Jim Mashek

FRANKLIN-SIMPSON WARY OF UNION COUNTY’s GROUND GAME

Tanner Hall, the personable first-year head football coach at Warren East High School, has had a memorable week.

To say the least.

Last week, the Raiders welcomed the return of quarterback/defensive back Dane Parsley back after an absence of nearly a month because of injury, and South Warren was one of eight Kentucky teams to post road victories in the opening round of the KHSAA state football playoffs.

Two of the others were also from South Central Kentucky, Glasgow High School and Metcalfe County.

Then, on Tuesday, Hall’s wife, Elizabeth Hall, gave birth to the couple’s second son, Barrett, who will join his big brother, three-year-old Benjamin, in blue-and-gold Warren East colors before you know it.

“It’s been kinda crazy,” Tanner Hall said in a telephone interview on Thursday morning.

With Parsley back in the saddle for Warren East, the Raiders (6-5 overall) are embracing the opportunity for a rematch with powerful Paducah Tilghman High School, an 11-0 squad that leads KHSAA Class 4A teams in scoring with 576 points.

Parsley was injured in the second quarter of Warren East’s game against Paducah Tilghman in mid-October, and with the heart and soul of the Raiders on the sideline, nothing went right for Hall’s squad in a 70-20 loss to the Blue Tornado.

The Raiders will make the three-hour bus trip to Paducah on Friday afternoon, intent on changing the narrative for Class 4A football in Kentucky. The Commonwealth has FIVE 4A TEAMS with unbeaten 11-0 records, including Covington Catholic, Franklin County, Boyle County, Corbin High School and Paducah Tilghman.

Tilghman, in fact, has the lowest RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) of the five schools, which will be used to determine opponents and home-field advantage for the next two weeks of the playoffs.

“It’s just stupid, hard to believe,” Tanner Hall said.

Still, the Raiders believe they’re ready for the challenge on the road against the powerful Blue Tornado.

“A lot of people don’t realize, we were only down a touchdown when Dane got injured,” Hall said. “It was 28-20, with about seven minutes left in the first half … We had a couple bad fumbles early in the second half, and Tilghman does, what Tilghman does …”

After Parsley guided Warren East to a gritty, 21-17 victory over homestanding Nelson County last week, the Raiders were ready to turn the page and get ready for the road trip to Paducah.

Parsley, the Raiders’ do-it-all quarterback, made several key defensive plays against Nelson County. Warren East overcame a slow start to post the road victory and get another shot at Paducah Tilghman.

“We couldn’t run the ball, in the first half,” East coach Tanner Hall said. “(East’s) Tray Price turned a quick slant into a touchdown pass, and then Dane scored on a fourth-and-12 play, a 68-yard touchdown run.

“He just took off and hit the left sideline … As soon as that game was over, and we got back on the bus, the kids were talking about another shot at Paducah Tilghman.”

The Blue Tornado have a highly recruited leader, junior dual-threat QB Jack James, who has passed for 3,226 yards and 43 touchdowns in just 11 games, with three interceptions. Demarkus Wilson leads Tilghman with 815 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns, but James has five rushing TDs himself. The Blue Tornado, up from the KHSAA Class 3A ranks, have more depth than most high school teams its size, and Sean Thompson’s Tilghman squad has been challenged just once this season, a 35-28 victory over Class 2A powerhouse Mayfield on September 1.

Mayfield takes a 10-1 record into Friday night’s KHSAA 2A game against Murray High School.

Meanwhile, Franklin-Simpson (9-2 overall) is on the road to scrap with Union County (10-1) in Morganfield. Greenwood High School handed the Braves their only defeat this season, a 27-12 defeat in the final week of regular-season play.

Union County bounced back with a first-round 4A victory over Adair County, 28-6, and the Braves are a ball-control team that averages nearly 300 yards rushing per game. Union County’s Jarren Johnson has rushed for a team-high 1,759 yards and 29 touchdowns this season.

Franklin-Simpson eliminated visiting Hancock County, 35-8, last week, improving to 9-2 overall in the process. F-S coach Max Chaney likes to keep opponents guessing with its old-school, wing-T attack. Three Wildcats backs — Gavin Dickerson, Colin Anderson and Blake McPherson — have all rushed for more than 550 yards this season.

The Wildcats also have a star in senior linebacker/fullback Hayden Satterly, who leads the team with 114 overall tackles, including 12 for losses. Senior F-S defensive end Tytus Brown has recorded 12 sacks and delivered the game-winning play against Glasgow, a 40-yard interception return for a touchdown in Franklin-Simpson’s 27-14 victory on September 29.

Glasgow (9-2 overall) struck for an impressive 62-38 victory over homestanding McLean County last week, in the opening round of the KHSAA Class 3A playoffs. Now the Scotties will get another shot at district rival Hart County, which slipped past Glasgow coach Jeff Garmon’s squad, 22-19, on October 13 in Munfordville.

Glasgow quarterback Easton Jessie had a spectacular game last week, completing 12 of 16 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns in the Scotties’ rout of McLean County. Jessie added a rushing TD and 67 yards on the ground, and senior wideout Rico Crowder had a team-high five receptions for 121 yards and a score.

Hart County (11-0 overall) opened the KHSAA 3A playoffs with a 43-8 rout of Webster County.

In other second-round KHSAA playoff games involving South Central Kentucky squads, Metcalfe County (3-8 overall) looks for another big 2A upset on the road against Green County (9-2 overall), and Monroe County (6-5 overall) travels to face Class 2A powerhouse Lexington Christian (10-1).

(Lexington Christian opened the season with a dramatic, 56-52 victory over Bowling Green High School on August 17 at WKU’s Houchens-Smith Stadium.)

Meanwhile, in Class 4A, Todd Adler’s Logan County squad (8-3 overall) is on the road to scrap with Bardstown (7-4). The Cougars opened the postseason with a 43-17 victory over John Hardin High School, with senior fullback Eli Hawkins rushing for 146 yards and four touchdowns.