The Hopkinsville Tigers and the South Warren Spartans looked poised for a high-scoring shootout early in their meeting in the Toyota of Hopkinsville Jerry Claiborne Bowl Friday night, but the Tigers’ offense went quiet and the Spartans rolled to a 49-17 win. The Tigers fall to South Warren in the season-opener for the second-straight year, after losing 35-14 on the road in 2017.
Hopkinsville opened the game aggressively, with quarterback Jay Bland hitting Reece Jesse over the middle for a big gain. However, Jesse was stripped and the Spartans scooped it up and went 70 yards for the touchdown.
The Tigers came right back on a completion from Bland to Ellis Dunn down the the Spartans’ 3, but they couldn’t punch it in and settled for a field goal. South Warren responded with a kickoff return to the Hoptown 27, and wasted no time running it in for a 14-3 lead with seven minutes left in the opening quarter.
The Tigers only needed a minute to answer, with Bland hooking up with Dunn again. The 34-yard strike cut the Spartans’ lead to 4 at 14-10. After receiving the ball around midfield, the Spartans chewed up 50 yards on the way to their third touchdown and a 21-10 lead going into the second quarter.
South Warren stretched the lead to 28-10 on a 60-yard screen pass, before Clayton Bush took another screen 66 yards down to the Hoptown 2 yard line on its next possession. The Spartans dove in from there for a 35-10 lead. With less than a minute to play in the half, Bush victimized the Tigers again. This time he intercepted a Bland pass and returned it 70 yards to trigger the running clock at 42-10.
South Warren scored the only points of the third quarter when Hoptown’s Hayden Lackey was hit after a nice gain and fumbled. The Spartans once again scooped and scored for a 49-10 lead. The Tigers got on the board for the first time since the opening quarter on a 40-yard touchdown run by Jordan Hopson with two minutes to play.
Next Friday the Tigers will be on the road at Mayfield (1-0). The Cardinals won last year’s meeting 49-20 at the Stadium of Champions.