🏈 Friday Night Notes

🏈 Friday’s Scores

🎶 Media Corner

A pair of clutch plays inside the last two minutes kept West Jessamine (9-0) unbeaten in a 16-14 win over Madison Southern (5-4) at home. Easton Erhardt kicked a field goal from about 20 yards out to put the Colts in front with 1:50 left after they trailed 14-13 for the entire second half. Then they recovered the ensuing kickoff after it bounced off an Eagle, enabling them to run out the clock.

West Jess will look to complete its first unbeaten regular season in school history next week at Tates Creek (2-7), which scored three of the final four touchdowns to rally from behind in a 35-28 win against Henry Clay (0-9).

Clay County (4-5) defeated Bell County (2-7) for the first time this century, 43-28.

Props to Paul Laurence Dunbar (5-4) for its 14-10 win over Lafayette (7-2). It gave the Bulldogs a sweep in Class 6A, District 7 and their first district title since 2022. The Bulldogs were without Jayshawn Crosby, a 1,000-yard rusher who suffered a season-ending arm injury in their win last week over Tates Creek (2-7).

Matthew Box returned a punt 23 yards after it bounced off a teammate to get Dunbar on the board midway through the first quarter but it was quickly answered by Lafayette’s Dominic Faulkner. Jackson Grantz connected on a 42-yard field goal early in the second quarter to give the Generals a 10-7 lead at the break. AZ Rawlings scored the only TD of the second half, a 3-yard run, with 2 seconds left in the third. Lafayette drove to the Bulldogs’ 26 inside the final seconds but failed to convert on a 4th-and-10 pass after Box and Luke Ayoob combined for a big third-down sack.

Ballard’s 35-34 win over Eastern (5-4) was its 16th straight in that rivalry but the narrowest margin of victory over that span; all but one other result came by double digits, often multiple touchdowns. The Bruins (2-7) ended a two-game slide while the Eagles lost their third straight.

Bryce Armstrong threw for 189 yards and 1 TD and rushed for 137 yards and a TD in Highlands’ 34-13 win at Scott County. Tayden Lorenzen had two TDs and 72 yards on 14 carries for the Bluebirds (8-2). Skyler Way had a game-high 163 yards and a TD for the Cardinals (7-3), playing for the first time without injured quarterback Charlie Ellison.

Beechwood (9-0) recorded its third straight shutout and its fifth game scoring 60+ points in a 63-0 win at Bracken County (2-7). The Polar Bears ate their second 60-burger in a row after dropping a 61-23 decision at St. Henry on Oct. 15.

Brayden Carby scored a 2-yard TD in overtime to put Bullitt East (7-2) on top against Male (5-4), 41-38. It was the Chargers’ first win over Male since the teams’ 2022 6A title bout.

Estill County (7-2) will finish with its most wins since at least 2022, when it picked up win No. 7 in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs before bowing out in the second round. The Engineers won 56-14 over Powell County (2-7).

Holmes (4-5), which plays an unaligned schedule, positioned itself to finish at least .500 for the first time since 2022 — when it was still in 4A — with its 28-22 win over Lewis County (4-5). The Bulldogs finish their season at Scott (2-7), which fell to Conner.

Pike County Central (1-8) earned its first win of the basketball season, it appeared. The Hawks beat Betsy Layne (2-7) for the first time since 2004, 58-56.

Ballard Memorial (5-3) earned its first outright district championship in school history with its 78-0 win over Caverna (0-9). According to KY HIGH FOOTBALL on Twitter, the Bombers once shared a district title — in 1982 — with Murray and Russellville.

“Wild and Blue” was his first No. 1 single and the only one of the five that, somehow, I don’t recall ever hearing before this week. And MAN was I missing out but also, I probably discovered it at the perfect time. It’s got a bluegrass quality to it, which as recently as 3-4 years ago would’ve been more turnoff than not, but my heart has warmed considerably to the sound of our forefathers. The end of its chorus is perhaps the most neo-traditional country thing about it: “they could just take you up to yonder honey/you’re already wild and blue”. What a goofy yet weirdly beautiful lyric! And I’m not sure anyone can sell it as well as Anderson did; the Louisville band Freakwater is the only group of any commercial relevance I can find that has released a cover; it doesn’t hold a candle to Anderson’s 1983 recording. My favorite version of his, though, is this one from a CMT live recording in 1983.

“Swingin’” and “Black Sheep” joined “Wild and Blue” as No. 1s in 1983; the former was part of the album Wild & Blue while “Black Sheep” was the lead single from All the People Are Talkin’. Of his five No. 1s, these two most resemble one another. “Swingin’” was a massive crossover hit, selling well over a million singles at a time when country music was on the cultural back-burner. “Black Sheep” wasn’t that huge in its moment but I’d argue it was by far the second most listened to song of his career prior to 1992. The former is much more of a “novelty song” in line with something like a personal Anderson favorite of mine, “Chicken Truck,” both of which Anderson wrote. After “Wild and Blue” I think it might be the least listened to of his hits these days which is a shame cause it’s probably the one on which he best showcases his one-of-a-kind voice.

Neither “Straight Tequila Night” nor the title track, stunningly, were the first single released from the 1991 album Seminole Wind. That honor went to “Who Got Our Love,” which peaked at No. 67 on the U.S. Country chart, an unsurprising position at the time for Anderson, who hadn’t had a top-five single since 1984’s “She Sure Got Away with My Heart.” But what a comeback!!! After the lead single, this album produced four top-10 singles, including “Seminole Wind,” which reached No. 1 as well in Canada. But “Straight Tequila Night” is straight heat, a legitimate contender for best country song of the 90s as far as I’m concerned. It wasn’t a crossover smash like Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” or Lonestar’s “Amazed,” but as something representative of what I think country music at its finest does better than any genre — sparking empathy and sympathy for someone far from you — “Straight Tequila Night” has few equals in the decade. I’m not sure there’s a song in country music sung by a man that has more respect for a woman at its center than this one; it should also not surprise that a woman, Debbie Hupp, co-wrote it with Mayfield’s own Kent Robbins, who died way too young in a 1997 car accident.

Anderson’s final No. 1 is among his most so-so singles. “Money in the Bank” led off his next album, Solid Ground, which produced three additional singles — “I Fell in the Water,” “I’ve Got It Made” and “I Wish I Could Have Been There” — that charted well and that I find to be far more impressive for different reasons. That said, I actually dig that this song hit No. 1 because it’s very much a throwback to his earlier breakout period, as far having a novelty hook, but sounds so much more contemporary to its peers in the 90s explosion than those earlier hits did. It’s a nice coda on a career that didn’t end in 1993 but started to wind down from here.

Following up on last week’s segment: I did watch You Can See Everything, and you should too. I’ll write more about it next week in this space but for now I’ll leave you with this excerpt from my Letterboxd review.