GEORGETOWN, Ky- Ali Hamdiyah and a dominant defensive effort propelled the Scott County Cardinals to a 28-7 victory over South Oldham on Friday.
“God blessed him with a lot of talent,” Scott County head coach Jim McKee said about Hamdiyah. “That’s one thing you really can’t coach is how to run the football. Now you can coach them on how to carry it and where to cut initially, but after that, just talent takes over. He’s talented, man.”
The Cardinals wasted no time getting on the board as they took the ball and marched down the field led by Hamdiyah, who capped off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown.
On the other side, the Dragons and running back Julian Miles looked to build off their 32-27 win over Woodford County last week, but had trouble getting anything going and were forced to punt on their opening drive.
This became a theme of the game as the Cardinal defense did not even let the Dragons get into the red zone.
Despite scoring on its first possession, Scott County’s offense turned the ball over on downs on its second chance on offense, but got the ball back around midway through the second quarter.
Quarterback Dominik Lacki and the passing game got going on this drive as they had two deep connections, one to set them up in Dragons territory, and a 25-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Lilly to jump out to a 14-0.
The Cardinal defense stayed stiff and got a sack, which forced the Dragons to just let the clock expire to end the first half.
Unlike the first half, the Dragons struck lightning fast to open the second half as Miles returned the ball deep into Cardinals territory. Then, two plays later, quarterback Ethan Arnold scrambled into the end zone for a touchdown.
With its lead now cut in half, Scott County’s offense retook the field and started to feed Hamdiyah once again. He moved the ball down the field, but the Dragons stiffened up and forced a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
Instead of a field goal try, the Cardinals went for it and Hamdiyah plunged in for his second touchdown of the day.
The Dragons continued to move the ball downfield, but were faced with a fourth down where they chose to go for it and came up short.
Moving into the fourth quarter, the Dragons’ defense forced a punt, but Scott County’s defense smothered them and stunted any kind of momentum.
The final scoring of the night came via a 34-yard rushing touchdown from Jackson Damron that gave the Cardinals the decisive 28-7 score.
For the Cardinals, they shut down an offense that was 6-1 coming into the game — undefeated in Kentucky — and had put up big scoring numbers on what was a six-game win streak.
“The story of our game was our defense,” Mckee said.
Hamdiyah was a force on offense for the Cardinals as he finished the game with 174 rushing yards, 201 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.
With the win, Scott County improved to 5-2 and have won four straight games as playoff football approaches in the Bluegrass.
“We’ve always tried to play a really challenging schedule, and, I mean, last time I checked, they don’t hand any trophies out in August,” McKee said. “Football’s a long season, just keep your head down, keep moving, keep working.”
