Friday will be a homecoming of sorts for McCracken County head coach Marc Clark when the Mustangs play at Louisville Male in the third round of the Class 6A football playoffs.
Clark was an assistant coach at the Preston Highway school in 2010, helping the Bulldogs to an 11-4 record and state runner-up finish. He left Louisville after the season for the Hopkinsville job.
Now in his fifth season at McCracken County, he has the Mustangs in the third round for the second straight season and third time in school history. McCracken will be looking for its first trip to the state semifinals.
The Mustangs beat Apollo 21-13 two weeks ago and then advanced straight to the third round when Henderson County was unable to continue in the postseason due to COVID-19.
McCracken has won six of its eight games played this year with losses to Bowling Green and Henderson County.
Hunter Bradley, who missed the 2019 postseason with a leg injury, averages 154 yards in the ground and has reached the end zone 13 times. The Mustangs average 215 yards a game and will face a stingy Male defense that has given up just 344 rushing yards in seven games.
McCracken quarterback Pryor Lamb has thrown for 961 yards and 12 touchdowns this year with Bradley also leading the Mustangs in receiving yards.
The Mustang defense has improved in 2020 to the point of giving up 16 points and 231 yards a game compared to 27 points and 354 yards in 2019.
McCracken will need a monster game from its defense to slow down a Male offense averaging 47 points and 314 yards per game.
Jaylin Bross leads the Male rushing attack at 128 yards per game and 18 touchdowns. He needs 121 yards Friday to reach 3,000 career rushing yards. He ran for 154 yards and four touchdowns in Male’s 57-7 win over Bullitt East last week.
McCracken County has never won a road playoff game with all eight of the program’s postseason wins coming at home.
