In one of the most tradition-rich schools in the state of Kentucky, one could make a very compelling argument that these are the “Glory Days” for the Mayfield football program.
Mayfield’s string of four straight KHSAA State Football Championships started in 2012. Since the beginning of 2012, the Cardinals have 61 wins in 65 attempts, with their only losses coming twice to McCracken County, once to Caldwell County, and the opening game of the 2012 season to Warren Central. The Cardinals have throttled many of their opponents in that 65-game stretch, including their two biggest rivals; Paducah Tilghman and Graves County.
Mayfield’s decade of dominance over Paducah Tilghman is well noted with 11 straight wins over their longstanding rival. Their recent dominance over Graves County is just as noteworthy. The Cardinals have won seven games in a row over the Eagles and own an 18-5 all-time record against Graves County. During that stretch, the Cardinals have outscored the Eagles 264-101.
Mayfield head coach Joe Morris shed big news Thursday morning on the “Jeff Bidwell Show” that Trajon Bright will not be available for Mayfield for the next two weeks after separating his elbow versus McCracken last week. Going into the McCracken game last week, Bright had rushed for 589 yards on 60 rushing attempts and nine rushing touchdowns for Mayfield (Disclaimer: Mayfield has not entered their stats against McCracken County on KHSAA.org, so there are no official stats for Mayfield). Bright left the game in the 2nd quarter because of the elbow injury.
Even though Bright has been the primary focus of the Cardinals' offense this season, it was senior quarterback Landon Arnett that had a big game last week versus the Mustangs. Arnett threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns against the Mustangs on 20-35 passing.
Graves County comes into the game on a three-game winning streak after dropping their opening game of the season at Hopkinsville’s Stadium of Champions. The Eagles are young. Very young, for that matter. But that hasn’t stopped the Eagles this season.
Graves’ most impressive win of the season came last week at Paducah Tilghman as the Eagles jumped out to a big 29-7 lead versus the Blue Tornado before taking their foot off the gas a bit. With the help of sophomore quarterback Ryan Mathis, the Eagles were able to make a late comeback and score a touchdown in the game’s final seconds to give the Eagles a 43-42 win at Tilghman’s McRight Field.
Against Tilghman, Mathis had 203 all-purpose yards for Graves County with two touchdowns, including his touchdown late to win the game for the Eagles. On the season, Mathis is starting to find his footing in the passing game as he’s 55-for-115 passing for 702 yards and six touchdowns passing. His dual-threat element has opened up Graves County’s offense this season as well. On the ground, Mathis has 234 yards rushing on 27 rushing attempts and six touchdowns.
Along with Mathis, senior tailback Brennen Culp has emerged as a viable rushing presence for Graves County. In four games, Culp has 239 yards on 41 rushing attempts with three touchdowns.
Mayfield has had its way with Graves County the last seven seasons with the closest game being a 21-7 Mayfield win over the Eagles in 2011. Even though the Eagles are young, they’re talented. I look for Graves County to be a viable threat the next several seasons. It may still be a year too early for the Eagles to upset the Cardinals, but the playing field is much more level, especially with Mayfield’s Trajon Bright out of the game. I’m taking Mayfield in this one, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the Eagles can turn this rivalry around in the near future.
PREDICTION - Mayfield-31, Graves County-21
(1-1) Pulaski Academy vs (3-1) McCracken County – The Mustangs biggest challenge of the season comes into McCracken County’s Marquette Stadium Friday night as Pulaski Academy out of Little Rock, Arkansas, travels to Paducah to take on the Mustangs.
The Bruins of Pulaski Academy have become a national story the past few seasons. Several national media outlets have featured Pulaski Academy’s unique style of football; including ESPN and Nate Silver’s “FiveThirtyEight”.
Pulaski Academy subscribes to the theory of wanting the football as much as possible and as many times as possible. They will use a slew of tricks up their sleeve to achieve their theory. Fourth downs mean a different thing to Pulaski than it does to most teams. The Bruins will go for it on fourth down nearly every single time, as noted by McCracken head coach Shawn Jackson.
“They had 4th-and-22 from their own 8 yard line last week and they got it (first down)”, Jackson said on his weekly coaches show on 99.5FM The Fan Wednesday night. “They’ll go for it on fourth downs, go for the 2-point conversion every time after a touchdown, and look to onside kick you to death after every score.”
That has been the premise to their national attention. Nate Silver’s “FiveThirtyEight” company featured the story “The High School Football Coach that Never Punts” on their website.
The Bruins come into McCracken County highly ranked in MaxPreps’ national rankings. Pulaski is ranked 268th in the entire nation. To put that into context, Mayfield is ranked 981st and McCracken County is ranked 1,848th in the same rankings. Pulaski’s lone loss of the season came last week to East High School out of Salt Lake City, Utah. East is ranked 98th in the nation in MaxPreps’ national rankings.
McCracken County comes into Friday night looking to rebound after a 46-41 loss to Mayfield last week. The Mustangs fell behind early, finding themselves in a 25-0 deficit early in the 2nd quarter and then down 39-14 in the third quarter. But the Mustangs fought back with a vengeance, going on a 27-7 run to end the game and coming up short on an onside kick opportunity for a chance to win the game late.
Coach Shawn Jackson noted that the Mustangs can’t afford to sleep walk in the first quarter like they did against the Cardinals last week.
“We have to show up from the beginning and play four full quarters against Pulaski to have a chance,” Jackson said. “If we don’t, it could be a long night, but I really look for us to compete and it should be a great game.”
The offense has been the spark this season for McCracken County. The Mustangs actually out-gained Mayfield last week 410-408. Senior quarterback Cash Jones was 18-34 passing for 247 yards and three touchdowns against the Cardinals. Junior running back TaeShawn Allen had 13 rushes for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
This will be a tough test for the
Mustangs. They’re coming off a tough loss to one of the best teams
in the state, then turn around and play one of the better programs in
the nation. Can the Mustangs contain the balanced passing and rushing
attack of the Bruins offense? A huge weight will be on the shoulders
of the special teams.
Can McCracken’s special teams handle and
contain Pulaski’s fourth down attempts, two-point conversion and
onside kick attempts? If McCracken can handle the onside kicks and
recover a majority of them, the Mustangs will be in great field
position all night. I’m taking the home team, but it will not be
easy. Not at all.
PREDICTION – McCracken County-48, Pulaski Academy-40
(1-3) Madisonville North-Hopkins vs (0-4) Paducah Tilghman – The schedule becomes much easier for Paducah Tilghman the rest of the season and it starts Friday night against the struggling Maroons at Tilghman’s McRight Field.
Starting this Friday night, the combined record of Tilghman’s remaining opponents is 6 wins to 13 losses, so a great opportunity presents itself for the Blue Tornado to turn their season around and make a run going into the Class 3A playoffs later this year.
Tilghman fell just short at home last week to Graves County, losing on a touchdown in the game’s final seconds to fall 43-42 to the Eagles.
The struggling point for the Blue Tornado this season has been on the defensive side of the football. Coming into Friday night, Tilghman’s opponents have averaged 40.25 points per game against the Blue Tornado.
On the flip side, Tilghman’s offense has improved from week-to-week, culminating with their 42-point output against Graves County last week. Senior quarterback Dalton Ferrell has been very steady for Tilghman this season, throwing for 772 yards and 8 touchdowns on 59-117 passing this season. Junior running back Alec Gold has led the way on the ground for Tilghman rushing for 451 yards and three touchdowns on 67 rushing attempts.
Madisonville has had a rough start to the season as well, but they were able to get their first win of the season last week over Union County. The Maroons have struggled mightily on the defensive side of the football as well, giving up an average of 45.5 points per game this season including the 72-point attack McCracken County put on them earlier this season.
This game comes for Tilghman at the time they need it most. Look for Tilghman to get their first win of the season and in a big way over the struggling Maroons.
PREDICTION – Paducah Tilghman-42, Madisonville-7
Week 5 Games:
Mayfield at Graves County
Pulaski Academy, AR at McCracken County
Madisonville-North Hopkins at Paducah Tilghman
Murray at Marshall County
Henderson County at Caldwell County
Calloway County at Trigg County
Christian County vs. Hopkinsville
Webster County at Crittenden County
South Fulton, TN at Fulton City
Gibson County, TN at Fulton County
Murphysboro at Massac County
