Jim Mashek

RAIDERS’ HALL: ‘THIS ONE’s GONNA STING’; PATRIOTS’ HOOD SINGS PARSLEY’s PRAISES

SCOTTSVILLE — Warren East High School’s football team was hanging on, a wounded team with a thinning lead on Friday night. The Raiders had the finish line in sight, but then Allen County-Scottsville drove the length of the field with the game on the line.

For its third touchdown of the fourth quarter, a winning effort that sent an overflow crowd at Patriot Stadium into a frenzy.

Allen County-Scottsville 35, Warren East 31.

The Patriots defeated Warren East for the first time since the 2020 season, or in other words, the Dane Parsley Era on Louisville Road.

Parsley, the Raiders’ do-it-all quarterback/defensive back/kicking specialist, turned in a splendid effort, seldom if ever leaving the field. Veteran AC-S coach Brad Hood stopped Parsley to embrace him in the handshake line, and several of Hood’s players did the same.

When the Patriots and their fans surrounded Hood on the field, however, there was a sense of euphoria, that this was the kind of game on which Allen County-Scottsville can build.

That seems to be what Hood has in mind, in his 19th season as the Patriots’ head coach.

“I challenged ’em at halftime,” Hood said. “I told them, ‘Are you going to be a Patriot, or lay down and take it?’ We were down, after the first half. They’d punched us in the mouth. But deep down, I know what kind of heart these (AC-S) kids really have.

“They’ll play, they’ll fight, they’ll finish.”

Allen County-Scottsville improved to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the KHSAA’s Class 4A, 2nd District. The Patriots head into an open date with considerable momentum, perhaps a turning point in the race to the postseason.

It was a crushing defeat for the Raiders, who dropped to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in district play. After their open date, Warren East faces an imposing obstacle with a road trip to Paducah Tilghman on October 18. The Blue Tornado (7-0, 3-0) stands atop the RPI formula for the KHSAA’s stacked Class 4A ranks, which includes the likes of four-time defending state champion Boyle County (6-0 overall), Franklin County (6-0) and Ashland Blazer (6-1).

Comfortably in front in the third quarter, when it opened a 31-15 lead, Warren East needed a knockout blow to extend its winning streak to four games. Parsley, the Raiders’ fourth-year starting quarterback, found a wide-open Logan Beyer for a 61-yard touchdown pass, leaving the Patriots with a 16-point deficit midway through the third quarter.

But they found the resolve to make something happen.

In a long, twisting game with officials throwing penalty flags left and right, Warren East ran out of gas down the stretch. Nursing a two-point lead in the final four minutes, Warren East stalled in the red zone when senior QB Dane Parsley was stopped at the AC-S 4-yard line on a trick play to the left sideline. The Patriots took over on downs, and senior AC-S quarterback Braylon Adams went to work.

“We hadn’t beaten Warren East since 2020,” Adams said, “so we know what the heartbreak of losing this game’s all about. We had to play for each other.”

Adams converted a third-and-10 play with a 14-yard completion to AC-S teammate Braydon Holland. After Liam Basham recorded a sack for the Raiders, leaving Adams with a third-and-25 situation, he found Tyler Turner over the middle for a clutch 27-yard pass. Workhorse running back Chase Ross would score on a 9-yard run, a sweep to the left side, and the Patriots would have their first lead since the opening moments of the second quarter.

With 43 seconds showing on the clock.

Parsley got the Raiders into position to throw a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game, but it was intercepted, and the Patriots and their fans flooded the field to celebrate the victory.

Twenty minutes after it was over, second-year Warren East coach Tanner Hall was still on his team’s sideline, finishing some details before returning to the WEHS campus.

“We gave up a 95-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. That’s insanity,” Hall said. “We had two touchdowns called back for penalties, one for holding and one for a block in the back. This one’s gonna sting. It’ll sting for a while. We’ll have 24 hours to think about it, and then we’ll go on fall break. We’ll just have to bounce back, keep moving forward.”

Jackson McCool, Warren East’s rushing leader, finished with 124 yards on the ground. Parsley passed for 223 yards and three touchdowns, and he had a sensational 49-yard touchdown run in the opening moments of the third quarter. Allen-County Scottsville QB Braylon Adams capitalized on a breakdown in the Raiders’ secondary to find Jax Coffey for a 68-yard touchdown pass, with Adams throwing to Chase Ross for a two-point conversion that trimmed the Raiders’ lead to 23-15.

Then came the fourth quarter, and the Patriots put it together when it counted.

Adams and AC-S coach Brad Hood were quick to acknowledge the gutty play of senior Warren East quarterback Dane Parsley, a multi-sport star who is still considering his options for college football. You get the impression that he’d really like to play at Western Kentucky University, his hometown school, but you have to figure he’ll be playing somewhere in 2025.

“Dane’s a great player. I’ve known Dane since we were in sixth grade,” Adams said. “We played on the same Little League team, the Cowboys. He plays really hard.”

Hood was equally effusive.

“I love that kid. Me and Dane’s Mom went to college together,” Hood said. “I’m really proud of our kids … they really stepped up in the fourth quarter. I’m proud of them.”