Georgetown, Ky. – The University of Kentucky junior varsity football team fell in its season opener tothe Georgetown Tigers, 42-13, on Monday, Sept., 18 at Georgetowns Rawlings Stadium.
The Cats (0-1) played catch-up to the Tigers (2-0) most of the night, trailing 14-7 at the halfand 28-7 at the end of the third. Georgetown forced four UK turnovers, including two interceptionsin the fourth quarter. The Tigers recorded 547 total offense compared to the Cats 287 yards.
“Well, we definitely found some areas we need to work on,” UK Coach Rob Manchester said. “I did see some positive aspects tonight and I thought our kids played hard until the very end. Wellget in practice and correct our mistakes and get ready for Campbellsville next week.”
Freshman Matt Casey (Shelbyville, Ky.) made his debut at quarterback, connecting on 25 of 42passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns. Casey threw his first career touchdown pass in the firstquarter, a 40-yard pass to varsity wide receiver Edgar Gantt (West Hampton, N.J.) to give the Catstheir only lead of the game, 7-6. Georgetown answered with 28 straight points until Casey againconnected with Gantt late in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers totally shut down the Cats running game, forcing the Cats to a 15 yard rushing total. However, the UK receiving corps looked impressive, led Gantt, a veteran receiver. He charted eightcatches for 98 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Desmond Walls (Hendersonville, Tenn.)caught two passes for 41 yards.
The defensive unit was led by freshman linebacker Justin Haydock (Louisville, Ky.) who notched 11tackles, including three quarterback sacks for 25 yards. Following Haydock in the tackling columnwas junior defensive end Jermaine White (Gainesville, Fla.) and freshman cornerback Octavius Bond(Chicago, Ill.) with 10 tackles apiece. White also recorded one interception along with seniorlinebacker Mike Clayborne (Lexington, Ky.)
Kentucky is now 3-2 all-time versus Georgetown, dropping to the Tigers for the first time since1998.
The jayvee Cats are back in action on Monday, Sept. 25 when they take on Campbellsville at 6p.m. in Commonwealth Stadium. Admission is free to all UK jayvee games.
TEAM QTR TIME SCORING PLAY(CONVERSION) UK-GTOWNGtown 2nd 13:10 Ryan Payne 5 yd. run (Coy kick failed) 0-6UK 2nd 11:10 Edgar Gantt 40 yd. pass from Matt Casey (Cronen kick) 7-6Gtown 2nd 7:12 Tucker McEwen 5 yd. run (Ryan Payne rush) 7-14Gtown 3rd 9:08 Kyle Ruscher 15 yd. pass from Neil Warren (Craddock kick) 7-21Gtown 3rd :45 Jon Taylor 1 yd. run (Craddock kick) 7-28Gtown 4th 9:30 Jon Taylor 8 yds. Run (Craddock kick) 7-35UK 4th 8:23 Edgar Gantt 5 yd. pass from Casey (Pakulak kick failed) 13-35Gtown 4th 6:53 Ryan Payne 1 yd. run (Craddock kick) 13-42
