Beech Tree News Network

The 2014 prep football season will continue on Friday night as the Butler County Bears will play host to the Hancock County Hornets.  The Bears (5-3, 3-1) are coming off a 28-16 win at McLean, while the Hornets (4-4, 1-3) suffered a 21-19 home loss against Todd County Central.  

A Hancock County native himself, B.C.H.S. head coach Ryan Emmick expects a competitive game.  

"Hancock is a solid fundamental football team that loves to throw the football around," said Emmick.  They are led by #12 Keort Morris and #44 Trevor Garrison.  Keort Morris does a great job throwing and running the football.  Garrison is the key to their running game behind a solid offensive line," added Emmick.    

The coach believes his team's secondary coverage will be important.  

"We must be active in our coverages and recognize what they like to do offensively.  This will be the first time in a few weeks that we have faced a spread offense team so we must understand where to be in coverage and get to our drops," said Emmick.  

Coach Emmick hopes to get a running game going early in the contest.  

"Defensively Hancock has show both a 3-4 and 4-4 defense so we've had to prepare for both looks.  They have a physical front seven and an athletic defensive backfield," said Emmick.  "They flow to the football well and play very good in coverage.  We must establish the run and remain balanced to be successful."

Butler County has essentially secured the #2 seed in Class 2A, District 2, which means the Bears will likely host a home playoff game against Ballard Memorial.    

"We are locked into the #2 seed provided some crazy things do not happen in the district (e.g. McLean beats Owensboro Catholic).  It looks like we will be playing Ballard Memorial for our home district game," said Emmick.  "Ballard has had a solid season with seven wins thus far this season.  They are a very athletic team that has been building to this season for a while.  We will know more about Ballard in the upcoming weeks but for now we have to focus on Hancock County and finish our district season," added Emmick.

Kickoff for Butler-Hancock is set for 7 p.m.  The game will be aired live on WLBQ 101.5 FM - The New "Q."  John Embry will have play-by-play, Josh Scott will do color commentary, and Cody Donaldson will have complete stats, as well as commentary.  The Morgantown Bank & Trust pre-game show will start at approximately 6:30 p.m.