HORSE CAVE - Edmonson County scored a pair of first quarter touchdowns and held off Caverna 14-0 on a soggy Friday night at B.H. Weaver Stadium.

“Edmonson County is a 3A team and has a good solid ball club,” Caverna coach Nick Stephens said. “We knew going in what they were going to do. We saw some tendencies that we picked up on, we just were not getting the tackles at the right spot. But these kids showed plenty of heart and didn’t quit.

“We played them hard. I think the kids understand that we can play with anybody if we just set our minds to it and work hard at it.”

Turnovers haunted the Colonels all night and helped the Wildcats score.

Edmonson turned a Caverna fumble on the snap into its first touchdown. The Colonels fumbled at their own 27 yard line and the Wildcats took over.

The Wildcats needed just two plays to take the lead as Brent Smith tossed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Duncan for a 7-0 advantage with 3:05 left in the first quarter.

The Colonels ran just two plays before their second costly turnover of the quarter.

That set Edmonson up at the Caverna 17-yard line. Smith ran it in from 15-yards out to give the Wildcats a 14-0 lead at the 1:48 mark of the opening quarter.

Caverna had six fumbles in the game, three of which Edmonson recovered.

“The fumbles on the snap hurt,” Stephens said. “We couldn’t look and tell if the quarterback was pulling out or the center was stepping away and they weren’t keeping that mesh that we wanted, but the ball conditions and being wet didn’t help our cause any. I guarantee if it rains next week, we’ll be outside working in the rain.”

The Colonels drove into Wildcat territory on their ensuing drive. Caverna ran five plays before quarterback Jordan Rice scampered for a 34-yard run on a third down and five play to the Edmonson 18-yard line.

Andy Goodnight had a two-yard run before Dearrick Lindsey was stopped for a six yard loss. Lindsey gained five yards on the next play. Rice’s pass for Brett Davidson in the end zone on fourth down was incomplete as the Colonels turned it over on downs.

Caverna forced Edmonson to turn it over on downs with 5:33 left in the second quarter. But perhaps the most important stop of the half came with just seconds remaining in the half.

The Wildcats had the ball near the goal when the Colonels stopped them on a fourth and less than a yard play with less than 30 seconds left in the first half.

“I told our kids, ‘Gentlemen, what I’m proud of the most is you showed heart on the (goal line) stands,’” Stephens said. “You gave up two touchdowns after we fumbled twice and then we wanted to keep it to 14, because we knew we were getting the ball back in the second half.