One that Slips Away—Bears fall to .500

 

 

By Greg Moore

Banner Sports Editor

 

After opening district play on the road in an ugly loss to LaRue County, the Butler County Bears were looking to right the ship in a home matchup against the Edmonson County Wildcats this past Friday night.

Both teams were coming in hungry for their first district win, but each of them struggled to find consistency on the offensive side of the ball. Of course, a dew-soaked field does not make it friendly to hang onto the rock, nor the dub in the Bears’ case.

In a game marred with turnovers, Butler County went to the air to help open the run game; credit to the visitors, who came as expected, as always, just nasty tough at times to prevent the Bears from doing what they would like. And likewise, the Bears were doing much of the same to limit the Wildcats from getting much going, also.

Edmonson had the first chance to put points on the board. After taking advantage of a Bears’ turnover, their kicker would clank one off the left upright. Shortly later, Brody Dockery found his favorite target, Carson Davis, who took a short pass and did the rest of the work himself. Basically, Davis was isolated on the outside with one man to beat. A stiff arm to get away, then smoking everyone else to the end zone.

 

 

After the big play by the junior receiver to put the Bears ahead, Jonathan Portillo nailed the PAT. The Bears stayed strong on defense, and the offense nearly broke a couple runs, but penalties continue to haunt them at times from scoring throughout the rest of first half and the third quarter.

Nonetheless, the Bears appeared to be on their way to a win when the junior kicking, Portillo, connected on a field goal early in the fourth quarter from about the same spot the Wildcat kicker missed from earlier. Although they held a 10-0 advantage, the Bears should have known Edmonson was going to fight until the final whistle.

 

 

After sustaining a drive to score a touchdown, Edmonson County’s defense stood tall against the Bears’ potent rushing attack. Against the chains, the freshman quarterback placed a ball between two receivers which Wildcat safety, Blayne Deweese, made a tremendous read on. Deweese snatched the pass and returned it for a pick-six to flip the scoreboard in favor of the visitors, 13-10.

The Bears could not hold onto the football on their next possession and the Wildcats, who improved to 2-4, snuck out of Morgantown with their first district win instead of the Bears, who fell to 3-3 on the season and 0-2 in district play.

Eliminating turnovers and executing game plans will be critical to obtain a playoff berth. Butler County needs to win two of their three remaining district games to slide into the playoff picture. The Bears are set to entertain the district’s alpha, Glasgow, this Friday before fall break. The Scotties (6-0) have allowed only 17 points all season while averaging 32 points a contest.

The Bear’s secondary has played much better; and Glasgow will present all kinds of challenges for them. If they can get some pressure up front to force some bad decisions by the Scotties’ QB, it could allow the backend to make some plays on the football. That, plus the Bears utilizing the clock with an effective rushing attack, they could pull off an upset.

 

 

Coming back from the break, it is on the road at Hart and Adair Counties, which should present the best opportunities to make the most of the 2025 season in the wins/losses column in addition to play in post season. Hart sits 4-2 overall and 1-1 in district play while Adair is 1-5 and 0-2. However, the Indians played within five points at LaRue last week, which indicates improvement up there in Columbia.