The eight teams remaining in the Class 1A Russell Athletic/KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl have eye-popping credentials. Two of them will be in action at Rhea Stadium tonight.
The Russellville Panthers will try to pluck a third straight flock of Eagles when they entertain the Bethlehem Eagles at Ken Barrett Field. The winner will be regional champion and move on to the state semifinals on its home field next week.
Coach John Myers’ team has beaten squads with Eagle mascots the first two rounds of the playoffs, crushing the Fort Knox Eagles 67-0 Nov. 6 and coming from behind to edge the Campbellsville Eagles 38-36 in last week’s regional semifinals.
The octet of teams remaining in Class A have a combined record of 80-15. Fortunately for RHS, Bethlehem (9-3) has 20 percent of those losses, and one of that trio of teams which beat them, Louisville Holy Cross, has the worst remaining record at 7-5.
Leading the way in Class A are Paintsivlle at 12-0 and familiar foe Paris at 11-0. Beechwood is third at 11-1, and Russellville is tied with Pikeville and Hazard at 10-2. Bethlehem, which is from the Bardstown area, and Holly Cross are the other two.
Russellville’s losses have been to Class 2A Murray and 4A Franklin-Simpson. Coach Doug Preston’s F-S Wildcats are in their regional championship game tonight against undefeated and top-ranked South Warren, which is led by junior quarterback Ryder Litten, the son of former RHS football standout Jeff Litten. Franklin will be without two of its key players, center Grant Harvey and running back Nick Groves, who are both out with injuries. Star receiver/kicker Evan Figert plans to play, even though he has a completely dislocated shoulder. Murray lost 34-15 last week to Owensboro Catholic.
Russellville has injuries of its own. Two of the top two-way backs, Josh Bigbee and Johnny Drumgole, missed most of the second half last week with injuries. Bryson Thomas, who has emerged has a competent runner late in the season, was held out of last week’s game.
Like Campbellsville and Russellville, Bethlehem prefers the run over the pass. In a 48-21 win over Crittenden County of Russellville’s district last week, the Eagles rushed for 504 yards, but junior quarterback Matthew Hagan didn’t connect on any of his five passes. Hagen did pole up 216 yards on 22 rushes for five touchdowns. Classmate Hunter Downs out-gained him, accumulating 222 yards on 23 totes.
In a 28-14 loss to Paris, Downs didn’t play. Hagan hit 10 of 22 passes for 81 yards, but the Greyhounds intercepted him twice. J.D. Taylor had four of those catches and junior Zack Ritchie three. In Downs’ absence, sophomore Tyler Ohler gained 77 yards on 17 carries and caught two passes.
Coach Ron Koonz’s Eagles edged Campbellsville 14-13 on the road Oct. 16 to take top seed in District 2. Downs rushed 17 times for 79 yards. Hagan carried the ball 16 times for 66 yards and scored a touchdown. He also scored the winning two-point conversion and completed 4 of 11 passes for 64 yards.
Game time at Rhea Stadium is 7 p.m. Coverage on WRUS and www.network1sports.com/station/wrus will begin at 6:30 p.m. with John Brett Reynolds and Alex Watkins on the call.