Cols, 2-2, visit Central Hardin Sept. 26
By the time Friday night’s homecoming game finally kicked off at Colonel Stadium, it was clear the Henderson County Colonels and Daviess County Panthers would have to outlast more than just each other. A two-hour lightning delay and repeated fan evacuations to the parking lot set the stage for a close contest that didn’t end until nearly midnight.
When it was over, Henderson County escaped with a 7–6 victory in the program’s oldest rivalry, surviving on a strong defensive effort and a missed last-second field goal from Daviess County. The win pushed the Colonels back to .500 and fired up the Colonel faithful.
“We’re excited to go 2-and-2 on the season,” said head coach John Elliott afterward. “Tonight, we had a two-and-a-half hour rain delay, we had homecoming, and we had a long halftime. We’ve had just about everything happen this year that could happen. So now we have a two-hour bus ride [to Central Hardin].”
The Panthers entered the season with a new coach in former Kentucky Wesleyan standout Quadarious Wallace, looking to turn the page on a 1–10 season from last year. HCHS was licking its wounds from a 40–14 defeat the week before to Indiana powerhouse Gibson Southern, but had found some sparks in the passing game with junior quarterback Brody Belt.
The Colonels were also banged up. Sophomore leading rusher Kingston Shidler sat with an ankle injury, and senior defensive end Myron Wright was sidelined with a shoulder issue. That left Henderson needing new playmakers to emerge, and it was seniors Jack Ryan Reusch and Avant Baxter who filled the void in the running game, while multiple Colonels stepped up on defense.
The Colonels had a chance to build momentum early. In the first quarter, Reusch burst through the middle and appeared to have a 48-yard touchdown. But just as the home crowd erupted, yellow flags flew. An “assisting the runner” penalty, seldom seen, brought the play back 15 yards.
After three rushes, the Colonels had a 4th and 2 on the 8-yard line. Belt lofted a jump pass into the end zone to senior tight end Wyatt Newman, which fell incomplete.
The second quarter looked much the same until Belt got rolling. Starting from the Daviess 48, the Colonels benefited from a pass interference flag and then picked up an 18-yard completion to sophomore Anzerion Marigny.
Belt scrambled nine yards, Reusch moved the chains on a short run, and then Belt darted around the edge for a five-yard touchdown. Junior kicker Miles Pryor’s extra point made it 7–0, and the Cols carried that slim edge into the break.
The third quarter saw Daviess claw back. Senior quarterback Garrison Barker and sophomore running back Ridge Roberts began chipping into Henderson’s defense on their first drive of the half. A penalty extended the drive, and Roberts finished it himself, breaking free for a 27-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 7–6.
Wallace kept his offense on the field for a two-point conversion. The play was designed from a “swinging gate” look, where the only lineman in front of the quarterback is the center. Luckily, Henderson batted down the pass attempt, keeping the Colonels in front by a tight margin with 8:42 left in the third.
That failed try would still be the difference in the game.
From there, Henderson’s defense delivered again and again. Reusch lived in the backfield, finishing with 16 tackles, two for loss, and a sack, per The Hendersonian.
Senior safety Hayden Turner and senior linebacker Zarian Rideout each collected eight tackles, while defensive linemen Christian Haygan and Jack Logan kept pressure on Barker, with six and five tackles, respectively, and each tallying a sack of their own.
DCHS quarterback Barker tried to push the ball downfield but was picked off twice. Junior cornerback Jack Dalton had one in the first quarter, and Baxter’s fourth-quarter takeaway may have saved the game.
“We came in knowing the defense was going to have to perform to win the game,” Rideout said. Still, we definitely could have played better.”
Reusch echoed that, saying, “We did great on the defensive side of the ball tonight, but we have a lot of things to fix and we’re in an uphill battle right now.”
Baxter was effective on both offense and defense. In Shidler’s absence, he ran 12 times for 41 yards, caught two passes for 23 yards, and had a clutch grab on Henderson’s last drive of the night. With Henderson clinging to its one-point lead in the fourth quarter, Baxter caught an 8-yard hitch on third down, muscling just across the sticks to keep the clock rolling.
Marigny added three rushes for 14 yards and an 18-yard reception while playing his usual role in the secondary. Marigny and Dalton both finished with four tackles in addition to quality pass defense, holding Daviess County to a 31% completion rate.
Even with all the defensive stands, Daviess still had one last chance. Taking over at their own 12 late in the game, the Panthers marched up the field. Barker scrambled for 18 yards, then passed upfield for a 14-yard completion. With 1:18 left, Barker broke loose for a 37-yard run, suddenly putting the Panthers at the Colonel 15 and moving fans to the edge of their wet seats.
After a tackle for loss and an incompletion, Wallace called a timeout with 27 seconds remaining. Then, following a short run, the stage was set: fourth down and a 30-yard field goal to win the game.
Elliott used his own timeout to ice the Daviess kicker with two seconds on the clock. Once play resumed, the ball sailed just short. Colonel Stadium erupted in relief as the Colonels survived, 7–6.
While the scoreboard only lit up a couple of times, moving to .500 a game short of midseason is not a bad place to be.
Looking ahead to next week, Elliott said, “Central Hardin is a good football team and they’re well coached, so it’s going to take everything we’ve got for four quarters.”
The Colonels (2-2) face Central Hardin (0-5) next week in Cecilia, Ky.
