No. 18 Atherton spoils North Oldham's senior night in a 42-13 rout

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? We got our answer on Halloween night as KHSAA’s No. 1 defense (Atherton, 4.4 points-per-game allowed coming into this game) held the No. 4 offense (North Oldham, 48.8 ppg) to 13 points, the Mustangs’ lowest scoring output all season.

No. 18 Atherton proved to be the scarier sight on Friday in Goshen, KY, picking up the 42-13 win on senior night.

“They don’t score, they don’t win. Prime example tonight,” Atherton head coach Anthony White said about his defense. White earned his 50th career win with the program.

The Ravens came out strong with a 14-0 lead after their first two drives resulted in touchdowns: a two-yard run by Du’Zye Grundy and a 29-yard reception by Jason Briscoe.

Looking like the Ravens would run away with this one, Atherton’s Grayden Reid committed a costly pass interference penalty on 3rd-and-long, giving North Oldham some life. The Mustangs would capitalize on that with a 19-yard connection between Colin Daniels and Luke Tompkins, narrowing the Ravens’ lead to 7.

Although this touchdown broke Atherton’s five-game shutout streak, Coach White doesn’t think so.

“This is a shutout to us versus this team. They average [almost] 50 points a night…They scored one true touchdown.”

As Coach White alluded to, that would be North Oldham’s only score until late in the fourth quarter.

In the second quarter, the Ravens leaned on Grundy, who scored on 35- and five-yard runs, extending Atherton’s lead to 28-7 at halftime. Grundy finished the game with 116 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

The third quarter was the Garyon Hobbs show, as he took the opening kickoff 90 yards to the end zone. Later in the quarter, Hobbs would score on a 36-yard reception from quarterback Lamar Sistrunk Jr., widening the lead to 42-7 and enabling a running clock for the rest of the game.

Regular Season Stats:

• Atherton finished the regular season 9-1, with a defense that allowed 5.3 ppg and produced six shutouts.
• North Oldham finished the regular season 8-2, with an offense that scored 45.3 ppg. Quarterback Colin Daniels leaves this game as the school’s career passing yard leader, and his favorite target, Luke Tompkins, will finish with the school’s single-season record for receiving yards.

Playoffs:

• Atherton will host either Bullitt Central, Jeffersontown, or North Bullitt in the first round of the 5A bracket.
• North Oldham is hosting Grant County in the first round of the 4A bracket.