Grizzlies named season, conference champs

Courtesy of Ed Curry

The Spencer County Middle School Grizzlies pose for a team picture after defeating Bardstown 31-0 in the Mid-Kentucky Athletic League conference tournament and now await their seeding for the state tournament.

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No matter the sport or level of competition, when a conference or league has a post-season championship, there are often two different champions. One team might be crowned the regular season champion, while another wins the post-season title. This sometimes causes confusion as to who is really the champion of the conference.
But on Thursday, the Spencer County Middle School Grizzlies football team left no doubt as to who is the champion of the Mid-Kentucky Athletic League.
With the help of an impregnable defense, quick strike offense and the home field advantage, the Grizzlies outlasted Bardstown 31-0 to capture the MKAC post-season tournament at Spencer County High School.
“This feels good,” said eighth-grade linebacker Hunter Brown. “It feels really good knowing that when people walk into our school building, they will see our trophies that we won.”
The same teams met on Sept. 11 at Bardstown for the regular season championship. In that game, SCMS won 19-14. The regular season conference win guaranteed the Grizzlies a spot in the Kentucky Middle School Football Association state tournament.
After a scoreless first quarter in the post-season tournament game against Bardstown, SCMS running back Branden Leff scored on a 79-yard run, and quarterback Daniel Wheeler ran in the conversion to give the Grizzlies a 7-0 lead.  On the Grizzlies next drive, eighth-grader Austin Ashley joined his classmate in the scoring party with a 51-yard touchdown run. The conversion attempt was no good, and gave SCMS a 13-0 halftime lead.
“I saw an open field,” Leff said. “I saw one person that I had to get around, and I turned on my (speed).”
Bardstown had a touchdown called back with about three minutes remaining in the first half due to a block in the back penalty.
The beginning of the second half saw both teams struggling on offense again for a couple of possessions each, until seventh-grader Kadin Smith set up the Grizzlies next score with a 27-yard punt return to the inside of Bardstown’s 30-yard-line. Three plays later, Smith threw a 20-yard touchdown to fellow seventh-grader Zach Matherly.
SCMS continued to stifle the Bardstown offense with a swarming defense that featured lots of gang tackling. The Grizzlies’ final two scores were on interceptions for touchdowns by eighth-grader Wayne Redmon of 12 and 61 yards, respectively.
SCMS will now wait for its seeding in the KYMSFA state playoffs. SCMS has never won a game in the state playoffs in its three appearances.

BOX SCORE
SC – Leff 79 run (Wheeler run)
SC – Ashley 51 run (conversion failed)
SC – Matherly 20 pass from K. Smith (conversion failed)
SC – Redmon 12 interception return (conversion failed)
SC – Redmon 61 interception return (conversion failed)