Jim Mashek

UNION COUNTY KNOCKS OFF PREVIOUSLY UNBEATEN GLASGOW, 10-7; PADUCAH TILGHMAN ELIMINATES FRANKLIN-SIMPSON, 49-14

South Warren High School’s unbeaten football team took care of business against the visiting Hopkinsville Tigers.

Which means the Spartans will be playing at home for a KHSAA Class 6A regional championship next week on their home turf.

South Warren’s Kayden York scored first, on a nifty touchdown run to the right side. But Hopkinsville responded quickly in Friday night’s second-round matchup on the South Warren campus, and the Tigers were very much in contention for the bulk of the first half.

in fact, Hoptown briefly had the lead, at 8-7, and it looked like it might be a tight one …

But Camden Page, the Spartans’ starting quarterback, guided his team downfield for some critical points before halftime, and South Warren took a 29-16 lead into the locker room at the break.

The Tigers never recovered.

South Warren rolled past Hopkinsville, 53-21, to remain unbeaten in 12 games. The Spartans will take on Henderson County, a 41-34 winner over McCracken County, in a KHSAA regional championship game on Friday night at South Warren.

“It’s a home game, that’s the big thing,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said when it was over.

Three teams from South Central Kentucky — South Warren, Bowling Green High School and Logan County — all won by impressive margins in second-round play. Bowling Green clobbered Owensboro’s Apollo High School, 52-27, which means the Purples — the two-time defending KHSAA Class 5A state champions — will be on the road next week.

Bowling Green (6-6 overall) will travel to Louisville to tangle with Atherton High School for a Class 5A regional championship. The Purples have won five of their last six games, four of which took place on their home field.

Logan County, meanwhile, turned in an impressive performance in rolling past Elizabethtown High School, 35-0, on Friday night in E-Town. The Cougars are now 10-2 overall, and they’ll get another shot at defending KHSAA Class 4A state champion Paducah Tilghman next week at McRight Stadium in Paducah.

Logan County took Paducah Tilghman to the limit, before falling 35-27 in a district game on October 3 in Paducah. Several of the Cougars’ players expressed a desire to face Tilghman again, immediately after the game, and they’ll get that chance next Friday.

Paducah Tilghman knocked off Franklin-Simpson, another district rival, by claiming a 49-14 victory over the tradition-rich Wildcats on Friday night in Paducah.

Franklin-Simpson finishes 7-5 on the season, and sixth-year Wildcats coach Max Chaney will lose just nine seniors from this year’s team.

The big upset of the night took place in Glasgow.

Union County, a Class 3A state runner-up last season, traveled to Scotties Stadium and slipped past Glasgow, 10-7, to advance to the quarterfinal round.

Union County will be a decided underdog when the Braves travel to Louisville to face defending KHSAA Class 3A state champion Louisville Christian Academy. LCA crushed Louisville’s DeSales High School, 48-3, on Friday night to remain unbeaten in 12 games.

Meanwhile, Hart County saw its season come to an end, after unbeaten Murray High School rolled past the Raiders, 49-6, in Murray, Kentucky. Hart County finishes another successful season under veteran coach Chad Griffin with a 9-3 overall record.

I’ll have complete coverage of South Warren’s 51-23 victory over Hopkinsville on Saturday morning at jimmashek.com, after which I’ll be covering the WKU home game against Middle Tennessee State.

Thanks for reading.