RB - Tim Atcher

[CattouseFan]

Those dozen or so college football coaches standing behind the end zone at Fryar Stadium Friday were there to watch Micah Johnson, Leonard Gordon and Orlando Misaalefua.

It might be to their advantage to come back this Friday and take a second look at tailback Tim Atcher.

Atcher ran for 168 yards and four touchdowns on seven carries, and Micah Johnson added 124 yards and two touchdowns on five carries, leading Fort Campbell to a 58-0 win over Edmonson County in the opening round of the 2A state football playoffs.

"(Atcher) is really starting to become a really good tailback and is putting everything together," said Fort Campbell coach Shawn Berner of his senior tailback, who has scored nine touchdowns in the last two games. "Not only has he learned the system, but he's starting to get in with the kids and build chemistry on and off the field."

Berner's office was filled with college scouts all day Friday, watching game tape of some of the lesser-known Falcons.

"Tim did very well for himself tonight and for the team," Berner said. "I know my phone will be ringing a lot next week."

Fort Campbell, the state's No. 1-ranked football team, moved to 11-0 and will play District 1 rival Caldwell County in the second round. Caldwell County escaped its opening round playoff game with a 21-20 win over Monroe County.

A failed-two point conversion after Monroe County had scored a late touchdown helped set up a rematch of a Sept. 30 game with Caldwell County that the Falcons won 40-7.

Defensively, the Falcons recorded their fourth shutout of the season, and held Edmonson County to minus-2 rushing yards. Wildcats quarterback Kyle Culbreth was 10-for-24 for 113 yards. Culbreth threw a pair of interceptions, and was sacked three times.

"To be honest, I was a little bit worried (about Culbreth). He passed for 370 yards against Owensboro Catholic," Falcons defensive coordinator Will Weaver said. "They run some good disciplined routes and they do some complicated things.

"We tried to confuse the quarterback and come and get him. Our guys moved around quite a bit and communicated well."

"They were changing and mixing up their coverage a little bit," Edmonson County coach Kyle Pierce said. "Early on, we caught them in a couple of things we thought they might've been in.

"When they started mixing up their coverage, they started sending a lot more pressure than normal. They were able to get to our quarterback and they were able to flush him out of the pocket."

Atcher scored on the Falcons' first offensive play, breaking loose for a 77-yard touchdown run. His other touchdown runs — all in the first half — were on runs of 5, 53 and 23 yards.

"It was team speed, that's all it is," Atcher said. "Every week we feel like we have the team speed, and once again the o-line did their job, it wasn't just me. It's a team concept and the o-line, I have to give all the credit to them."

Johnson, who went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season, had touchdown runs of 43 and 56 yards.

"It feels good just to come out and execute like we did," Johnson said. "We have speed coming from everywhere. You can't key in on one person because we can hit you with so much depth we have on the team."

Fort Campbell, which led 51-0 at halftime, also recorded a safety in the first half, and LaDarius Davis returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown with 2:20 left before halftime.

"They (Falcons) played fast tonight, they played physical tonight, and the biggest thing I was proud of was the way we played together," Berner said. "I really felt like we played as a team the whole game."

With the mercy rule taking effect at the half, the Falcons' only second-half score came on Steve Nunn's 4-yard carry on the opening possession of the second half.

"They are the fastest team I've seen in two years," Pierce said. "From an overall team speed, it's unreal what they can do, both offensively and defensively."

[CattouseFan]

Week after week, Fort Campbell survived a mountain of penalties, thanks to an offense that scored almost at will.

Finally, it caught up with them.

The Falcons committed 17 penalties for 135 yards, and four turnovers proved too costly in Friday's 2A 28-25 quarterfinal loss to Owensboro Catholic.

During a six week stretch where the Falcons scored 53 or more points, and had its starters watching from the sideline by halftime, the penalties were a concern, but never an issue on the scoreboard.

Against Catholic, false starts and holding penalties stalled offensive possessions, particularly in the second half, and wiped out big offensive gains.

"We made a few penalties and a few mistakes," Fort Campbell coach Shawn Berner said. "Our kids never gave up. ... The penalties at the end, we just can't make, and you can't make them at this point in the season.

"It's something the guys had worked on. They dedicated themselves to trying to play mistake free, especially with these penalties."

Fort Campbell, ranked No. 1 all season in Class 2A, finished the season 12-1, and lost to Catholic for the third time in four years in the postseason.

"They (Catholic) played a good football game. They didn't make too many mistakes," said Falcons quarterback C.J. Croft, who completed 8-of-21 for 106 yards and two interceptions. "We made mistakes. I don't know if you would call it focus, but a couple of them, we jumped offsides and we shouldn't have those."

Catholic (12-1) will play host to DeSales next Friday in the state semifinals. DeSales was a 55-8 winner over Western.

"For me, it's not as much (frustration), because I haven't been here. But I can understand how the team feels," Croft said. "These seniors have been here as long as they can remember and they've lost to Catholic three out of four years. I can believe that is extremely frustrating."

Fort Campbell, which had allowed a total of 27 points in its last seven games, gave up its first first quarter touchdown of the season, and trailed at halftime for the first time. Catholic used an 11-play, 97 yard drive to take a 14-12 lead at halftime. David Woodward threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Neil Holland with 1:24 left in the half.

"That was a big drive for them and they made some plays," Berner said.

Catholic finished with 394 total offensive yards, with Woodward completing 24-of-36 passes for 258 yards.

Catholic also ran for 136 yards, the most rushing yards the Falcons had allowed all season.

"The guys laid it on the line and I would go to war with those guys," Falcons defensive coordinator Will Weaver said. "They (Catholic) hadn't shown counter a whole lot on film and they hurt us with it. They came out and just made the plays.

"I think depth hurt us. We had six or seven guys going both ways and they had one or two."

Fort Campbell took control of the game with a near-perfect third quarter. The Falcons took an 18-14 lead on a Tim Atcher 4-yard run, and converted a Catholic turnover into a touchdown. Atcher's 23-yard touchdown extended the Falcons' lead to 25-14.

"We had good control of the game and it looked like we were going to pull it off," Croft said.

The Falcons could've put Catholic away in the third quarter, but two scoring drives were stalled because of penalties.

After Catholic pulled within 25-20, the Falcons still had opportunities to seal the game, but were penalized five times for 50 yards on two fourth quarter possessions.

"We were moving the ball and the penalties take us out of it," Berner said. "It's tough to swallow."

Neil Holland's 57-yard punt return for a touchdown with 3:54 sealed the win for Catholic.

"Any loss is difficult, but everything was going so right and in the right direction," Falcons tailback Steven Nunn said. "It just means that they wanted it more than us. It wasn't meant to be."