Trigg County’s season-long theme of having trouble with a big running back continued Friday as Union County’s Corithian Portee-Seales ran for 181 yards in helping the Braves beat the Wildcats 28-0 at Perdue Field.
The shutout was Trigg County’s first since a 43-0 loss to Caldwell County in 2016 – a span of 23 games.
Portee-Seales, a 5-9, 225-pound sophomore, carried the football 31 times for the Braves. He only had four runs of over 10 yards but did not have any negative yards rushing.
While Union County ran the football 47 times for 278 yards, Trigg County could not get a ground game going against the Braves. They managed just 68 yards on 33 carries. Wildcat quarterback Cam Jordan had 24 of the carries for 59 yards.
Union County struck first when Lincoln Sisk, who Wildcat Coach Coby Lewis said was the best linebacker his team has played against this year, picked off a Jordan screen pass on the game’s second play and returned it for a score.
The Braves scored a touchdown in each of the four quarters of the contest. Sophomore Allen Elam, who took over for quarterback in the second half of last week’s loss to Paducah Tilghman, looked comfortable in his first varsity start. He escaped a sack and found the former quarterback, Solomon Teehan, for a 12-yard score with 8:49 left in the second quarter.
Elam finished with 89 rushing yards on 11 carries and completed two passes for 50 yards.
After Brennan Jenkins scored on a two-yard run in the third quarter, Elam connected with Daelynn Ricketts for a 38-yard touchdown with 10:13 left in the game.
The Wildcats only had one serious threat to score in the game. After Ricketts’ TD catch, Trigg drove to the Union County 9-yard line. Two penalties backed them up to the 30-yard line, and the Wildcats failed to convert on a 4th-and-long.
Jordan was 4-of-13 passing for 47 yards and was picked off twice. Jude Hunter caught two passes for 29 yards.
The loss drops Trigg County to 5-5 overall and 1-3 in the district. The Wildcats will be the No. 4 seed in the playoffs and play at Elizabethtown in the first round of the postseason in two weeks. Union County (6-3, 2-2) will travel to LaRue County.