Long before the first kickoff of the 2013 season, the Russellville Panthers have been marching toward three games. One has passed, the other two are uncertain. Yet a loss Friday night would turn the latter into unfulfilled dreams. A win is certainly not a sure thing.
Russellville plays Class 1-A, Region I, District 2 champion Bardstown Bethlehem Friday. Instead of the game being played on RHS’ home Ken Barrett Field at Rhea Stadium, it will be near My Old Kentucky Home at 407 South 3rd street in Bardstown.
Coach Ron Koontz’s Eagles are 6-0 at home. The lone loss in their 10-1 season so far has been 35-33 at Paris. The Panthers are 4-1 on the road as part of their 9-2 season to date. That loss was to defending state champion Mayfield by a 42-21 score.
The Courier-Journal’s Litratings rank RHS second in the state in Class A with Bethlehem 11th. That rating system makes Coach John Myers’ team a four-touchdown favorite over the Eagles, 99.6 to 76.0.
That loss to Mayfield is the milestone the Panthers have already experienced. It was a loss, their first of the season, the net effect of which is that if both team’s win this week (Mayfield is a six-touchdown favorite over 12th ranked Louisville Holy Cross), the regional championship game will be in the Graves County city. Reaching that game (and winning it) stands goal number two.
The third goal would be a game played at WKU in early December, but reaching the state finals would take three more wins.
The Panthers were impressive last week in a 55-6 rout of a Kentucky Country Day team that had lost only 35-25 to Bethlehem. The Panthers hit them the early and often. Barrett Croslin threw touchdown passes to Zach Hendley and Lee McMurry, ran for a TD and returned a punt for another. Demarcus Hampton ran for a 93-yard TD and had 176 yards on 5 carries, eclipsing the thousand-yard mark. Coco Darden blocked a punt and returned it for a score. Desmon Quarles & Josh Bigbee also ran for TDs, and Corey Wright & Milam Watkins kicked multiple conversions.
Hampton ran his yardage total to 1,010 for the season and scored his 15th touchdown. Bigbee had 82 yards on just three carries. Nine Panthers—Hampton, Croslin, Quarles, Bigbee, Dustin Morgan, Dequan beard, Johnny Drumgole, M.J. Jones and Dru West—rushed for 303 yards, bringing the Panther dominance on the ground to 2,995 yards to a paltry 1,079 for their 11 opponents, less than 100 yards per game. Maybe more impressively, the Panthers have rushed for 49 touchdowns—over four per game—to 13 for the guys lined up against them.
Lindsay Elder, a freshman at WKU from Bethlehem, says the best way to get to the football field is take the Bluegrass Parkway off I-65, turn left at the Bardstown exit, and then turn right at the Nelson County Courthouse in downtown Bardstown.
Game time is 8 p.m. Bardstown time, which is 7 p.m. in Russellville. The game will be carried live on WRUS with John Brett Reynolds, Alex Watkins and Kige Ramsey behind the microphones. Countdown to Kickoff starts at 6:30. Their call can also be access at https://www.network1sports.com/station/wrus