Turnovers were too much for the Christian County Colonels to overcome as they dropped their season-opening football game to Clarksville Northeast 48-20 on Saturday night at the Stadium of Champions.
The Colonels lost four fumbles and tossed three interceptions on the night. Those miscues put a damper on an offense that put up 304 total yards against the Eagles. However, two bad snaps led to -41 yards of rushing and cost Christian County its quarterback.
Tom Johnson was injured trying to fall on a football early in the fourth quarter and was carted off the field on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.
Before the injury, Johnson went 11-for-22 with three interceptions, but passed for 234 yards including a 42-yard scoring pass to Zyon Wharton and a 62-yard scoring toss to Michael Tandy.
The turnovers also kept the Colonels’ defense on the field for a large portion of the game and the Eagles’ two big running backs, Herold Marshall III and Montrell Perry rumbled for a total of 212 yards.
Northeast quarterbacks also threw for 283 yards as the Eagles ran up 498 total yards of offense.
Christian County led 7-0 on the Zyon Wharton reception with 10:09 to go in the first quarter. But Northeast struck quickly with a 36-yard scoring toss from Kaden Davis to Zaybrian Ward to tie the game with 6:59 to go in the period.
Northeast then struck for two quick scores just before halftime and took a 20-7 lead into the break.
After Destin Jones returned an interception early in the third quarter to make it 27-14, the Colonels could never catch up.
Tristan Dillard led the Colonels’ rushing game with 83 yards on 17 carries. DeAsian Harris added a 4-yard touchdown run.
Meanwhile, Wharton caught five passes for 93 yards and Tandy had four catches for 90 yards.
The Colonels continue their final football season before consolidation with Hopkinsville next fall on Friday night when they play host to the Mayfield Cardinals. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with the pregame show airing at 6:30 p.m. on 95.3 The Farm and 953thefarm.com.
Photos by Danny Vowell