Caldwell County just won’t let go of the 139 Bowl trophy.
The traveling trophy was awarded for the first time in the Caldwell County-Trigg County football rivalry in 2013 — and the Tigers have won every meeting since then.
Caldwell got three defensive touchdowns on Friday and ran past Trigg 56-17 at Tiger Stadium in Princeton.
It’s the Tigers’ eighth-straight win in the series and ensures that the 139 Bowl trophy remains at CCHS for another year.
Caldwell never trailed after getting a 67-yard touchdown pass from Russ Beshear to Baron Wells on the Tigers’ opening drive of the night.
It was 21-3 after one quarter and 42-3 at halftime.
The Beshear-to-Wells connection came just 2:04 into the contest.
Beshear added a 2-yard scoring run 3 minutes later as Caldwell grabbed a quick 14-0 lead.
Trigg got on the scoreboard on a 25-yard field goal by Keller Nichols at the 4:19 mark of the first quarter.
Caldwell then scored back-to-back defensive touchdowns to seize control of the contest.
Tate VanHooser returned an interception 42 yards for a score to make it 21-3.
After Trigg was backed up following a deep kickoff on its next possession, Tripp Branch stepped in front of a Wildcat pass and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown to extend the margin to 28-3 just 9 seconds into the second period.
The Caldwell defense held Trigg largely in check the rest of the half. Meanwhile, VanHooser scored on a pair of short runs after moving to quarterback in relief of Beshear, who was dinged up on a play near the goal line.
Caldwell took its 42-3 lead to halftime, then struck again quickly out of the break.
A 24-yard touchdown run by Logan Smiley came just 2:06 into the second half to push the difference to 49-3.
Caldwell’s final touchdown came when Wells ripped the ball out of a Trigg receiver’s arms and returned the ball 52 yards for a fumble return touchdown to give Caldwell its biggest lead of the night at 56-3.
Trigg’s first touchdown of the night came on a 3-yard run by Kendric Adams with 1:55 left in the third quarter to make it a 56-10 game.
Kelsey Parham scored on a 33-yard run for the Wildcats with 6:44 left in the game to account for the final score.
Caldwell finished the night with 322 total yards of offense with 158 of that on the ground.
Trigg had 261 yards with 123 on the ground.
Smiley led the Tiger running attack with 97 yards on just four attempts.
Adams topped the Wildcats with 55 yards. Trigg’s leading rusher, Jaquellus Martin, missed most fo the contest after suffering a shoulder injury in the second period.
Beshear passed for 155 yards before leaving the game for Caldwell. He completed four of seven passes.
Jacob Wease was nine of 23 for the Wildcats for 138 yards.
The 56 points ties the most scored by Caldwell in the series. It’s the third time the Tigers have hit that mark, including last year’s 56-54 victory in Cadiz.
Friday was the 80th meeting between the Tigers and the Wildcats, going back to 1938. Caldwell leads the all-time series with Trigg 45-22-1. Prior to 1954, the Princeton Butler Tigers were 10-0-2 against the Wildcats.
Both teams are scheduled to finish the regular season on the road next week. Caldwell (3-3) will visit Christian County while Trigg (2-6) goes to Warren Central.
