, who with Riley, each ran for a TD as well. The Tiger defense, led by Senior LB's Lucas Kiser and Devin Newsome and Junior Lucas Wilcher, stymied Mr. Football candidate Cavalli Pittman. This has the makings of a very solid contest. Bardstown prevailed last season46-20 on the strength of 115 yards from Hamilton and 2 TD passes from Riley. In fact, Bardstown has beaten Nelson County for 15 straight years, with the Cardinals last coming out on top in 2010, a fact that sticks in the craw of local Cardinal faithful. Is this the year the Redbirds finally get the Tiger off their back, or will the suddenly-balanced Tigers continue their winning ways?

One of the better games of Junior QB Carson Riley’s career. 3 TD passes (2 to sophomore WR Chi Poynter, 1 to Junior all-purpose wing Tylan Spalding), and he and Spalding both ran for scores. Very nice balance on offense, I would estimate 200 yds. passing. Senior tailback Sevyn Hamilton also ran the ball well, but the ability to pass has taken the onus off him to carry the offense. Defensively, I thought the very young Tiger DL stacked things up at the LOS quite well, and Senior LB’s Devin Newsome and Lucas Kiser, and Junior Lucas Wilcher showed out stopping Pittman. He had one 29 yard run in the 4th when the game was decided, but otherwise I’d estimate less than 90 total yards. Wilcher is an all-state wrestler and it translates to very good leverage and hand-to-combat. Big game against undefeated Nelson County next week. Also, congratulations to Bardstown long-time line coach and former National champion OL at Georgetown Hunter Ballard, and the other inductees into the Tiger Hall of Fame. Well-deserved.

Final. Tigers completely shut down Cavalli Pittman, and turn to an aerial assault behind QB Carson Riley and emerging WR stars Chi Poynter and Tylan Spalding.

Signature win for a new head coach.

Lightning delay with 4:14 remaining.

35-10 Bardstown. Riley to Spalding 45 yd. TD pass. 9:32 to go in game.

28-10 Bardstown. Pittman 3 yd. run. 1:26 to go 3rd qtr.

28-3 Bardstown. 41 yd. TD pass Riley to Poynter. 7:36 to go 3rd qtr.

Thus far, Tiger defense has completely shut down Cavalli Pittman, and the Bardstown offense has shown nice balance, with Riley to Poynter in the passing game emerging as big threat capability.

Halftime. Bardstown 21 JH 3.

21-3 Bardstown. :44 left in half. Ashton Russell (JH) 24 yd. FG.